FCPS TJ Class of 2024 Press Release - Buried; AA Admits "TS" to Mention

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not a private school where the solution to every problem is a charity auction.

It's a public resource that should be operated for the benefit of all who subsidize it.

Whether by design or by default, TJ has sent a clear message to non-Asian kids that they are "less than." Applications are declining rapidly, and blacks, Hispanics and whites are all so dispirited by their admissions odds and what their experience likely would be like even if they were admitted that only 3-5% of eligible students apply. Meanwhile, close to 30% of the Asian 8th graders in the participating jurisdictions apply and over 70% of the admitted students are Asian.

It has been an abject failure as a community institution and FCPS - which can't churn out enough messages these days about its commitment to equity and opposition to racism - does nothing.

TJ was never meant to be a representative reflection. It is a STEM-focused school that offers top-notch education to all who apply and can get in. If you have evidence that the admissions committee gives preferential treatment to Asians, please publish it. The mere fact that it did not admit enough of a certain ethnic or racial group is not by itself evidence of bias.

Perhaps you should ask yourself - what is it that TJ offers that happens to be SO attractive to Asians and SO unattractive to others?

What's unattractive to others is how much of TJ is now a rat race as opposed to how it was before. Before kids who really enjoyed STEM would find their place at TJ. Now, even if you love STEM, you also need to be prepared for the rat race. My DC is taking multivariable/matrix in 11th at the base school. While that may not be TJ pace, that's wonderful for a STEM kid who doesn't want to be in a pressure cooker environment. When you have those options at the base school, there's no pressing need to go to TJ. For my Asian friends, however, TJ is viewed as the goal, even for nonSTEM kids. DC's friend thinks she wants to be a lawyer, but her mom was insistent that she had to apply to TJ. I don't have a problem with TJ being predominantly Asian. If Asian kids want to go there and are ok with the environment while other races aren't, so be it. Accept it and move on. So many kids from TJ end up at UVA anyway, as do many base school kids. My friend's kids, one went to TJ and one didn't, and both ended up being accepted by top 10 schools. Honestly, pick the right environment for your kid. If it's TJ, great. If it's not, your kid is not disadvantaged by not having gone to TJ.

haha!
Just because it's wayyyy out of your league, doesn't mean it's a rat race. You won't understand and I don't expect you to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS should be ashamed of what TJ has become, and apparently it is.

TJ is crown jewel of FCPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an observer but I think the county should be extremely proud to have the number #1 rated High School in the country. can't do much better than that. Most of the rest of the high schools aren't much worse in NOVA anyway, and most all of the best students, be it from TJ or the other HS's, wind up at U.Va anyway.

Relatively few TJ kids end up at UVA. Over half that apply are rejected, and the top students use UVA as a safety.

Really, over half are rejected? I wonder why, they don't want too many from the same school I guess.

That is probably the reason. The reality is that it that you have to have better stats from TJ than from the other FCPS schools to get into UVA.

This just shows the iodiocy of those (probably concerned whites) complaining that URMs aren't admitted to TJ. Most smart URMs can get into UVA from their base schools and still be around their friends. Why would they waste their time applying to TJ? Let the strivers who want to be able to say their kids went to TJ have TJ. Smart kids from other races will choose to flourish at their base schools instead of buying into the TJ hype. After high school no one cares that you went to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the benefit of those types of schools is the consistently high caliber of the students. If they start accepting a certain percentage from every race just to be "fair", that defeats the premise of the school. They may as well just have a lottery.

Someone mentioned the NBA, and I agree that it's the same thing. If the NBA was forced to accept a certain % of white and Asian and hispanic players just because that's representative of the population that lives in the area, that defeats the purpose of the NBA. It would be something, but it wouldn't be the same thing as it is now - the best of the best. And like entry to TJ, I'm sure there is some decision-making process that goes on about who should be invited to join a team - it's not just some specific number, it's a whole bunch of things.

