Huge changes to TJ admissions test beginning next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

Just a tad bit racist, no?

Nice try to defect, but it's calling it like it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP here. I don't think there is an ethnic basis to the cheating that happens, and I think there are various reasons that kids might cheat.

I do think that some parents appear to have a different definition of what constitutes cheating and/or plagiarism and so are confused and upset when their kids are accused. Some parents seem to think that if it is not written down that something is cheating, then it is okay.

It doesn't seem fair to give the school system another job that the parents should be doing, but it is possible that FCPS will need to start educating kids and their parents from kindergarten on as to what constitutes cheating. They need to start enforcing standards, even when parents say, "Oh, my child had no idea that this was considered cheating!" Kids and parents will start to learn more about what is considered cheating when they see consequences being enforced, with a system of more serious consequences with each successive infraction.

Specifically to TJ, what if they chose the One Book and One Question this year to motivate thoughtful discussions about cheating, what it is, and how and why it hurts the cheater and the people around him? Teens are capable of thinking deeply and independently and this is a good time in their lives for them to consider ethical and moral questions and start to make their own decisions about right and wrong.

+ 1.

I think figuring out a way to shame the cheaters would probably work great as well.

I'm not sure what it would mean to shame cheaters, but I do think clear consequences that are utilized across the board would be a big positive step.
And parents would need to stop making excuses for their kids and allow the school to do its job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

- "Asian supremacists look down on everyone else"? Wearing Nazi paraphernalia, perhaps? Get a life, dude.

- "many of the students are egregious cheaters" - Many implies greater than 50%. If TJ is 60% Asian, at least 600 students are cheaters. And you have records to prove this? You must be the Pink Panther!

- "the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes" - You are dreamer too! Ain't gonna happen. Keep posting this every day, if it makes you feel better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

- "Asian supremacists look down on everyone else"? Wearing Nazi paraphernalia, perhaps? Get a life, dude.

- "many of the students are egregious cheaters" - Many implies greater than 50%. If TJ is 60% Asian, at least 600 students are cheaters. And you have records to prove this? You must be the Pink Panther!

- "the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes" - You are dreamer too! Ain't gonna happen. Keep posting this every day, if it makes you feel better

DP. Many implies a lot. Many TJ parent feel that 9p confirmed violations (which implies many more kids cheating who were not caught) is 90 too many. Are you seriously saying 90 honor code violations in less than a year is not a lot of cheating?

[Anonymous]

You'll find cheaters in all races (India, Korean, Chinese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, Caucasian, ...). The goal should be to catch as many cheaters as possible and expel them (or give an F grade). All cheating will come down drastically. If someone can get the names of the companies with files of old test papers, Washington Post might love the names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

- "Asian supremacists look down on everyone else"? Wearing Nazi paraphernalia, perhaps? Get a life, dude.

- "many of the students are egregious cheaters" - Many implies greater than 50%. If TJ is 60% Asian, at least 600 students are cheaters. And you have records to prove this? You must be the Pink Panther!

- "the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes" - You are dreamer too! Ain't gonna happen. Keep posting this every day, if it makes you feel better

DP. Many implies a lot. Many TJ parent feel that 9p confirmed violations (which implies many more kids cheating who were not caught) is 90 too many. Are you seriously saying 90 honor code violations in less than a year is not a lot of cheating?

My post was not an opinion on whether 90 was too high or not. It was directed at the blatant racism of the previous poster who seems to imply that many of the asian students are egregious cheaters.

As to your question, I think even 1 is one too many. However (we are beating a horse that died several months ago here), if nothing is done about it, it will not stop. Some people seem to think the kids and their parents should stop this but not sure which world they live in..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

- "Asian supremacists look down on everyone else"? Wearing Nazi paraphernalia, perhaps? Get a life, dude.

- "many of the students are egregious cheaters" - Many implies greater than 50%. If TJ is 60% Asian, at least 600 students are cheaters. And you have records to prove this? You must be the Pink Panther!

- "the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes" - You are dreamer too! Ain't gonna happen. Keep posting this every day, if it makes you feel better

DP. Many implies a lot. Many TJ parent feel that 9p confirmed violations (which implies many more kids cheating who were not caught) is 90 too many. Are you seriously saying 90 honor code violations in less than a year is not a lot of cheating?

My post was not an opinion on whether 90 was too high or not. It was directed at the blatant racism of the previous poster who seems to imply that many of the asian students are egregious cheaters.

As to your question, I think even 1 is one too many. However (we are beating a horse that died several months ago here), if nothing is done about it, it will not stop. Some people seem to think the kids and their parents should stop this but not sure which world they live in..

The one where kids can choose not to cheat. And parents can, you know, parent. Make it clear that having integrity is more important than getting an A. That they are not raising a kid who cheats. That if TJ turns their kid into a cheater, that is unacceptable, and they will return their kid to their base school. That sort of thing. The school plays a role in stopping cheating. But the ultimate responsibly to teach morals and ethical behavior, and enforce consequences lies with the parents. You clearly taught your kid that academics are important, or they would be at TJ. So teach them that honesty or integrity are important too. And that behaving with integrity is more important than grades. This is not hard. Although it might require you to do unpleasant things. Like accept a B from your kid, or enforce consequences for cheating.

