A discerning reader, and especially one whose first language is English can usually find the subtleties and slight nuances in written material that will enable them to determine if one writer is the same as another; call it style, if you will. On the other hand, one who has not developed such skills through extensive or intensive reading or who is still in the process, some may say throes, of learning English will find such a determination of this kind to be quite difficult. In short, they can guess and may get it right on occasion, but it would be reasonable to assume that their failure rate will be much higher than those who have L1 English skills.

Obviously, there is a poster in these forums who so enjoys his 15 minutes of fame that his very reluctance to step out of the limelight dampens his discernment and, since English is L2 for him, the task becomes one which has an amplified degree of difficulty. Therefore, he must make a stab in the dark and cast accusations based on similarities that will be found in any posts written by anyone with even a modicum of writing skills. Actually, truth be told, this method of his to take focus away from his own ill written posts and efforts to support an unsupportable argument is a somewhat tried and true tactic of his. Eventually those he accuses get so tired of the juvenile nature of such attacks they simply fade back into the woodwork while wondering at the inanity of it all. So, really, it is being kind to suggest that it is just a shortcoming when in fact it is a kind of manipulation.

In another post that I wrote for the review forum, one that, by the way, did not get posted for some reason that is beyond me because I didn't resort to foul or abusive language in a manner that others seem to get away with, I thanked said poster for comparing my posts to Kevin's. I did so because I believe his writing has shown that Kevin is quite articulate. My own posts, though I do make an effort to use proper English, are not nearly as articulate. I sometimes stumble around looking for an appropriate way to express myself and I'm somewhat given to digression. Whereas Kevin seems to be quite focused and manages to avoid digression and pretty much stays on point.

I don't have to agree with Kevin to appreciate his attempt to take a balanced approach. Nor do I have to believe that the school for which he works is the cats meow. As I've stated before, I wouldn't accept employment at any school without first checking them out very carefully. In this particular case I would meet with Kevin and get his impressions first hand. Meanwhile, I think he has presented his case very well. One has only to read his posts to realize that he is making no claims that it is the perfect school. He has even made it quite clear that it's not for everybody.

Another commonality among the naysayers here is their name calling when someone disagrees with them or when it is suggested that someone be given the benefit of the doubt. If that happens, suddenly you're a "corporate lackey," or an "apologist," or, and here's my favorite new one, "a grovelling weasel." Now, to add an even more disgusting element to the mix, they've decided to add some language that could only be viewed by anyone with taste as vulgar. Of course that's just another tactic that they hope will effectively discredit a school that they, essentially, know nothing about.

There is no defense actually for less than, shall we say, a reasonable amount of professionalism in these forums. Anything less, discredits the website itself by demeaning its value; in addition, it suggests that participants in this forum are cut from anything other than a gentlemanly cloth, and may have the effect of driving students and teachers alike away from this site out of frustration coupled with the hope of finding more professional pastures elsewhere.