Number of Applicants for TJ this year ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. This is about increasing Black and Hispanic enrollment at TJ. That is why they changed GT to AAP. Again, look at who is pushing to change TJ-- hint: it's not white people, except for SB members who are all social justice warriors.

They have never suggested changing admissions to a lottery and eliminating merit before. Only now that white applicants are declining.

Interesting conspiracy theory- white kids aren’t as interested in TJ so the school needs more black and Hispanic kids to attract the white kids, somehow. Novel theory, the presence of black kids and Hispanic kids isn’t usually thought to attract white kids, but I sure you’ve thought this through

You are so dense. Removing the challenging entrance metrics means all applicants have an equal shot, so more white kids will get in, too. Look at the proposal pie chart and you will see the huge increase in white kids by a lottery.

Subtext: Asian students are inherently better because the metrics that they currently use are the only ones that could possibly matter

Look at the stats — percentage of Asians applicants was higher. Facts. No one is saying better but you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at page 18 of the proposal and you will see the projected increase in white students.

And pages 19 and 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You couldn't pay me to send my kids there anymore -- too high stress and we have really good local schools. When I was a kid, TJ wasn't as high stress. I imagine there are a lot of parents that have that same mind set.

+1

So much better before TJ existed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It only requires two points of comparison with TJ to see that this whole exercise is less about improving Black and Hispanic enrollment and more about improving White enrollment:

The first is a public school some 15 or so miles away from TJ - Langley High School, ranked 2nd in Virginia, where exactly 1.96% of the student body is Black. New building, well supplied labs and clubs, and the zoning here is such that adjoining Mclean High School (with a significantly higher black and hispanic enrollment) is overcrowded. This is the definition of systemic racism (exacerbated by zoning and redlining) leading to disparate educational outcomes. Why is there no outrage about this? That's because it isn't Asians taking seats away from Whites is it?

Well, Langley High School isn't a Governor's school like TJ, so let's look at one:
Maggie Walker High School is a governor's school. It's also named after the first black woman to own a bank in the US. No Black or Hispanic students from Hanover have gotten into the Maggie Walker Governor’s School since at least 2015, according to data sent from the county school system. Maggie Walker had only nine Hispanic students during the 2019-2020 school year. In Richmond Public Schools, a district made primarily of Black students and an ever-growing Latino population, 30 out of the 39 students selected to attend the governor’s school in the 2019-20 school year were white. This isn't because of a lack of black applicants - 53% of applicants from Richmond public schools to Maggie Walker were black. Why is there no outrage? Well that's because 72% of its enrollment is White.

There is outrage at Maggie Walker and Qarni is working on a new proposal for them too. Nice try.

Haha nice try! There's a lot of virtue signaling at Maggie Walker, but no changes. Quoting here - While the 11-page plan adopted by the board of the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School on Aug. 20 contains a reference to “underserved populations,” it does not mention racism or Black or brown students. It also contains no benchmarks for actualizing language stated in the new plan’s first goal, to “create a welcoming environment that celebrates and reflects the diversity of the school districts we serve and fosters a sense of belonging for all.".......... “We don’t appeal to everyone, nor do I think we should,” Hanover School Board chairman John Axselle said during the meeting. “I think it might change our vision, mission or our uniqueness if we try to look like a general public school. We’re not. This is a gifted school.”

https://richmond.com/news/local/maggie-walker-schools-new-5-year-plan-addresses-diversity-but-with-no-metrics-critics-question/article_aec411a7-c3f7-54cf-ba22-0882f39a431a.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It only requires two points of comparison with TJ to see that this whole exercise is less about improving Black and Hispanic enrollment and more about improving White enrollment:

The first is a public school some 15 or so miles away from TJ - Langley High School, ranked 2nd in Virginia, where exactly 1.96% of the student body is Black. New building, well supplied labs and clubs, and the zoning here is such that adjoining Mclean High School (with a significantly higher black and hispanic enrollment) is overcrowded. This is the definition of systemic racism (exacerbated by zoning and redlining) leading to disparate educational outcomes. Why is there no outrage about this? That's because it isn't Asians taking seats away from Whites is it?

Well, Langley High School isn't a Governor's school like TJ, so let's look at one:
Maggie Walker High School is a governor's school. It's also named after the first black woman to own a bank in the US. No Black or Hispanic students from Hanover have gotten into the Maggie Walker Governor’s School since at least 2015, according to data sent from the county school system. Maggie Walker had only nine Hispanic students during the 2019-2020 school year. In Richmond Public Schools, a district made primarily of Black students and an ever-growing Latino population, 30 out of the 39 students selected to attend the governor’s school in the 2019-20 school year were white. This isn't because of a lack of black applicants - 53% of applicants from Richmond public schools to Maggie Walker were black. Why is there no outrage? Well that's because 72% of its enrollment is White.

There is outrage at Maggie Walker and Qarni is working on a new proposal for them too. Nice try.