If there's any evidence of black kids (or white kids, for that matter, if you're talking about TJ) having the scores and extracurriculars to be admitted entry and not getting in, then that would be a problem. They really should do a lottery in that case, for everyone deemed eligible. But unless that is going on, people need to just accept that some things in society are still a meritocracy.

Seriously.

The NBA is different for a host of reasons, but most importantly it is private whereas FCPS is public. And if you want to hold it up as a pure meritocracy, and not yet another business where eons of progress are yet to occur, I look forward to your defense of its coaching, administrative, and owner demographics.

TJ’s admission process and selection criteria is undeniably discriminatory against protected black, Hispanic, and poor students. I would prefer that my taxes did not subsidize discrimination.

TJ's admission process introduced subjective factors some years ago (recommendation letters and essays) in order to reduce Asian students and increase Black/Hispanic students. Look at all the key information that came out of Harvard lawsuit where they are engaged in the same process of discriminating against Asian applicants by systematically giving low scores to Asian applicants wherever and whenever possible using essays, recommendation letters etc.

Blah, blah, blah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the benefit of those types of schools is the consistently high caliber of the students. If they start accepting a certain percentage from every race just to be "fair", that defeats the premise of the school. They may as well just have a lottery.

Someone mentioned the NBA, and I agree that it's the same thing. If the NBA was forced to accept a certain % of white and Asian and hispanic players just because that's representative of the population that lives in the area, that defeats the purpose of the NBA. It would be something, but it wouldn't be the same thing as it is now - the best of the best. And like entry to TJ, I'm sure there is some decision-making process that goes on about who should be invited to join a team - it's not just some specific number, it's a whole bunch of things.

If there's any evidence of black kids (or white kids, for that matter, if you're talking about TJ) having the scores and extracurriculars to be admitted entry and not getting in, then that would be a problem. They really should do a lottery in that case, for everyone deemed eligible. But unless that is going on, people need to just accept that some things in society are still a meritocracy.

Seriously.

The NBA is different for a host of reasons, but most importantly it is private whereas FCPS is public. And if you want to hold it up as a pure meritocracy, and not yet another business where eons of progress are yet to occur, I look forward to your defense of its coaching, administrative, and owner demographics.

TJ’s admission process and selection criteria is undeniably discriminatory against protected black, Hispanic, and poor students. I would prefer that my taxes did not subsidize discrimination.

TJ's admission process introduced subjective factors some years ago (recommendation letters and essays) in order to reduce Asian students and increase Black/Hispanic students. Look at all the key information that came out of Harvard lawsuit where they are engaged in the same process of discriminating against Asian applicants by systematically giving low scores to Asian applicants wherever and whenever possible using essays, recommendation letters etc.

And that was when the TJ curriculum system almost broke down because many students needed to use the first year to catch up the basics, which TJ students were supposed to mastered during middle school. Overall, they tried to manipulate admission and dumb down and found it didn't work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the benefit of those types of schools is the consistently high caliber of the students. If they start accepting a certain percentage from every race just to be "fair", that defeats the premise of the school. They may as well just have a lottery.

Someone mentioned the NBA, and I agree that it's the same thing. If the NBA was forced to accept a certain % of white and Asian and hispanic players just because that's representative of the population that lives in the area, that defeats the purpose of the NBA. It would be something, but it wouldn't be the same thing as it is now - the best of the best. And like entry to TJ, I'm sure there is some decision-making process that goes on about who should be invited to join a team - it's not just some specific number, it's a whole bunch of things.

If there's any evidence of black kids (or white kids, for that matter, if you're talking about TJ) having the scores and extracurriculars to be admitted entry and not getting in, then that would be a problem. They really should do a lottery in that case, for everyone deemed eligible. But unless that is going on, people need to just accept that some things in society are still a meritocracy.

Seriously.

