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

[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?

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

Which middle schools allow this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why did you choose to take the easy intro classes instead of the more challenging upper-level classes via instructor permission?

[Anonymous]

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+.

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

Which middle schools are letting students take APs (presumably at the local highschool)? If it's in math, what does the annual progression from algebra 1 onwards look like for these kids?

[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?

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

Which middle schools allow this?

It's standard practice at the more affluent schools.

[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?

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.

Basis Independance McLean

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

Which middle schools allow this?

[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?

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

Which middle schools allow this?

Basis in McLean mostly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why did you choose to take the easy intro classes instead of the more challenging upper-level classes via instructor permission?

I took the highest classes I could take. I asked around and they said I couldn't go higher up. I can graduate in 2 if I wanted to or quadruple major in 4 year with Math, Stats, CS, Data Science

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why did you choose to take the easy intro classes instead of the more challenging upper-level classes via instructor permission?

I took the highest classes I could take. I asked around and they said I couldn't go higher up. I can graduate in 2 if I wanted to or quadruple major in 4 year with Math, Stats, CS, Data Science

One of the nicest thing about a TJ education with plenty of APs is the flexibility it gives you in college to branch out and study even more things.

[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+.

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

Which middle schools are letting students take APs (presumably at the local highschool)? If it's in math, what does the annual progression from algebra 1 onwards look like for these kids?

One kid I knew from TJ was. Also this is not rare at TJ
Algebra 1 5th Grade
Geometry 6th Grade
Algebra 2 7th Grade
Pre Calc 8th
Calc BC 9th
Multvar and Linear Algebra 10th
DiffEq and Real Analysis 11th (Analysis was there when I went)
12th: They do whatever they want. Some load on ML/AI classes and some do stats. Others go to GMU and do classes there. I personally did the stats track but wasn't that advanced in my math classes

Also people came in with AP Bio, AP CSP, and random social studies APs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why did you choose to take the easy intro classes instead of the more challenging upper-level classes via instructor permission?

I took the highest classes I could take. I asked around and they said I couldn't go higher up. I can graduate in 2 if I wanted to or quadruple major in 4 year with Math, Stats, CS, Data Science

One of the nicest thing about a TJ education with plenty of APs is the flexibility it gives you in college to branch out and study even more things.

Most highly selective schools do not accept that many credits. The exception is usually the state schools (which would be top 25 or so).

Oh, and your comment applies to almost all high stats FCPS kids. Do you really think the high performing kids throughout the county aren't getting "plenty of APs?" pssss - They are. So I guess you can take that off as one of the nicest things about a TJ education...

[Anonymous]

People cheated to get in under the new admission process. It is how they work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People cheated to get in under the new admission process. It is how they work.

Wealthier families would buy access to the admission test with the old process it was so broken and corrupt. I can't believe some people consider that merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People cheated to get in under the new admission process. It is how they work.

How do you cheat in an admissions process that is almost a lottery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People cheated to get in under the new admission process. It is how they work.

Wealthier families would buy access to the admission test with the old process it was so broken and corrupt. I can't believe some people consider that merit.

Well it's not just some people. Data and peer reviewed research also believe that testing is a merit based process.
Of course some people don't really like data and peer reviewed research when it doesn't align with ideological beliefs, trump supporters come to mind.
You sound like a trump supporter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why did you choose to take the easy intro classes instead of the more challenging upper-level classes via instructor permission?

I took the highest classes I could take. I asked around and they said I couldn't go higher up. I can graduate in 2 if I wanted to or quadruple major in 4 year with Math, Stats, CS, Data Science

One of the nicest thing about a TJ education with plenty of APs is the flexibility it gives you in college to branch out and study even more things.

Most highly selective schools do not accept that many credits. The exception is usually the state schools (which would be top 25 or so).

Oh, and your comment applies to almost all high stats FCPS kids. Do you really think the high performing kids throughout the county aren't getting "plenty of APs?" pssss - They are. So I guess you can take that off as one of the nicest things about a TJ education...

But the non TJ kids struggle in university. The TJ kids just breeze through. I have a lot of FCPS friends at my university and they are stuggling like crazy