Why is there such a racial/ethnic disconnect with TJ Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the worry is about rich families having an advantage, then relying on test scores alone would certainly not be the way to go. Very expensive test prep programs which have kids practicing for the test questions for two years or more before the test are out of reach for kids without resources. If admittance were only by test scores, rich families would double or triple up on the test prep programs and TJ would end up full of kids who have engaged with no outside interests beyond practicing test questions. That doesn't sound like an outcome that would be good for anyone.

But at least those smart black/Hispanic kids who do not need prepping to do well on these tests would get admitted whereas those kids under the current system would be denied due to weak SIS, essay (due to subjective grading, strong writer may get poor score under the current system) and LORs. Do not assume there are no black/Hispanic kids who would do well even without prepping.

Do we really want a high school in which most of the students spent their middle school years with no outside activities but test prep? No music, no art, no sports? High school is about more than academics, even a school with an academic focus. Kids need to learn about a variety of topics and they learn and benefit from being around other kids who excel in a variety of areas. A kid with a great GPA and a high test score who is also engaged with sports or drama or music or art or any combination of the plethora of possible outside activities is just way more impressive and interesting than the kid who just goes to school and then goes home to practice test questions.

And, let's face it, when kids test prep, you will have kids getting higher scores than they would have without prepping. That skews the results so that, when you count down from highest to lowest, kids who got higher scores than they would have without prepping can end up higher on the list than a kid who takes the test and gets a great score without prepping. Who do you think might end up needing help and tutors once accepted? The kid who needed tutoring to get in, or the kid who understood the material without outside assistance?

Of course activities are important. No one is arguing kids should not engage in non-academic activities. You missed the point. The point is let's not use them to make the playing field uneven in admission to schools like TJ to exclude black/Hispanic kids who deserve to be there but SHUT OUT because they did not and could not engage in theses activities. Also, the typical activities that go on the SIS are Mathcounts, AMC, computer programming, Science Olympiad, science fairs, CTY, robotics club etc. not art, music, drama not to say that they are not important just that they are not likely to show up on SIS.

Why the assumption 100% of the kids prep. for the TJ test. The TJ test is relatively EASY. It is not a difficult test for a bright smart 8th grader who deserves to be at TJ. There are applicants who do not do any prep except try the sample test. Your assumption is incorrect since good portion of TJ kids did not prep. AND the test is not difficult.

A smart capable kid (but without resources or means) faces 4 obstacles to gain entrance to TJ: test/GPA, SIS, essay and teacher rec. If SIS, essay, teacher rec were removed, the kid only has one obstacle remaining (assuming good GPA), the test. A capable and smart applicant who lacked resources or support of parent has a better chance to do well in comparison to other applicants (more fair assessment) meaning performance on the test even without prepping if the kid is smart and deserving of admission. This does not mean all incoming freshmen will lack non-academic activities. Many of them will have these activities; they just couldn't use them to game the system. It just removes multiple obstacles that are unfair for many black and Hispanic potential applicants.

I'm not saying that 100% of present students prep. I am saying that if test scores were the only criteria for admission, than there would be a reason for rich families to laser focus on test prep, especially since they would likely make the test harder if that were the only thing being looked at. Richer families would be more likely to enroll their children in even more test prep classes, possibly to the exclusion of other activities, so that school and test prep could become a child's primary activities. The result could very likely be the bolded paragraph above.

And actually, not all successful TJ applicants list only the standard science and math competitions and groups. I know a number that listed arts and sports activities that took up a large portion of their out of school time. I think the school likes kids who can be high academic achievers while spending lots of hours in outside activities. It shows they are self-disciplined and hard-working students. Lots of free activities are offered at middle schools that kids can be involved in and schools offer free band and orchestra classes for students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Teacher recommendations: Those with money and families with SAHM will benefit. Teachers tend to be close and appreciative of SAHM coming to school to volunteer regularly and give presents on a regular basis. Definitely does not help blacks or Hispanics.