The NBA is different for a host of reasons, but most importantly it is private whereas FCPS is public. And if you want to hold it up as a pure meritocracy, and not yet another business where eons of progress are yet to occur, I look forward to your defense of its coaching, administrative, and owner demographics.

TJ’s admission process and selection criteria is undeniably discriminatory against protected black, Hispanic, and poor students. I would prefer that my taxes did not subsidize discrimination.

TJ's admission process introduced subjective factors some years ago (recommendation letters and essays) in order to reduce Asian students and increase Black/Hispanic students. Look at all the key information that came out of Harvard lawsuit where they are engaged in the same process of discriminating against Asian applicants by systematically giving low scores to Asian applicants wherever and whenever possible using essays, recommendation letters etc.

Blah, blah, blah.

Truth hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to study and work harder. Everyone takes the same test and is held to the same standard.

The issue is whether FCPS is making it difficult for kids who don't have the resources to accelerate in math to do well on the test. It's not just about studying harder or working harder. If you are competeting against kids with years of CYT accelerated classes, you are going to be disadvantaged. TJ, as a public school, should not allow those advantages to dictate the level of difficulty of the test. I personally don't care if TJ is all Asian, I'm just saying TJ should not have a system that has a significant disadvantage if you don't have certain extracurriculars or haven't had extensive outside math help. Honestly, other than my Asian friends, no one encouraged their kids to apply to TJ. But, if minorities are being disadvantaged by some systemic bias based on available economic resources, then something should be done. My guess is nothing will be don't and eventually the only people who will care about TJ are Asian parents who spend a bunch of resources on accelerating their kids. Even more people will happily move on to their base schools without a second thought. Basically all the smart Asian kids will be in one school cannibalizing each other's chances of getting into a good college.

This doesn’t explain why there are fewer white kids at TJ, unless you want to argue that there is something inherently Asian about outside math courses. Certainly the whites can afford them f they wanted to. Incidentally, the one kid we know at TJ is a lily-white Russian, from a not-rich family.

Some non-Asian students do not want to study that much in high school and compete with bunch of smart Asian kids. Do you know that at some colleges, non-Asian students drop out of classes if there are too many Asian students due to the same reason especially for STEM courses. This is well known among college students.

[Anonymous]

Some posts make it difficult to take racist Asians seriously. No, Asians are not smarter. They may take "education" seriously, but they are not the Master Race.
Generally, white boys want to be in classes with Asians, but that is simply Yellow Fever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not a private school where the solution to every problem is a charity auction.

It's a public resource that should be operated for the benefit of all who subsidize it.

Whether by design or by default, TJ has sent a clear message to non-Asian kids that they are "less than." Applications are declining rapidly, and blacks, Hispanics and whites are all so dispirited by their admissions odds and what their experience likely would be like even if they were admitted that only 3-5% of eligible students apply. Meanwhile, close to 30% of the Asian 8th graders in the participating jurisdictions apply and over 70% of the admitted students are Asian.

It has been an abject failure as a community institution and FCPS - which can't churn out enough messages these days about its commitment to equity and opposition to racism - does nothing.

TJ was never meant to be a representative reflection. It is a STEM-focused school that offers top-notch education to all who apply and can get in. If you have evidence that the admissions committee gives preferential treatment to Asians, please publish it. The mere fact that it did not admit enough of a certain ethnic or racial group is not by itself evidence of bias.

Perhaps you should ask yourself - what is it that TJ offers that happens to be SO attractive to Asians and SO unattractive to others?

