I believe humans are inherently racist, or actually discriminatory against those not considered part of our “tribe,” whatever that may be. We have a built-in “us versus them” mentality that exists despite conscious efforts to educate and be mindful of those attitudes in ourselves. The sooner we admit to subconscious bias, the sooner we can mitigate it by remaining vigilant against that kind of thinking.

You echo my experience to a T. Sometimes people assume I’m a man to hilarious effect, but most of the time it’s a non-issue.

Was majoring in accounting and had to take a CS101 class programming in Pascal. Changed majors immediately, thinking “Where has this been all my life?” This predates PCs, although I did have a Commodore 64 to practice coding on BASIC after that.

COBOL because I am a fossil

I agree, but maybe for older students. Have you ever tried to engage a group of young children in a discussion?

It’s how mine worked. My best friend and I learned the sign language alphabet so we could talk to each other in class by holding our hands below our desks.

Exactly. My son’s school even had “silent lunch” some days. They treated his ADHD by denying recess most of the time. In high school, he was barred from standing next to his best friend in the stands during football games (they both played trumpet in marching band) because they were talking. There is very little opportunity for children to socialize in school, and most of it is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.

Treat women as fellow humans

I agree. People are unhappy because they’ve been conditioned to think they lack something vital if they don’t have romance. When really, a lot of times we’re better off without all that drama.