I'm sorry, but this is just not the case. Middle school does not encourage parent volunteers and I don't know anyone who was giving middle school teachers presents at all, let alone on a regular basis. Teachers see kids almost every day. They see how hard they work in class, they see how regularly they do their homework, they see how quickly a student understands a new concept when it is presented in class. Teacher recommendations give the committee insight into how the child learns on a daily, ongoing basis, as opposed to what the student can answer on a test on one day.
At TJ, the kids need to be able to do the work every day. They have to learn new ideas and concepts right there in class and the classes move quickly onto new things. A middle school teacher will have some insight into how a child handles these situations which can help the committee see how well-suited the child is for TJ.

Please, parents are involved in many school activities as volunteers, coaches etc. etc. Parents also contribute to the classroom, school, give presents to school, classroom in variety of ways. I have seen this happen. Some bring snacks/drinks to club meetings, some give rides, some volunteer as coaches/chaperons on field trips etc. Some parents never forget to give presents for Christmas, teacher appreciation, teacher's baby, provide school supplies or equipments etc. I have seen parents cater for the whole school (entire teachers/staff) to show "appreciation". Will stay at home mom who is educated and has financial resources be able to do these or black/Hispanic mother who is working full time and can't be at the school during 9 to 4?

Teachers are professionals. They have no reason to write better recommendations for kids whose parents give them "presents." Kids and parents never see these recs, so they will not know what the teacher writes anyway. And, of course, parents help out with extracurriculars as needed. Those activities wouldn't exist many times without parent help, and they benefit all the kids involved, especially the kids whose parents can't help.
I've been around middle and high school kids for a bit over 15 years and I've never seen teachers behave in the way they are being accused of here.

That's the point. How would you know how they behave or what they write if one can't see what they write. The teachers are not being accused of anything unethical. The point is that chances are, the applicants the teacher knows better whether through more direct interactions or more interactions through parents or students/parents the teacher appreciates for volunteering/contributing would probably come across better without outright lying. It's just human nature to be appreciative.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Teacher recommendations: Those with money and families with SAHM will benefit. Teachers tend to be close and appreciative of SAHM coming to school to volunteer regularly and give presents on a regular basis. Definitely does not help blacks or Hispanics.

I'm sorry, but this is just not the case. Middle school does not encourage parent volunteers and I don't know anyone who was giving middle school teachers presents at all, let alone on a regular basis. Teachers see kids almost every day. They see how hard they work in class, they see how regularly they do their homework, they see how quickly a student understands a new concept when it is presented in class. Teacher recommendations give the committee insight into how the child learns on a daily, ongoing basis, as opposed to what the student can answer on a test on one day.
At TJ, the kids need to be able to do the work every day. They have to learn new ideas and concepts right there in class and the classes move quickly onto new things. A middle school teacher will have some insight into how a child handles these situations which can help the committee see how well-suited the child is for TJ.

Please, parents are involved in many school activities as volunteers, coaches etc. etc. Parents also contribute to the classroom, school, give presents to school, classroom in variety of ways. I have seen this happen. Some bring snacks/drinks to club meetings, some give rides, some volunteer as coaches/chaperons on field trips etc. Some parents never forget to give presents for Christmas, teacher appreciation, teacher's baby, provide school supplies or equipments etc. I have seen parents cater for the whole school (entire teachers/staff) to show "appreciation". Will stay at home mom who is educated and has financial resources be able to do these or black/Hispanic mother who is working full time and can't be at the school during 9 to 4?

Teachers are professionals. They have no reason to write better recommendations for kids whose parents give them "presents." Kids and parents never see these recs, so they will not know what the teacher writes anyway. And, of course, parents help out with extracurriculars as needed. Those activities wouldn't exist many times without parent help, and they benefit all the kids involved, especially the kids whose parents can't help.
I've been around middle and high school kids for a bit over 15 years and I've never seen teachers behave in the way they are being accused of here.

That's the point. How would you know how they behave or what they write if one can't see what they write. The teachers are not being accused of anything unethical. The point is that chances are, the applicants the teacher knows better whether through more direct interactions or more interactions through parents or students/parents the teacher appreciates for volunteering/contributing would probably come across better without outright lying. It's just human nature to be appreciative.