What's unattractive to others is how much of TJ is now a rat race as opposed to how it was before. Before kids who really enjoyed STEM would find their place at TJ. Now, even if you love STEM, you also need to be prepared for the rat race. My DC is taking multivariable/matrix in 11th at the base school. While that may not be TJ pace, that's wonderful for a STEM kid who doesn't want to be in a pressure cooker environment. When you have those options at the base school, there's no pressing need to go to TJ. For my Asian friends, however, TJ is viewed as the goal, even for nonSTEM kids. DC's friend thinks she wants to be a lawyer, but her mom was insistent that she had to apply to TJ. I don't have a problem with TJ being predominantly Asian. If Asian kids want to go there and are ok with the environment while other races aren't, so be it. Accept it and move on. So many kids from TJ end up at UVA anyway, as do many base school kids. My friend's kids, one went to TJ and one didn't, and both ended up being accepted by top 10 schools. Honestly, pick the right environment for your kid. If it's TJ, great. If it's not, your kid is not disadvantaged by not having gone to TJ.

haha!
Just because it's wayyyy out of your league, doesn't mean it's a rat race. You won't understand and I don't expect you to.

I sure my kid with all As, including in multivar calc/matrix Algebra in 11th grade, will be just fine. I don't expect you to understand that not everyone buys into the TJ hype. Half the kids at TJ don't even get into UVA, but at least they can say they went to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the benefit of those types of schools is the consistently high caliber of the students. If they start accepting a certain percentage from every race just to be "fair", that defeats the premise of the school. They may as well just have a lottery.

Someone mentioned the NBA, and I agree that it's the same thing. If the NBA was forced to accept a certain % of white and Asian and hispanic players just because that's representative of the population that lives in the area, that defeats the purpose of the NBA. It would be something, but it wouldn't be the same thing as it is now - the best of the best. And like entry to TJ, I'm sure there is some decision-making process that goes on about who should be invited to join a team - it's not just some specific number, it's a whole bunch of things.

If there's any evidence of black kids (or white kids, for that matter, if you're talking about TJ) having the scores and extracurriculars to be admitted entry and not getting in, then that would be a problem. They really should do a lottery in that case, for everyone deemed eligible. But unless that is going on, people need to just accept that some things in society are still a meritocracy.

Seriously.

The NBA is different for a host of reasons, but most importantly it is private whereas FCPS is public. And if you want to hold it up as a pure meritocracy, and not yet another business where eons of progress are yet to occur, I look forward to your defense of its coaching, administrative, and owner demographics.

TJ’s admission process and selection criteria is undeniably discriminatory against protected black, Hispanic, and poor students. I would prefer that my taxes did not subsidize discrimination.

TJ's admission process introduced subjective factors some years ago (recommendation letters and essays) in order to reduce Asian students and increase Black/Hispanic students. Look at all the key information that came out of Harvard lawsuit where they are engaged in the same process of discriminating against Asian applicants by systematically giving low scores to Asian applicants wherever and whenever possible using essays, recommendation letters etc.

Blah, blah, blah.

Truth hurts.

I'm sorry that the truth that Harvard doesn't value your over prepped kid hurts.

[Anonymous]

Abrar Omeish, Karen Keys Gamarra, Rachna Sizemore Heizer - it is up to YOU to decide if FCPS wants to perpetuate the racism and elitism within FCPS exemplified by TJHSST.

It is no longer enough to not be a racist. You must be be affirmatively anti-racist.

You will be judged on whether you acted to return TJ to the community for which it was built, or just sat back and tolerated discrimination and injustice.

We replaced Ilryong Moon after years of his placing TJ's needs first. You will be gone in a term if you don't do better. Scott Brabrand has no spine, but other superintendents understand that it is time for change.

https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/superintendent-steven-walts-action-plan-to-combat-racism/article_1a3fbdd0-a775-11ea-a3f7-b3adbea6a186.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Abrar Omeish, Karen Keys Gamarra, Rachna Sizemore Heizer - it is up to YOU to decide if FCPS wants to perpetuate the racism and elitism within FCPS exemplified by TJHSST.

It is no longer enough to not be a racist. You must be be affirmatively anti-racist.

You will be judged on whether you acted to return TJ to the community for which it was built, or just sat back and tolerated discrimination and injustice.

