Expanded High school electives at TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

What exactly is your definition of academically excellent? By adding all those new AP classes, the kids will stop taking a balanced course load of TJ-specific classes created and taught by experts. That's why we picked TJ--this is a shame. Every kid is going to look exactly the same on paper and they'll all be burned out. There's literally nothing special about it anymore. Watch all the amazing teachers leave now that their programs are gone.

The AP classes are a boon. Your kid was going to take pre-calculus at an AP level of rigor anyway. Now the class will be weighted as an AP class.
Your kid was going to take most of these classes at an AP level of rigor, now they get AP credit for it.
And the number of electives hasn't really changed. My kid can still take all the same electives he planned on taking when he was a freshman.

What programs are gone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP precalculus is just a dumb class. I would rather see a non-AP +1 precalc class. It's just another addition to my AP bill. Got one for my junior for $400. This is a lot of money.

I don't think you have to take the AP test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The AP courses generally have less rigor than the TJ courses they are replacing. This is apparently what the Commonwealth of Virginia wants to see. But don’t be fooled; these are not “great new electives.” They are FCPS sending tax dollars to College Board. Hopefully TJ faculty will be able to add extra curricular materials to the basic AP content; TJ kids are capable of so much more.

So far pre-calc this year is almost exactly the same as it was 2 years ago. They aren't dumbing down the classes to make them AP compliant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

What exactly is your definition of academically excellent? By adding all those new AP classes, the kids will stop taking a balanced course load of TJ-specific classes created and taught by experts. That's why we picked TJ--this is a shame. Every kid is going to look exactly the same on paper and they'll all be burned out. There's literally nothing special about it anymore. Watch all the amazing teachers leave now that their programs are gone.

The AP classes are a boon. Your kid was going to take pre-calculus at an AP level of rigor anyway. Now the class will be weighted as an AP class.
Your kid was going to take most of these classes at an AP level of rigor, now they get AP credit for it.
And the number of electives hasn't really changed. My kid can still take all the same electives he planned on taking when he was a freshman.

What programs are gone?

NP. I think what people advocating for more AP classes don't realize is that when an AP is offered in direct competition with a TJ-specific class and they both fulfil a requirement, the large majority will pick the AP class simply because it offers the extra weighting. When no kids choose the TJ-specific class anymore, it gets cut and the teacher who taught it gets assigned to teach something else, probably the AP. The AP then becomes the standard, which sounds nice on the surface, but it just raises that standard for all the kids, making it the status quo and ultimately not helping anyone. So while those TJ-specific electives are still listed--for now--in a year or two, as the APs take over, a lot of the electives will be gone, kids will have less opportunity to differentiate themselves, and colleges will have a harder time choosing who to admit--from TJ AND between TJ and base schools. If they all look the same, there is no benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

^^^ this.

He only cares about medals and achievements. He berated the parents at a meeting earlier this year for their kids missing one question on the PSAT and missing being national merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

^^^ this.

He only cares about medals and achievements. He berated the parents at a meeting earlier this year for their kids missing one question on the PSAT and missing being national merit.

How would he know this? Does the principal get info on what questions a student missed on the PSAT?

[Anonymous]

Can someone unpack this objectively? Surprised by the negativity, particularly want to check the following:

1. The new offerings lower academic rigor by replacing TJ-specific courses with APs? --True or false?
2. If so, and if causes grade inflation, would that paradoxically put TJ students on more equal footing with base-school students where GPAs are already inflated? --True or false?
3. The new courses reduce or eliminate interdisciplinary, collaborative teaching at TJ. --True or false?
4. The principal is pursuing an agenda to make TJ less rigorous and more "consistent with" other FCPS schools? --True or false?

Please no bias no spin, if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

I’ve heard this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone unpack this objectively? Surprised by the negativity, particularly want to check the following:

1. The new offerings lower academic rigor by replacing TJ-specific courses with APs? --True or false?
2. If so, and if causes grade inflation, would that paradoxically put TJ students on more equal footing with base-school students where GPAs are already inflated? --True or false?
3. The new courses reduce or eliminate interdisciplinary, collaborative teaching at TJ. --True or false?
4. The principal is pursuing an agenda to make TJ less rigorous and more "consistent with" other FCPS schools? --True or false?