It might be human nature to be appreciative, but most teachers are professional with a strong sense of integrity, who understand the responsibility of writing a LOR. It would not be worth it for them to write a rec that would exaggerate a child's qualities and characteristics. Teachers who write good recs for students are not doing so to be "appreciative," they are writing about their observations of the child's work habits and behaviors exhibited in the classroom. They see the kids in their classrooms for five or so hours a week so they write about what they see.
If you are truly worried about a teacher writing a better rec for a student whose parents have given gifts or volunteered more ( which is within the realm of possibility but would be an outside exception rather than the rule), then the school needs to go back to three LORs rather than only two. That way, the committee could see if all the recs line up and sound like they are describing the same child and if one is very different, they can discount it. A test can be gamed, but it would be difficult to fool three different teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just politicians and judges and teachers at TJ. What about police officers, they should be 16% Asians. I think it's about 1 or 2% Asian. What about the county employees, they should be representative of the Asian population of the county and be 16% not 2 or 3%. What about all the employees that work at the Gatehouse? They should be 16% Asians. It's outrageous there is such a disproportionate gap in virtually everything except for a place where semi-meritocracy is practiced. If this is not a demonstrable evidence of disparate impact I don't know what is. There should be an immediate Complaint filed with the Civil Rights Division of the US Justice Department alleging racial discrimination alleging wide spread and pervasive discrimination.

Why is discrimination against Asian Americans ok and acceptable. Why shouldn't there be proportional representation of Asians in all facets of life? Why is over presentation of Asian (magnet school) always a problem (especially if Asians have no say in the matter and 0 influence in policy making) but under presentation is never a problem? Why the double standard?

In fact, the admission process was changed several times to increase blacks/Hispanics at TJ:

It was originally purely based on test scores and GPA from the beginning to 2006
In 2007, the process changed to "holistic" review with essays, teacher recs and SIS (subjective components) added to make the process subjective and allow admissions office wiggle room to admit more blacks/Hispanics. (This led to weaker math/science students being admitted and ultimately led to the 2011-2012 teacher protest regarding weak math students being admitted and remediation issue)
It was changed again and the different components were given designated weight in 2010 with subjective components making up 65-75% depending on how you derive the weight to further increase blacks/Hispanics
It was changed again in 2013 to make the process "holistic review" once again since ALL the tinkering to reduce Asians and increase blacks/Hispanic were not working adequately. Also, non-math/science grades were considered in the final selection (change from before) to further try to reduce Asians and increase non-Asians.

Guess what would happen if we went back to the ORIGINAL admissions process of only using test scores and GPAs. We would have more stronger students but we would also have more Asians. That's the problem.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Ugh... More BS anecdotes to prove something that is statically shown to not be the case. Not everyone gets in, regardless of ethnicity. Just because they didn't get in AND they were Asian, doesn't mean it was BECAUSE they are Asian. Correlation does not suggest causation.

The kids may be lacking in many other variables. Every year there is a handful of 'math whiz' kids that don't get in. And again, acceptance is not ONLY based on math and science GPA or test scores or both.

I promise they're were many 'other exceptional non-Asian students at Kilmer, Rocky Run, etc' that also didn't get in. And I guess to beat a dead horse, not ever 'exceptional' child is actually exceptional, in fact my definition, most kids aren't exceptional - so there are a bunch of parents that are either blind, in denial or liars.

"The American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) is a 3-hour integer answer contest. Students will qualify for the AIME and can participate in the AIME only if they score 120 or above or finish in the top 2.5% of the AMC 10, or if a student scores 100 or above or finishes in the top 5% of the AMC 12. The AIME is administered in schools in March." Less than 0.1% of 8th graders qualify for AIME.

Ugh the stupid, it hurts!