We replaced Ilryong Moon after years of his placing TJ's needs first. You will be gone in a term if you don't do better. Scott Brabrand has no spine, but other superintendents understand that it is time for change.

https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/superintendent-steven-walts-action-plan-to-combat-racism/article_1a3fbdd0-a775-11ea-a3f7-b3adbea6a186.html

All forms of racism should be abolished including racism against Asian Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to study and work harder. Everyone takes the same test and is held to the same standard.

The issue is whether FCPS is making it difficult for kids who don't have the resources to accelerate in math to do well on the test. It's not just about studying harder or working harder. If you are competeting against kids with years of CYT accelerated classes, you are going to be disadvantaged. TJ, as a public school, should not allow those advantages to dictate the level of difficulty of the test. I personally don't care if TJ is all Asian, I'm just saying TJ should not have a system that has a significant disadvantage if you don't have certain extracurriculars or haven't had extensive outside math help. Honestly, other than my Asian friends, no one encouraged their kids to apply to TJ. But, if minorities are being disadvantaged by some systemic bias based on available economic resources, then something should be done. My guess is nothing will be don't and eventually the only people who will care about TJ are Asian parents who spend a bunch of resources on accelerating their kids. Even more people will happily move on to their base schools without a second thought. Basically all the smart Asian kids will be in one school cannibalizing each other's chances of getting into a good college.

This doesn’t explain why there are fewer white kids at TJ, unless you want to argue that there is something inherently Asian about outside math courses. Certainly the whites can afford them f they wanted to. Incidentally, the one kid we know at TJ is a lily-white Russian, from a not-rich family.

Some non-Asian students do not want to study that much in high school and compete with bunch of smart Asian kids. Do you know that at some colleges, non-Asian students drop out of classes if there are too many Asian students due to the same reason especially for STEM courses. This is well known among college students.

Then just say that TJ is not for you if you don't want to study that much in high school. Why bring racism into play?

I'm not going to blame Asians for going after what they see as the best educational product. Good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Abrar Omeish, Karen Keys Gamarra, Rachna Sizemore Heizer - it is up to YOU to decide if FCPS wants to perpetuate the racism and elitism within FCPS exemplified by TJHSST.

It is no longer enough to not be a racist. You must be be affirmatively anti-racist.

You will be judged on whether you acted to return TJ to the community for which it was built, or just sat back and tolerated discrimination and injustice.

We replaced Ilryong Moon after years of his placing TJ's needs first. You will be gone in a term if you don't do better. Scott Brabrand has no spine, but other superintendents understand that it is time for change.

https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/superintendent-steven-walts-action-plan-to-combat-racism/article_1a3fbdd0-a775-11ea-a3f7-b3adbea6a186.html

Elitism is good. Fairfax Cty residents WANT an elite high school.

As for racism, you puzzle me. TJ admissions are race blind. What injustice? Apply if you want, don't apply if you don't want. It's not a community school. And it's sort of racist for you to imply that TJ students somehow do not belong to the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abrar Omeish, Karen Keys Gamarra, Rachna Sizemore Heizer - it is up to YOU to decide if FCPS wants to perpetuate the racism and elitism within FCPS exemplified by TJHSST.

It is no longer enough to not be a racist. You must be be affirmatively anti-racist.

You will be judged on whether you acted to return TJ to the community for which it was built, or just sat back and tolerated discrimination and injustice.

We replaced Ilryong Moon after years of his placing TJ's needs first. You will be gone in a term if you don't do better. Scott Brabrand has no spine, but other superintendents understand that it is time for change.

https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/superintendent-steven-walts-action-plan-to-combat-racism/article_1a3fbdd0-a775-11ea-a3f7-b3adbea6a186.html

All forms of racism should be abolished including racism against Asian Americans.

When did Asian Americans in Fairfax County have to go to separate schools like Luther Jackson? Or before that ride a bus to DC or Manassas?

The experience has been very different and to ignore this is vile. Watch your privilege.