Haha nice try! There's a lot of virtue signaling at Maggie Walker, but no changes. Quoting here - While the 11-page plan adopted by the board of the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School on Aug. 20 contains a reference to “underserved populations,” it does not mention racism or Black or brown students. It also contains no benchmarks for actualizing language stated in the new plan’s first goal, to “create a welcoming environment that celebrates and reflects the diversity of the school districts we serve and fosters a sense of belonging for all.".......... “We don’t appeal to everyone, nor do I think we should,” Hanover School Board chairman John Axselle said during the meeting. “I think it might change our vision, mission or our uniqueness if we try to look like a general public school. We’re not. This is a gifted school.”

https://richmond.com/news/local/maggie-walker-schools-new-5-year-plan-addresses-diversity-but-with-no-metrics-critics-question/article_aec411a7-c3f7-54cf-ba22-0882f39a431a.html

Gifted schools are sacrosanct only if they are majority-white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at page 18 of the proposal and you will see the projected increase in white students.

Look at the increase in economically disadvantaged. That is what this is about. The percentages in each year shown are tripled or quadrupled in some cases.

When the changes were made to admissions process a few years ago, the purpose was to increase Black and Hispanic admission. It did not work.

Watch the SB meetings. It is about increasing Black and Hispanic. Period.

[Anonymous]

It must be nice to have white privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see anything in the lottery approach that discriminates against Asian kids in a manner that would support an equal protection argument. It may not favor them as much.

Look at the pie chart from the proposal and see the huge reduction in Asian American students and increase in all the rest (other than more than one race which is usually half Asian) including white students and you will see what the intended outcome of this proposal is. It is clearly designed to reduce the Asian American population and affirm the anti-Asian sentiment you see all over this board.

What you also need to see, is that this clearly benefits one race more than any other (surprise, it's not Black or Hispanic). The goal appears to be to increase White enrollments, since they go up by the maximum percentage in the projections for each year. This whole thing was never about improving Black and Hispanic enrollment more than a token amount. Pitting minorities against each other - divide and rule - hm, this playbook is familiar.

That's just not correct at all. The white population would increase in the proposed change by about 33%. The Black and Hispanic populations would increase by several hundred percent.

And besides the fact, the far greater predictor of what will happen will come from what sort of impact the new policy will have on quality applications from each demographic.

I do feel somewhat for the folks who spent all that money on test prep during 7th grade - they definitely got sold a bill of goods.

Dont. It is what many people dont get.

Improving math, reading comprehension and writing skills is the main point. TJ is only a part of the story.

It is like complaining that you wasted all your health insurance premiums because you did not get cancer and use up insurance dollars.

Man, I would love to believe that. But if there is no exam moving forward, I would STRONGLY expect that the TJ prep industry would dry up REAL fast.

As it should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at page 18 of the proposal and you will see the projected increase in white students.

Look at the increase in economically disadvantaged. That is what this is about. The percentages in each year shown are tripled or quadrupled in some cases.

When the changes were made to admissions process a few years ago, the purpose was to increase Black and Hispanic admission. It did not work.

Watch the SB meetings. It is about increasing Black and Hispanic. Period.

Look at the data. It's only about getting more white kids into the school. They're using black and hispanic students as excuses in their power games, and refusing to make any real changes which would actually improve matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see anything in the lottery approach that discriminates against Asian kids in a manner that would support an equal protection argument. It may not favor them as much.

Look at the pie chart from the proposal and see the huge reduction in Asian American students and increase in all the rest (other than more than one race which is usually half Asian) including white students and you will see what the intended outcome of this proposal is. It is clearly designed to reduce the Asian American population and affirm the anti-Asian sentiment you see all over this board.

What you also need to see, is that this clearly benefits one race more than any other (surprise, it's not Black or Hispanic). The goal appears to be to increase White enrollments, since they go up by the maximum percentage in the projections for each year. This whole thing was never about improving Black and Hispanic enrollment more than a token amount. Pitting minorities against each other - divide and rule - hm, this playbook is familiar.

That's just not correct at all. The white population would increase in the proposed change by about 33%. The Black and Hispanic populations would increase by several hundred percent.

And besides the fact, the far greater predictor of what will happen will come from what sort of impact the new policy will have on quality applications from each demographic.

I do feel somewhat for the folks who spent all that money on test prep during 7th grade - they definitely got sold a bill of goods.

Dont. It is what many people dont get.

Improving math, reading comprehension and writing skills is the main point. TJ is only a part of the story.

It is like complaining that you wasted all your health insurance premiums because you did not get cancer and use up insurance dollars.

Man, I would love to believe that. But if there is no exam moving forward, I would STRONGLY expect that the TJ prep industry would dry up REAL fast.

I am sure some people are only focused on that. It may not be TJ prep. It would change to something else, other enrichment activities. There wont be any TJ prep for sure in that case.

At least for my kid, absolutely nothing changes. Preparing for TJ provides a nice structure on areas to improve. Just like I used professional certifications materials to improve myself in certain areas, even though I dont actually take the certification.

Who wants to now attend a watered down TJ anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It must be nice to have white privilege.

Of the five most vocal people I've heard advocate for change at TJ, only one - Scott Surovell - is white. Sean Perryman, head of the Fairfax NAACP, is Black. Atif Qarni, the Secretary of Education in Virginia, and Sujatha Hampton, head of the Fairfax NAACP's Education Committee, are both South Asian. Karen Keys Gamarra, an at-large School Board member, is Black.

[Anonymous]

Go Megan!

[Anonymous]

Using a pandemic to punt on merit based admission is ridiculous. Go Megan.

[Anonymous]

Megan makes sense.

[Anonymous]

The Board is suggesting a remedial math program at TJ for kids that aren't up for the rigor? I have an idea - how about an admission test. Duh.