But, many Asian parents believe that academic achievement is more important than behaving ethically. So, they don't want to enforce no cheating. In fact, they don't want the school to enforce it either.

[Anonymous]

I'm definitely not pro-cheating. But is all the cheating on exams/papers, etc or also on homework? I will admit that there was rampant cheating on homework in high school, because there was just too much of it, and many kids didn't need that much to understand concepts. (Or even for the ones who did, doing 30 math problems the wrong way at home was not a great way to learn.) I honestly didn't feel that bad about it, but I would never ever think of cheating on a real assignment.

All that to say - is the cheating a function of not just stress levels but also too much homework?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: For most of its history, Fairfax County had no special magnet school and the schools were just fine. TJ needs to return to its original purpose as a neighborhood school for students living in Alexandria, Annandale and North Springfield. This would relieve overcrowding at other schools and help pyramids like Annandale that have seen their boundaries redrawn over the years to include all the multi-family housing that used to be zoned to both Jefferson and Annandale. There are too many obnoxious Asian supremacists at TJ who look down at everyone else, many of the students are egregious cheaters, and the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes.

- "Asian supremacists look down on everyone else"? Wearing Nazi paraphernalia, perhaps? Get a life, dude.

- "many of the students are egregious cheaters" - Many implies greater than 50%. If TJ is 60% Asian, at least 600 students are cheaters. And you have records to prove this? You must be the Pink Panther!

- "the school system as a whole would be better off without the test prep/AAP mania that TJ promotes" - You are dreamer too! Ain't gonna happen. Keep posting this every day, if it makes you feel better

DP. Many implies a lot. Many TJ parent feel that 9p confirmed violations (which implies many more kids cheating who were not caught) is 90 too many. Are you seriously saying 90 honor code violations in less than a year is not a lot of cheating?

My post was not an opinion on whether 90 was too high or not. It was directed at the blatant racism of the previous poster who seems to imply that many of the asian students are egregious cheaters.

As to your question, I think even 1 is one too many. However (we are beating a horse that died several months ago here), if nothing is done about it, it will not stop. Some people seem to think the kids and their parents should stop this but not sure which world they live in..

The one where kids can choose not to cheat. And parents can, you know, parent. Make it clear that having integrity is more important than getting an A. That they are not raising a kid who cheats. That if TJ turns their kid into a cheater, that is unacceptable, and they will return their kid to their base school. That sort of thing. The school plays a role in stopping cheating. But the ultimate responsibly to teach morals and ethical behavior, and enforce consequences lies with the parents. You clearly taught your kid that academics are important, or they would be at TJ. So teach them that honesty or integrity are important too. And that behaving with integrity is more important than grades. This is not hard. Although it might require you to do unpleasant things. Like accept a B from your kid, or enforce consequences for cheating.

But, many Asian parents believe that academic achievement is more important than behaving ethically. So, they don't want to enforce no cheating. In fact, they don't want the school to enforce it either.

(1) You lack comprehension skill - Read my response.. especially the part that says "I think even 1 is one too many". because if you did, you would not be dishing out free parenting advice that I wasn't really asking for.
(2) We will have to disagree on enforcement. It's the school. What you are saying is akin to "Crime will only stop if parents teach their children not to deal drugs, rape, shoot others, etc. NO. Crime will stop only if the cops do their job, IN ADDITION TO THE COMMUNITY DOING ITS JOB (i.e. PARENTING).

[Anonymous]

I'm Chinese background. Cheating is absolutely not acceptable in our house and our children rather get a bad grade they would not cheat. Im pround of that. Not all asians cheat and there are caucasians who cheat in general (I don't know if they do or not at TJ). Can people stop making this an ethnic issue? Can we work together in an effective way to make a change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prepping is a term used by losers who had to find excuses for their failures. They used this term to label certain group of people when they need to 1) find excuses why these people performed better than them and 2) belittle their achievements and abilities so that they can use it in a future propaganda against this group of people.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:or very high science percentile (10%).

Actually, 90th percentile for science. For math, I would use KhanAcademy, it's really helpful, has Sequences & Series (Patterns), Probability and Combinatorics, and Geometry and Optimization. Not too sure about "Out-of-the-box Algebra". Good luck all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or very high science percentile (10%).

Actually, 90th percentile for science. For math, I would use KhanAcademy, it's really helpful, has Sequences & Series (Patterns), Probability and Combinatorics, and Geometry and Optimization. Not too sure about "Out-of-the-box Algebra". Good luck all!

Thanks. Is there any available books to prep for math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or very high science percentile (10%).

Actually, 90th percentile for science. For math, I would use KhanAcademy, it's really helpful, has Sequences & Series (Patterns), Probability and Combinatorics, and Geometry and Optimization. Not too sure about "Out-of-the-box Algebra". Good luck all!

Thanks. Is there any available books to prep for math?

Nope. New never before seen test used by private industry. Nothing has been released about except what is on the TJ website.

[Anonymous]

Grapes sourr! I know a chinese kid who was in TJ AND got VA champion in a sport, went to Yale two years ago. The kid practiced almost daily and played tournaments (tournament takes 3-4 hours )two or three times a month, apparently no time to take the after-class or weekend tutoring.