Please no bias no spin, if you can.

1. This probably varies, but as someone who has taught several different AP courses, the college board curriculum is very watered-down. AP does not necessarily mean more rigor.
2. Maybe true on paper, but this also means that TJ students cannot distinguish themselves as much as non-TJ students.
3. True. This has already happened, especially in Humanities. It would not surprise me at all if IBET eventually goes away.
4. Mukai doesn't care about rigor either way. He is simply a numbers person and just wants to boost AP numbers as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

^^^ this.

He only cares about medals and achievements. He berated the parents at a meeting earlier this year for their kids missing one question on the PSAT and missing being national merit.

How would he know this? Does the principal get info on what questions a student missed on the PSAT?

Schools have every student's test results and the NMSF cutoff score was announced in September. It's not hard to see how many kids were close but just missed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone unpack this objectively? Surprised by the negativity, particularly want to check the following:

1. The new offerings lower academic rigor by replacing TJ-specific courses with APs? --True or false?
2. If so, and if causes grade inflation, would that paradoxically put TJ students on more equal footing with base-school students where GPAs are already inflated? --True or false?
3. The new courses reduce or eliminate interdisciplinary, collaborative teaching at TJ. --True or false?
4. The principal is pursuing an agenda to make TJ less rigorous and more "consistent with" other FCPS schools? --True or false?

Please no bias no spin, if you can.

1. This probably varies, but as someone who has taught several different AP courses, the college board curriculum is very watered-down. AP does not necessarily mean more rigor.
2. Maybe true on paper, but this also means that TJ students cannot distinguish themselves as much as non-TJ students.
3. True. This has already happened, especially in Humanities. It would not surprise me at all if IBET eventually goes away.
4. Mukai doesn't care about rigor either way. He is simply a numbers person and just wants to boost AP numbers as much as possible.

But if #2 above is true, would it not be the case that TJ house brands feed more to his ego than APs - not endorsing that characterization of his traits, just to follow the logic and understand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone unpack this objectively? Surprised by the negativity, particularly want to check the following:

1. The new offerings lower academic rigor by replacing TJ-specific courses with APs? --True or false?
2. If so, and if causes grade inflation, would that paradoxically put TJ students on more equal footing with base-school students where GPAs are already inflated? --True or false?
3. The new courses reduce or eliminate interdisciplinary, collaborative teaching at TJ. --True or false?
4. The principal is pursuing an agenda to make TJ less rigorous and more "consistent with" other FCPS schools? --True or false?

Please no bias no spin, if you can.

1. This probably varies, but as someone who has taught several different AP courses, the college board curriculum is very watered-down. AP does not necessarily mean more rigor.
2. Maybe true on paper, but this also means that TJ students cannot distinguish themselves as much as non-TJ students.
3. True. This has already happened, especially in Humanities. It would not surprise me at all if IBET eventually goes away.
4. Mukai doesn't care about rigor either way. He is simply a numbers person and just wants to boost AP numbers as much as possible.

But if #2 above is true, would it not be the case that TJ house brands feed more to his ego than APs - not endorsing that characterization of his traits, just to follow the logic and understand

Not really. AP course enrollment is an easy and commonly used metric to rank schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh Japanese is back. Awesome! That could be good for my kid if they are accepted this year.

I really like that this new Principal is doing things to make TJ academically excellent rather than engaging in social engineering.

By making TJ like any other high school?

+1
I like the guy (and I liked Dr B too) but this is my sr TJ kid's complaint. They've been stripping out some of the things that makes it different.

Like what?

The entire culture at TJ has become very negative and toxic and this all a result of Mukai's lack of leadership. He doesn't respect his teachers and has shut them out and even the division leaders out of actual collaboration. Instead of coming in and getting to know the staff and the students first, he has dictated everything without any clear vision or justification. He flip-flops constantly to the point that teachers cannot trust anything he says and he bullies any teachers who question anything he says or does.

I’ve heard this as well.

Are you current parents or teachers? Where did you hear all this?