Kind of like Uber prepping for exams and classes? |
By and large, when you cobble together the compositions of all of the sports teams at any particular school, they tend to reflect the demographics of the school as a whole. But even so, athletics and academics are not the same thing. Sports teams are put together to prepare for competitions against other sports teams. TJ as a school, while it does compete against other schools in many ways (including - go figure - sports!) is not put together with the intent of competing against any other school. Competition against other schools is not THE POINT of TJ, and people who are obsessed with rankings tend not to understand that. If we ever get to a place where the express purpose of TJ is to compete against other schools, then I think the status-quo advocates will have a good argument. I don't think FCPS is that worried about the rankings - they'll get more juice out of having an exceptional school (which it will still be) that isn't massively segregated than they get constantly being bombarded with justified accusations that it's a racist environment borne of an unintentionally racist admissions process. |
PP had a great point here. The team is chosen based on value to the team. There are a lot of students at TJ right now who are marvelously advanced but do not provide significant value to the "team", or the learning community. They are there to show up, get theirs, and get out - and by the way, this is true of students of all races. It's not an Asian thing, it's a selfish thing. TJ would be a stronger learning community if, in addition to the question of academic ability, students were selected in part based on their desire to contribute to a positive and collaborative learning community. |
that's not what FCPS thinks the purpose of athletics is:
no mention of only being open to the strongest or the fastest and no mention of the purpose being to beat other schools. |
It really doesn't matter! I think you may find some Asians truly bothered by it because they believe it's an unfair practice to single them out and there is an inherent Asian bias happening in most elite academic setting (as represented by the DOJ v Yale case and the SFA v Harvard case, and being litigated in some public school setting). So long term, it is a problem, and something that most Asians shouldn't totally disregard. I don't fully understand what you mean by "why here why now." I suppose I can say because we exist and are here. You seem to think that admissions rates to tier 1 programs should be correlated to the % of population in the area. Admissions to tier 1 most likely correlates with academic success (primary) and interest from the student (secondary). Everything else is a wash. TJ is 60%+ Asian because most Asian students academic success far overshadow that of a AA+Hispanic+White student. There's no other way to put this nicely. And it seems like everyone knows that, but then folks make silly arguments like "well we believe in a well rounded child, and would like them to build other interests" (or some variation of that, whether it's sports or whatever). There's no Asian making that sort of argument. Asians believe in academic success first and foremost. Then it's "other interest." So maybe instead of focusing on "why 90% Asian," perhaps maybe the AA+Hispanic+White races should get off their high pedestals and instill some academic rigor into your kids life starting in pre-school. Perhaps take the outlook that most Asian families have taken. Then you can sit and whine about why your kids aren't able to compete with the Asians. But, I'll tell you this, if you started with fostering the academic rigor from an early childhood perspective, your White+Black+Hispanic kid wouldn't need a lottery system to get in. |
I look forward to the lottery based sports teams! What's good for the goose is good for the gander. |
Are you saying current TJ students have a low desire to contribute to a positive and collaborative learning community? The TJ peer tutoring or outreach program , for example, are as strong as any programs from other high schools in the area |
If the students reported questions or questions types back to anyone, they violated the agreement they signed and also stole the IP of the test company. I don’t see how anyone could argue that is ethical behavior. It also seems like TJ should investigate under the honor code- they have one right?
There are also likely adults who encouraged this behavior and in my mind they are the worst offenders. All of these are very difficult to prove. However, the test company didn’t follow professional best practices here. It is common that in internationally administered tests that you have to prepare completely new versions at each administration and that the old tests will be effectively recreated by test takers who compile the items and sell them. So the best practice is to make “practice items” and old tests available to everyone. This levels the playing field. It also requires a new test version be prepared for each test administration. I am surprised these practices weren’t in place for this admissions test. It sounds like the test company and the FCPS contract manager should answer some questions about their practices. |
LOL now it's "the learning community." What is the learning community? and who speaks for it? You? |
To follow up on that, Asian cultures tend to view STEM careers as a respected career, and an escape out of poverty. Outside of the US, many politicians have STEM backgrounds instead of legal backgrounds. Same for CEOs, whereas in the US they are more likely to have come from the sales side of things. In those places many of the types of personalities that go into law here, are funneled into STEM instead. In the USA, STEM careers just don't have the same prestige that they have elsewhere, which is a shame. The education itself is pretty cheap to implement. |
To the poster above, thanks for breaking it down. Couldn't agree more, and I'm not Asian. ![]() |
It doesn't matter what the FCPS does or even what the VA Governor/legislature does. Any consideration of race in admission to selective schools or universities will be prohibited in the near future by the SCOTUS. |
There are lots of different sports opportunities out there for kids to participate in. A kid who isn’t participating in sports in some way is either not interested or hasn’t been exposed to sports by the parents. Just as some kids need encouragement in their academics, some kids need encouragement in athletics and it is up to the parents to make sure kids are developing physically as well as mentally. |
And the same rational applies to a magnet school. But, as the PP said, it looks like the issue is moot now since we will soon have sct dominated by ultra conservatives itching to end affirmative action in admissions. |
Agree! |