If TJ has such smart kids, why so much cheating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Wouldn't change a thing. Everyone would just be competing to get as close to 5.0 as possible instead of as close to 4.5 as possible.

I don't think so. I see a lot of pressure over college admissions and so many kids that could have gotten into UVA but for their 4.3 GPA. If their GPA was 4.8 they would get in. If everyone at TJHSST thought that they could get into UVA or VT with an honest effort, I doubt there would be much cheating at all, but every year most of the kids go to schools in the 50-100 range because of GPA, not SATs, not extracurriculars, just the GPA holding them back.

Really!!! 4.8 GPA is it Technically possible? Even with all AP/AV courses the GPA would range around 4.7+.

Max in my class was a 4.65 with taking AP classes in middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Wouldn't change a thing. Everyone would just be competing to get as close to 5.0 as possible instead of as close to 4.5 as possible.

I don't think so. I see a lot of pressure over college admissions and so many kids that could have gotten into UVA but for their 4.3 GPA. If their GPA was 4.8 they would get in. If everyone at TJHSST thought that they could get into UVA or VT with an honest effort, I doubt there would be much cheating at all, but every year most of the kids go to schools in the 50-100 range because of GPA, not SATs, not extracurriculars, just the GPA holding them back.

Really!!! 4.8 GPA is it Technically possible? Even with all AP/AV courses the GPA would range around 4.7+.

I feel like you are missing the point. The point is that grading is lower at tjhsst compared to base schools and this is causing unnecessary stress. And stress is one of the primary drivers of cheating anywhere.

DP. If kids are blaming their GPA for not getting into college, it's because they don't understand how college admissions work. TJ kids are compared to their peers at TJ applying to the same school, not the base school applicants. The schools TJ kids apply to typically know TJ and TJ provides a comprehensive explanation of it's grading scale along with the transcript.

Private schools often don't weight GPA at all. Other districts weight differently. College admissions officers know how to account for this.

What you're saying is simply an easy excuse for cheating. Changing it would inflate the GPAs but otherwise change nothing.

They realize they are not as smart as they or their parents thought they were so they take a shortcut. They are in for bad news.

They'll be fine. Once they get to college they will easily be the smartest one there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

Man, GPAs have gotten higher (more APs I guess). Back in my day top of the class was consistently a 4.1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

Man, GPAs have gotten higher (more APs I guess). Back in my day top of the class was consistently a 4.1.

Top of the class started taking APs in middle school and was able to transfer it over

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often tell my TJ 9th grade daughter that you can get low score in your tests as long as you do your best to study for them, but you must not be cheating in your tests, because honest is more important than all other things in your life!

And with parenting like that, she'll go far!

Maybe, maybe not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your students know who the cheaters are, what can they do and is there a way to report them?

There should be a form on ion. But everyone cheats, just the big cheaters get caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is a sophomore and really only complained about one major cheating thing in the last two years - someone took photos of the math test this spring and circulated them. This was reported to the school by other honest kids and the curve was eliminated apparently.

There haven’t been other major incidents I’ve heard of from DC at least. (That impact others I mean vs using AI to do papers)

Still taking pretty easy classes. When physics comes it will get crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sense (2 TJ kids) is that this has been a problem for years. Kids under too much parental pressure, AND parents not instilling good values in their kids. My kids know I’d rather them fail than cheat. And that includes the overused TJ practice of claiming you are sick on presentation and test days. My kids are not allowed to miss school to study.

Funny story, my friend used to do that for every test so much that his eighth periods were all retakes. He would also get all the answers from the people who already took it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not specific to TJ, unfortunately, and I expected better in this district. How are these families raising their kids? Is all fair in love, war…and the race to top college admissions? Very sad. Both of my kids (elementary and high) have received requests to copy work…and it is relentless. One classmate just keeps texting the next friend for the completed homework until one gives in. There is no shame! And in a h.s. honors English class kids keep phones hidden on laps to search for essay responses on AI platforms. It’s disgusting, and kids should suffer real consequences for this. My kids don’t want to be snitches, but I think teachers should be aware. I was not exposed to such rampant cheating in my high school or college. All I keep saying is “How can those kids sleep at night knowing they haven’t earned the grades they were awarded?!” Shame on those families who raise their kids without integrity. It will be interesting if these kids end up at colleges with honor codes.

College is easy for TJ grads. In my first year I went to a total of 10 classes each semester between all my classes and got straight A's at a top 3 public university

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low performing prepped and un-prepped students who cannot handle TJ rigor, and resorting to cheating out of desperation should not have been admitted. How did they make it in such large number? Is remedial not as indepth to bridge the gap?

The unripped kids came from less affluent schools but were at the top of their classes. They usually picked things up quickly. The heavily prepped kids needed more help and often resorted to these less ethical means to continue the charade.

Did TJ announce that it was prepped advanced students and not low performing students that were cheating?

DP. They have been cheating at TJ for years. The pressure to succeed is powerful.

who is They? prepped advanced students or low performing students?

Everyone. I recently graduated and I can guarantee that everyone in my class, except the real geniuses, have cheated at least once. Everyone I talked to during my time at TJ cheated, and I know that to be 200+ people. Some are very minor through.

You forgot those of us who just didn't mind the Bs. We didn't cheat either.
-alumna

That was max 20 people per class but I did know a couple people like that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

Man, GPAs have gotten higher (more APs I guess). Back in my day top of the class was consistently a 4.1.

We didn't even have weighted grades and less than 5% of my class had an A average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

And if you had stayed at your base school your GPA would have been higher. The top 1% (of the population not TJ) differentiate themselves through SATs. The top 1% at TJ differentiate themselves with things like USAMO and Regeneron, the various academic olympiads, and other academic competitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Then the geniuses that are top 1% wouldn't be able to differentiate themselves. If you have a 4.5+ at TJ, that's supposed to mean something to universities. If it got easier, everyone, even the bottom 10%, would have 4.5+ GPAs. Coming from a 4.3 GPA kid that graduated TJ.

And if you had stayed at your base school your GPA would have been higher. The top 1% (of the population not TJ) differentiate themselves through SATs. The top 1% at TJ differentiate themselves with things like USAMO and Regeneron, the various academic olympiads, and other academic competitions.

Completely right. I was by far the smartest at my base school and I honestly think I would have went to MIT if I stay there because a guy below me got into stanford. But at TJ, I was just average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, here is whats happening: TJ course work and exams are 2x harder than base school. These kids are fearful of getting a B or C even though they know the material really well.

Colleges dont care about course rigor - only grades.

TJ principal and staff turn a blind eye to this well known problem

Hence the cheating.

The problem seems to be the grading at TJHSST. Why not use the same standard at TJHSST as they would use with other honors classes and AP classes at other schools?

Wouldn't change a thing. Everyone would just be competing to get as close to 5.0 as possible instead of as close to 4.5 as possible.

I don't think so. I see a lot of pressure over college admissions and so many kids that could have gotten into UVA but for their 4.3 GPA. If their GPA was 4.8 they would get in. If everyone at TJHSST thought that they could get into UVA or VT with an honest effort, I doubt there would be much cheating at all, but every year most of the kids go to schools in the 50-100 range because of GPA, not SATs, not extracurriculars, just the GPA holding them back.

Really!!! 4.8 GPA is it Technically possible? Even with all AP/AV courses the GPA would range around 4.7+.

Max in my class was a 4.65 with taking AP classes in middle school

Reasonable and stands true Today too!! for a 5.0 GPA school