Good for a laugh. My kids occasionally tell me about particularly entertaining postings on the so-called 'community forum'. It's a curious phenomenon. The posters would be discouraged, I think, to know what the best Corbett students think about them. It makes for some good laughs, but there is something serious going on, too.
The erosion of community. One of the earliest meanings of the word forum is an open-air meeting place where people gathered to exchange ideas. People participated face to face and with civility, and those who might have chosen instead to shout obscenities from behind a shrub or croak from beneath a rock would not not have been considered participants. As for the definition of community, well, playing online might be its perfect inversion. Sadder and sadder.
The marvels of modern technology. While technology provides some wonderful benefits, its darker side is that it can engender laziness and foster illusion. It can degrade some magnificent old traditions, like the forum. Those who peck away anonymously and post irresponsibly on so-called 'online forums' are missing out on the satisfaction that comes with participating in the human community as a person with a name and a face. Like reality TV, online 'forums' are probably here to stay, and that's O.K. But the illusion that one is heroically contributing to the public conversation, while evidently either satisfying or merely addictive to some, is no substitute for real public life. And 'online forums' are no more public discussions than reality T.V. is, well, reality. And when the topic is education, irony compounds upon irony, as no educated person could take seriously the anonymous postings of online would-be education consultants. As a dear friend often says, 'Virtual means not really.'
Education is a serious enterprise. It calls for responsible deliberation among grownups. Grownups sit up straight, look others in the eye, and only hide their identities when they are doing something of which they are ashamed. While I suppose there is some glimmer of hope in the fact that so many forum posters choose to remain anonymous (which means that they do still have some capacity for shame) it is a sad example that they are setting for our youth and a horrible reflection that they are casting on a lovely community filled with wonderful people.
A special apology. I know that there is someone who, upon reading all of this, will feel his or her fingers twitch with the need to respond. Unfortunately, this is a blog and not a 'community forum'. It's a one-way street, designed for those who are interested in what is going on not only in the district but also in the thoughts of one of its several architects. If you feel an urgent need to post, then there are places you can go. Catch you later.
