Huge changes to TJ admissions test beginning next year

[Anonymous]

TJ admits kids who feel like they need to cheat to keep up. Not that they have to cheat to keep up. These kids are all bright but they have so much pressure to get the best grades. It is an unhealthy environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prepping is a term used by losers who had to find excuses for their failures. They used this term to label certain group of people when they need to 1) find excuses why these people performed better than them and 2) belittle their achievements and abilities so that they can use it in a future propaganda against this group of people.

Prepping is another word for gaming the system.

[Anonymous]

Cheaters should be expelled from the country.

[Anonymous]

So, you're not going to have your child prepare to take the SAT or ACT? At least, take a practice test to see what it's all about?

[Anonymous]

DD is a rising sophomore at TJ. If integrity violations are a huge problem at TJ, we have been totally oblivious to them! I've been pleasantly surprised by how the kids really do help each other work things out. If it's a cut throat environment, we have yet to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheaters should be expelled from the country.

Like the people that cheated the Natives out of New York and reneged on treaties?? I agree.. and if the cheaters are dead, their progeny should be expelled..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a rising sophomore at TJ. If integrity violations are a huge problem at TJ, we have been totally oblivious to them! I've been pleasantly surprised by how the kids really do help each other work things out. If it's a cut throat environment, we have yet to see it.

Same here. I think it's the "sour grapes" crowd and "down with the Asians" crowd that keeps bringing this up with "facts and figures" that they cannot prove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ admits kids who feel like they need to cheat to keep up. Not that they have to cheat to keep up. These kids are all bright but they have so much pressure to get the best grades. It is an unhealthy environment.

Good explanation for a condition that does not exist. Philosophy major??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a rising sophomore at TJ. If integrity violations are a huge problem at TJ, we have been totally oblivious to them! I've been pleasantly surprised by how the kids really do help each other work things out. If it's a cut throat environment, we have yet to see it.

Yes, parents usually are oblivious to cheating. And no your DD would not tell you.
But then again you seem pretty oblivious to anything at the school since you said there is nothing "cut throat"about it. You really need to pay better attention and be smart enough not to make such silly comments to parents of fellow students.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How are non-TJ parents so definitively claiming there is a culture of cheating at TJ unlike any other high school.

Do you not know that you don't sound credible but sound like you simply have a chip on your shoulder?

Sounds like a case of sour grapes who can't let go their obsession for TJ and move on with their life!

It's sour grapes soaked in vinegar because (1) they didn't get in and (2) it's mostly asian.

Can't speak for everyone, but I have a friend who has a child there and she commented that they send a LOT of emails about cheating. She was surprised by the volume on this issue.

Is that some secret e-mail list that other parents (like myself) are not allowed to be on?

Yeah, I'd like to know too. DD is a freshman, and I don't remember receiving communication about cheating.

I have a kid in class of 2020 there were at least a couple significant cheating issues his freshman year—one involving the sophomore class and one involving neurobio, and there was communication about it to parents under Glazer.

This year, I’ve seen zip in the official communications. I think part of it is that the path department made some significant changes— and that is where a lot of the problems were occurring. For Math 4/5 this year, the division wrote the tests, and there were like 6 different versions of each test, so kids could not easily share specific problems. I believe some the sciences were similar. Humanities classes are harder to,cheat because they are so project and essay based. There was also a lot less griping about cheating on TJ vents. So, I’m hopeful they are making strides on this.

But, I also think the new principal has had her hands full with the kid s hating her, the parents being passed off, being legitimately left some messes by Glazer, Andrew being told by the accreditation board that security procedures for the new school must take top priority. So I think cheating also got backburnered this year.

I wish TJ would 3 strikes cheating: strike one, zero one the assignment or drop a letter grade in the class, whichever is lower. Strike 2, F in the class. Strike 3, back to base school. Same punishments for kids who help cheat as kids who benefit. But I’m a hardass. I’ve have told my kid clearly that I did not raise a cheater, and I would rather see the lower grade than the cheating. And that the very first honor code referral will result in his immediate removal to his base school. Lots of his peers parents feel the same way.

I do think it’s a minority who cheat. That often, they are the kids whose parents have unrealistic expectations. And that (flame away, I know this will piss people off) there are a lot of 1st gen Asian kid s at TJ, and in some of these cultures, for some of these kids (NOT ALL, NOT A MINORITY) you do what you need to do to get a leg up, because academic resources are scare in their culture, and the parents don’t really understand why cheating is all that bad. So the pressure is on the kid to succeed, even if it means cheating. And parents even facilitate, by, for example, gathering older siblings or friends older children’s tests and passing them down.

No flames here. I pretty much agree with your observations of what's going on and agree with your approach to handling offenders. We've had the same discussion with my kid (who has told us about cheating.) His reaction is "why cheat, you don't actually learn that way." Then again (and feel to flame me) my kid is the type of kid that TJ was designed for. No prep, passionate about STEM. It hasn't been a smooth ride, but it's been a great ride. And while my kid didn't prep, they have definitely stayed up late and spent weekends doing homework. Overall it's been a great experience. I've got another kid at base HS who is rocking it there. TJ has its faults, as do all HS, but for gifted STEM kids it's a great fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

. . . And, this test is going to be much harder to prep for. Especially in math. Lots of kids who have been prepping for the Pierson test for the last 2 years just lost their advantage.


What say you DCUM? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

"much harder to prep for" ??

Shouldn't that be the goal?

TJ should be reserved for those kids most likely to succeed instead of those kids who's parents paid the most for test-prep classes over the years.

[Anonymous]

I think if they can achieve a testing process you cannot prep for they will gradually see a big decline in the number of unhappy kids at TJ (think TJVEnts). The kids weeded out will go to their base school which hopefully will be a little easier. Sadly they still have parents pressuring them, but at least the commute stress and workload will not be as big of factors as they would be at TJ. You can get an excellent education at a base school and children should not be pushed and prodded and giving up their summers and free time all to prep for a school that isn't a good match.