Fairfax County Public Schools secretly sold China a 'Handbook to Clone' TJ, the top math school in the US. In exchange f

[Anonymous]

What on earth?

[Anonymous]

What price were you expecting?

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile we could be cloning it here in the US but apparently don’t want to do that.

[Anonymous]

FCPS has had a partnership with the Chinese govt for years. They used to fly FCPS AAP principals over there to instruct China on how to build gifted programs like our AAP program, a little over a decade ago.

Was this part of it?

[Anonymous]

good way to keep ahead of the US, I doubt the US returns the favor even though Chinese schools probably three grades ahead

[Anonymous]

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires individuals or entities acting on behalf of foreign governments or organizations in political or quasi-political capacities to disclose their relationship, activities, and finances.

If FCPS was acting at the behest or under the direction of a foreign government (China) in selling intellectual property, they might be required to register under FARA. Failure to register could result in penalties, including fines or prosecution. The key question would be whether FCPS was engaging in activities that could be considered political or influential for the foreign government, rather than just commercial transactions.

If FCPS violated FARA, the individuals who could face liability would likely be those directly responsible for the decision-making, contractual agreements, and interactions with foreign entities. This might include:

1. School District Administrators: Individuals in leadership roles who authorized or coordinated the transaction.
2. Legal or Compliance Teams: Staff responsible for ensuring adherence to federal regulations, including international dealings.
3. School Board Members: If they approved or were aware of the transaction.

Under FARA, penalties for non-compliance can be severe. Willful violations can result in fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to five years.

There are also other laws that could have been broken. FERPA if they shared student data.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely shameful, shame on FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has had a partnership with the Chinese govt for years. They used to fly FCPS AAP principals over there to instruct China on how to build gifted programs like our AAP program, a little over a decade ago.

Was this part of it?

This seems a bit crazy to me. I’m not sure why any country would want to clone American public schools at this point. Ok, TJ maybe. But still. Surely China has education figured out better than we do at this point.

[Anonymous]

OP.

Please.

Believe me.

There are thousands and thousands of extremely rigorous STEM-heavy school all over Asia, in China, Taiwan, Singapore, S. Korea, Japan, etc. Their students run rings around our students.

China probably bought this out of curiosity, to find out what a highly-reputed STEM high school in the US was doing. And maybe they'll chuckle a bit and pass it around to friends for a laugh.

If you've been living under a rock for a generation, and you somehow still think the US is in any way competitive in the global K-12 education market...

... you have to wake up to the dire state of US education today. TJ may be among the best STEM schools we have, but it's certainly not special in Asia.

The US has world-class graduate institutions, that are extremely well-funded compared to those in other countries. This is why you see a brain drain from other countries to the US at the graduate level. Not really before that, except for some well-heeled families who believe that sending their kids to high school or undergrad here will get them an easier spot at Harvard Medical School.

- Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP.

Please.

Believe me.

There are thousands and thousands of extremely rigorous STEM-heavy school all over Asia, in China, Taiwan, Singapore, S. Korea, Japan, etc. Their students run rings around our students.

China probably bought this out of curiosity, to find out what a highly-reputed STEM high school in the US was doing. And maybe they'll chuckle a bit and pass it around to friends for a laugh.

If you've been living under a rock for a generation, and you somehow still think the US is in any way competitive in the global K-12 education market...

... you have to wake up to the dire state of US education today. TJ may be among the best STEM schools we have, but it's certainly not special in Asia.

The US has world-class graduate institutions, that are extremely well-funded compared to those in other countries. This is why you see a brain drain from other countries to the US at the graduate level. Not really before that, except for some well-heeled families who believe that sending their kids to high school or undergrad here will get them an easier spot at Harvard Medical School.

- Asian.

NP. It was only a few years ago (maybe 5-10 years ago, my sense of time has gotten wonky after the pandemic) that Singapore was dropping Singapore math (the real Singapore math, not the lite version often practiced here) in favor of American math. For good reason.

[Anonymous]

Article has former TJ principal as one of the advisors of the China schools- would be interesting to know how much $ they got.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Article has former TJ principal as one of the advisors of the China schools- would be interesting to know how much $ they got.

Would guess a lot of $$$$ along with the other advisors (funny their logo is upside down of TJ in US)

http://m.thomasschools.com/

[Anonymous]

They bought that to see what not to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires individuals or entities acting on behalf of foreign governments or organizations in political or quasi-political capacities to disclose their relationship, activities, and finances.

If FCPS was acting at the behest or under the direction of a foreign government (China) in selling intellectual property, they might be required to register under FARA. Failure to register could result in penalties, including fines or prosecution. The key question would be whether FCPS was engaging in activities that could be considered political or influential for the foreign government, rather than just commercial transactions.

If FCPS violated FARA, the individuals who could face liability would likely be those directly responsible for the decision-making, contractual agreements, and interactions with foreign entities. This might include:

1. School District Administrators: Individuals in leadership roles who authorized or coordinated the transaction.
2. Legal or Compliance Teams: Staff responsible for ensuring adherence to federal regulations, including international dealings.
3. School Board Members: If they approved or were aware of the transaction.

Under FARA, penalties for non-compliance can be severe. Willful violations can result in fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to five years.

There are also other laws that could have been broken. FERPA if they shared student data.

What part of this sounds like intellectual property to you? Nothing here that has been patented; anything copyrightable would be considered fair use for learning/teaching….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires individuals or entities acting on behalf of foreign governments or organizations in political or quasi-political capacities to disclose their relationship, activities, and finances.

If FCPS was acting at the behest or under the direction of a foreign government (China) in selling intellectual property, they might be required to register under FARA. Failure to register could result in penalties, including fines or prosecution. The key question would be whether FCPS was engaging in activities that could be considered political or influential for the foreign government, rather than just commercial transactions.

If FCPS violated FARA, the individuals who could face liability would likely be those directly responsible for the decision-making, contractual agreements, and interactions with foreign entities. This might include:

1. School District Administrators: Individuals in leadership roles who authorized or coordinated the transaction.
2. Legal or Compliance Teams: Staff responsible for ensuring adherence to federal regulations, including international dealings.
3. School Board Members: If they approved or were aware of the transaction.

Under FARA, penalties for non-compliance can be severe. Willful violations can result in fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to five years.

There are also other laws that could have been broken. FERPA if they shared student data.

This is a bizarre take. Backwards, if it is serious and not just trolling. They've got FARA backwards. Ot really just mistaken entirely.