TJ environment now

[Anonymous]

Had not considered having kids applying to TJ in the past due a student there telling me it was a pressure cooker environment, and students were expected to mostly self-learn first. Has that changed in recent years?

[Anonymous]

DC is a junior there now. The self teaching has mainly been in CS and math to date although a bit less in math this year than in 9th. Knowing that I don my plan to encourage my second kid to go only because DC2 is in Algebra 7 but isn’t as much of a natural math kid as DC1.

The principal has been trying hard to tone down the pressure cooker feel of it - as much as you can in a school full of kids that pretty much all take school seriously and work to do well in it. I rarely get the sense from DC that it’s a feel of competition AGAINST other kids but rather of pushing yourself to do well. Just our experience so far.

DC loves it there FWIW.

[Anonymous]

^ it’s NOT a feel of competing against others

[Anonymous]

Understand what your student is getting into. Be certain they can handle the challenging coursework, which is significantly more difficult than at their base school. The math courses, in particular, are the most rigorous. Have a high school teacher or tutor evaluate your student's readiness for TJ-level math. Do your own due diligence ahead of committing, and avoid the emotional toll of potentially returning to the base school.

Each class has a mix of students, with many zooming through advanced classes, and many more struggling at the other end with basic required classes. Know where your student fits.

[Anonymous]

The TJ selection process is a bit broken so you have to do a bit of self selection. But there is a silver lining. There is a much flatter, wider grading curve. Getting a B isn't so bad as it used to be.

[Anonymous]

It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

[Anonymous]

A lot of kids who came through the Curie system are struggling as well as many kids who got in due to various bonus points.

We need reform of admissions. At least introduce teacher recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of kids who came through the Curie system are struggling as well as many kids who got in due to various bonus points.

We need reform of admissions. At least introduce teacher recommendations.

must be Curie dropouts who couldnt survive their curriculum, but TJ lottery admission unwisely got them in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

At the regional science fair that had dwindling participants from TJ, people attributed it to TJ principal having zero STEM experience. why would they recruit someone who lacked science and tech experience to lead a school established with the very focus in those areas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of kids who came through the Curie system are struggling as well as many kids who got in due to various bonus points.

We need reform of admissions. At least introduce teacher recommendations.

must be Curie dropouts who couldnt survive their curriculum, but TJ lottery admission unwisely got them in.

Going to curie doesn't make you smart.
The majority of curie kids don't get in.
The smart kids that went to curie were the ones that used to get in, now it's a random selection of kids including a random selection of curie students.
Back when there was a merit based admissions process, most of the students could handle the academic rigor.
Now they can't so they reduced the academic rigor so they don't end up failing a third of the class and giving another third all Bs and Cs.

So the upside is that the kids that would have gotten in anyway are no longer competing with 400 other students for top spots, they are competing with maybe 100 other students.
The stress levels are still high but reasonable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

At the regional science fair that had dwindling participants from TJ, people attributed it to TJ principal having zero STEM experience. why would they recruit someone who lacked science and tech experience to lead a school established with the very focus in those areas?

She was brought in to diversify the student body.
She had some success in california diversifying their GT program.

[Anonymous]

My son will be a freshman so I don't know yet, but he does actually teach himself in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

At the regional science fair that had dwindling participants from TJ, people attributed it to TJ principal having zero STEM experience. why would they recruit someone who lacked science and tech experience to lead a school established with the very focus in those areas?

She was brought in to diversify the student body.
She had some success in california diversifying their GT program.

DEI is the current trend. Merit comeback is imminent though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son will be a freshman so I don't know yet, but he does actually teach himself in math.

If this was entirely random, 17% of the kids there would belong there.
In theory the process does select for something cognitive so the comments that about 1/3 of the kids there would have gone there anyways doesn't seem crazy.
If you son is one of the kids that would have gotten there anyways, then congrats, he will have most of the benefit of a TJ experience with 1/3rd the stress.