Why is there always some kind of issue/concern/problem with TJ?
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Anonymous
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Why does TJ always seem to be in some kind of problem with educators or parents. These boards never cease to have some kind of TJ problem- we never hear anything about other magnet schools or Academies of Loudoun etc
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Anonymous
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Look at the title of the forum. This is the AAP Forum, created to fence off the acrimony from the regular VA Schools Forum, back when FCPS was still a part of that.
As TJ became more acrimonious, it garnered more posts here. The Academies of Loudoun aren't really controversial. There's no reason for them to end up here. |
Anonymous
| Yes this is true- there is always some sort of an issue. |
Anonymous
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Because it's the crown jewel of FCPS and was once considered the best school in the country. It's one of the later remainders of the once-sterling reputation FCPS had for being one of the best school districts in the country back in the 1980s.
It's also a school that attracts a hugely disproportionate number of kids from Type A, high SES, tiger mom folks who get super pissed when they perceive their kids' chances of getting into a top 10 college might be even remotely threatened. |
Anonymous
| It’s also because the changes are new at TJ re: admission AND it is still tied up in court AND some people hate the new process so far regularly looking for ways to critique the school out of some view that if they get rid of its current administration leadership the old model will return. |
Anonymous
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HB in APS always generates a few topics that are similar in disdain as TJ. They get lost in the larger Rest of Virginia space but they are there. Both schools are smaller and provide uniques experiences that garner extra scrutiny. Kids receiving a specialized education while most of the population is attending schools that are over crowded or have high numbers of difficult to teach kids draw attention and some jealousy.
It is part of the reason that AAP is scrutinized, it is a program that serves a smaller percentage of kids that causes some parents to get upset because why doesn’t their kid get special treatment. It’s not fair to the kids in the middle so get rid of it. It is part of the reason people don’t like IB. It costs more money and creates a school within a school that allows a small group of kids access to something special and challenging. |
Anonymous
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FCPS created the definition of a scarce good when it created TJ so it’s a case study in supply-induced demand. Fights ensue.
That - plus it’s a testament to the hypocrisy of the current School Board that they constantly blather about “equity” but spend a disproportionate amount of time tinkering with processes at a school that is only attended by 3% of FCPS students in high school. The last thing in the world they actually care about are equal outcomes; they just want preferential outcomes distributed in a way that benefits them at the polls. |
Anonymous
| There are some former and current TJ parents who are using their criticism of the school to make a living now with being on Fox News and writing books. Follow the money... |
Anonymous
So who funds TJ AAG, Fairfax Indivisible, 4PublicEdVa, Blue Virginia, etc? Follow that money! |
Anonymous
The huge difference between IB and "AAP and TJ" is that anyone who wants to can do it. AAP is a firewall if your kid is not selected for the program even if they could easily excel there. Same with TJ. |
Anonymous
Which it won't. The current principal had absolutely nothing to do with the changes to the admissions process and no choice but to support the new students who were entering the school. She did not advocate for the new process, initiate or support its development, or involve herself in the creation of it. And if she leaves, that will have no impact on the process at all. One wonders what they expected of her in the first place. |
Anonymous
In the case of TJ Alumni Action Group, it's individual small-dollar donors, most of whom are alumni of the school. But they don't really do that much. |
Anonymous
+1 It's all part of Republican astroturfing efforts. Asra and her MAGA buddies push RWNJ propaganda. They regularly lie and distort the truth to razz up the base. |
Anonymous
First of all, they don't spend a disproportionate amount of time tinkering with the process. The TJ Admissions Office does that - because it's their job. The School Board would love nothing more than to stop talking about TJ and its admissions process, but a small group of parents looking to make a quick buck or launch their political careers continue to make an issue out of it. |
Anonymous
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I live in MD and my Asian kids went to a magnet there.
Following the trials and tribulations of TJ, it's very apparent to me that high-performing Asians will be under the societal microscope for our generation and the next, and subject to more pressure than any other high-performing groups. We are continually accused of being robots who prep - as if preparing a child with average capabilities will ever get them into a magnet! There is a severe lack of understanding in the general population, and sadly on school boards as well, regarding the limits of academic preparation, and there is just enough racial animus as to make reasonable people, who otherwise wouldn't have bothered about test prep issues, to claim that Asians who prep pose an equity risk for this school, as well as other magnets and even college (although this last is strenuously denied, it's rather obvious). Academic magnets should remain focused on test scores, grades and other measures of intellectual rigor. There is a place for giving a leg up to historically-oppressed minorities (and some Asians could qualify, but that's roundly ignored by all), but that place is not in academic magnet admissions... or indeed, in any university who bills itself as a top academic institution. When favoring one group over another, it's just too easy to switch from one racism to another. |