We are also rural. 30 minutes here is not even enough to get to the crappy CC. 😞 I also think 3 hours every day in the car is way too much.

I am curious how much you guys would drive for a good DE option. We have one potential option 1.5 hours away each way. I can’t imagine driving 3 hours every day, but maybe I should be?

It’s hard for people to understand in what sort of tiny places we in CA live. My children happened to see an HGTV episode once at a hotel and were floored that some complained how small their 2,000sf houses were and wanted to upgrade. They couldn’t believe people lived in such huge places and on top wanted more. We use the garage (thank you weather!).

It’s so bad here that I am trying to persuade DS to apply a year early to colleges. He is terrified and refuses to even consider it.

Well, we decided we couldn’t swing it, didn’t apply, and went the other way as you described. Now we regret it. OHS would have given my kid exactly the level of academics he needs, and most of all, it would have given him the community, which he lacks. Now we live in a rural area, so in person opportunities are very limited. We thought maybe DE would work, but with Covid, in person courses have become a true mark of privilege. In CA only some private schools have managed to have anything in person. While UCs and CSUs open their doors in the Fall, community colleges which serve the most disadvantaged population (those who can’t afford to be at a four year school and those who needed a second chance) will remain online. There is nobody to advocate for those students. Most Teachers online aren’t teaching but linking free available videos and assuming the students will self study. It’s a disaster. My DS’s teacher last March completely disappeared as the course went online. Yes, individual excellent courses exist at Bluetent (you have seen me rave about calculus there) and elsewhere, but it gives my DS a very fragmented experience. OHS with its weekly clubs, and its community, and it’s excellent teaching, and a great peer group would have been absolutely perfect. I really messed up there. 😞

It is for gifted high performing kids. I hear wonderful reviews about professors. Courses have live component. Workload is significant but not busywork. They have very high level courses if you end up needing them. And they have clubs, which keep kids engaged. I would absolutely keep it on a short list for your DD. I regret not applying when time was right. We couldn’t have afforded it though.

I think we have a common ground - we agree on the past. We don’t agree on how to move forward. That’s OK. We don’t need to agree. It’s important though to have those conversations.

Damn. I didn’t realize hypertension was an issue. That just moved DH into high risk. 😞 I thought it was autoimmune, cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, autism, obesity.

CDC specifically said to prioritize elderly and people with preexisting conditions. I really don’t know why states can’t honor that. I am sorry.

Which state? I thought you were in CA? I was strictly speculating based on the number of doses that will become available (saw a graph at CNN) and the percentage of people who are willing to vaccinate. I really believe prioritizing based on age and preexisting conditions is the only way to do this. Mortality statistics show the overwhelming majority of death are elderly and/or preexisting conditions. I am sorry 😞

Well, I think we are a century ahead of everybody else, and I speak from a very personal experience. And if we continue on the same trajectory, we will one day get to the destination. I disagree that religion or color somehow excludes you from being identified as an American. I think that could prevent you in other places, but here, I do think we don’t have to give up religious identity to belong. And yes, while we have ways to go, racial identity also isn’t what will exclude one from being an American. Really does anybody here dispute that being black makes you not be an American? Well I can tell you it would in Eastern Europe exclude you to ever become Polish for example. I don’t think people here realize how racist the rest of the world really is. Chinese, Easter Europeans.... I will stop naming. We really need to understand how much we have accomplished over the past century and attempt to stay on that path. I hate the group politics because I strongly believe it is putting us on a much more divisive path. One identity to me that comes in different colors and religions but is unified by language and values is a must for a functioning of a society.

As an immigrant, the greatest thing about America is the ability to assimilate. It doesn’t matter where you are from, you can be an American. In contrast in Europe, it doesn’t matter if you are 3rd, 4th, or 5th generation. Your ethnicity will always be defined by own last name, your “blood” and it’s so difficult to be accepted. An Indian in French can never become French. He can with a passport, but French will not accept him as part of a French ethnicity. We have a culture here. You know you are an American when you meet another American abroad (despite of their color or ethnic origin). I am firmly in a camp of “when in Rome, do as Romans do” meaning we form one whole linguistically and culturally even if the whole isn’t one shade but many different shades of the same.

I think in couple of months they will be begging people to take a vaccine. We will have a ton of supply and fewer takers.

I have heard that some professors encourage students to review online, so it’s possible that positive reviews are there because kids felt compelled to write them. I do wonder what prompts students to go and review?

Yes, I still can’t get over those pictures. This discussion is bringing back memories. I was taught in school (not in America) that there were four races - white, black, yellow, and red. I remember posters with people on these colors holding hands to show friendship of nations. Wow, I am old.

Ours just published the fall schedule. Absolutely entire thing is online. There is no reason for it. I am livid.

That would have been ideal when it all started, but that ship has now long sailed. 😞

We have been sitting home since last March

It’s very location dependent. US is huge. We have fewer than 250 active cases for a population over 450k in the county. So I don’t think it’s too soon here. It might be in some areas. Each state is like a country in Europe.

I think we need to take steps forward. For example, colleges might want to keep large lectures online, but I don’t see why a class with fewer than 20 kids can’t run in person. Or why labs can’t be in person (require gloves and require kids to wipe down equipment as they exit). So maybe the entire orchestra can’t play, but I have lost my voice trying to tell them to create small chamber groups, charge differently, and use the outside space (string players can mask and weather here is great year round) to do some group playing. We won’t be able to go from zero to hundred, but with vaccines and masks, we can go to 20, and then 40, and eventually as close to 100 as we can. People think they can sit and all of a sudden a day will come when they can jump back to total normalcy. We need to slowly walk there and we need to start walking now.

I think it’s worth reading for details. Sometimes a theme emerges. Sometimes you get details on how the course is graded. It’s important to weed out embittered students. For example, one of the math teachers here with super low ratings teaches stats, a course designed to satisfy math requirement for those who don’t want to take any other math class. So kids assume stats should be super easy and rant at this Professor for actually having standards. But then when I looked closely at reviews, I realized kids taking upper level math with this guy were fairly happy - they thought he was a tough but thorough teacher. Those same qualities weren’t appreciated by stats students.

very different experience here. We have fewer than 250 active cases for over 450k people and schools have been shut down for the entire year. Our CC already made a decision to be online next fall. Even with vaccines. Apparently the faculty was asked what they wanted, and many have bought homes out of the area, so they decided they want to work online. Damn the students.

Here all teachers are at home. then I suggest vaccinating all high risk working individuals (teachers or grocery workers).

I think there is an unrealistic expectation among people that the pandemic will just end. Period. I think we need to figure out a way to live with this as we fight. We need a shift in thinking. There is enough data now to be able to resume life with modifications - install filters, improve air circulation, UV disinfect large concert halls, continue masking, using booster shots..... Instead I see our children’s orchestra just sitting and waiting for this pandemic to magically disappear. Our CC will be online again next Fall. We could have fundraisers to improve ventilation, created smaller groups, moved some things outside.... everybody is paralyzed here.

I like the visual with dirt piles so much more than debt. Debt is more abstract, and lots of young kids have a harder time visualizing debt. But it’s easy to dig through the piles of dirt in the ground and fill them up! I showed that explanation to my DS and we think it’s the best one we have ever seen.