1) the TJ test is before the AMC 12 or AMC 10 qualifier
2) the Last TJ admissions process deadline is just after the AMC, so the only way the kid can include that king of recognition in the app is through a teacher reference, assuming they made the first cut and went into the TJ semi-finalist pool.
3) the reason why so few (and in your estimation 0.1%) of 8th graders qualify for aime isn't necessarily due to brilliance, but much more likely the fact that they are 8th graders....the qualifying tests for AIME are designed for sophmores - seniors in high school. While still a significant distinction to qualify, the rarity does not necessarily illustrate a math genius, any number of alternative scenarios are possible.
4) almost all TJ test preppers also prep for AMC, so the short is, AMC is beatable just like most nonCAD tests (and even some CAD tests). The whole top5%/top2.5% ranking with AMC does not actually denote score distribution, it is an arbitrary estimate of placement within the entire U10th population

Again, you're trying to make a single case of rejection into an ethnic prejudice in TJ selection, when the actual acceptance statistics just don't bear that out. Grow up, the kid didn't get in. And his rejection has nothing to do with his Asian ethnic background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Ugh... More BS anecdotes to prove something that is statically shown to not be the case. Not everyone gets in, regardless of ethnicity. Just because they didn't get in AND they were Asian, doesn't mean it was BECAUSE they are Asian. Correlation does not suggest causation.

The kids may be lacking in many other variables. Every year there is a handful of 'math whiz' kids that don't get in. And again, acceptance is not ONLY based on math and science GPA or test scores or both.

I promise they're were many 'other exceptional non-Asian students at Kilmer, Rocky Run, etc' that also didn't get in. And I guess to beat a dead horse, not ever 'exceptional' child is actually exceptional, in fact my definition, most kids aren't exceptional - so there are a bunch of parents that are either blind, in denial or liars.

"The American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) is a 3-hour integer answer contest. Students will qualify for the AIME and can participate in the AIME only if they score 120 or above or finish in the top 2.5% of the AMC 10, or if a student scores 100 or above or finishes in the top 5% of the AMC 12. The AIME is administered in schools in March." Less than 0.1% of 8th graders qualify for AIME.

Ugh the stupid, it hurts!

1) the TJ test is before the AMC 12 or AMC 10 qualifier
2) the Last TJ admissions process deadline is just after the AMC, so the only way the kid can include that king of recognition in the app is through a teacher reference, assuming they made the first cut and went into the TJ semi-finalist pool.
3) the reason why so few (and in your estimation 0.1%) of 8th graders qualify for aime isn't necessarily due to brilliance, but much more likely the fact that they are 8th graders....the qualifying tests for AIME are designed for sophmores - seniors in high school. While still a significant distinction to qualify, the rarity does not necessarily illustrate a math genius, any number of alternative scenarios are possible.
4) almost all TJ test preppers also prep for AMC, so the short is, AMC is beatable just like most nonCAD tests (and even some CAD tests). The whole top5%/top2.5% ranking with AMC does not actually denote score distribution, it is an arbitrary estimate of placement within the entire U10th population

Again, you're trying to make a single case of rejection into an ethnic prejudice in TJ selection, when the actual acceptance statistics just don't bear that out. Grow up, the kid didn't get in. And his rejection has nothing to do with his Asian ethnic background.

My kid is a member of the TJ Varsity Math Team. He doesn't know and cannot recall ANY TJ students who qualified for AIME as a middle school student. Of the 480 incoming freshmen each year, there might be 1 who qualified for AIME as a middle school student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Ugh... More BS anecdotes to prove something that is statically shown to not be the case. Not everyone gets in, regardless of ethnicity. Just because they didn't get in AND they were Asian, doesn't mean it was BECAUSE they are Asian. Correlation does not suggest causation.

The kids may be lacking in many other variables. Every year there is a handful of 'math whiz' kids that don't get in. And again, acceptance is not ONLY based on math and science GPA or test scores or both.

I promise they're were many 'other exceptional non-Asian students at Kilmer, Rocky Run, etc' that also didn't get in. And I guess to beat a dead horse, not ever 'exceptional' child is actually exceptional, in fact my definition, most kids aren't exceptional - so there are a bunch of parents that are either blind, in denial or liars.

"The American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) is a 3-hour integer answer contest. Students will qualify for the AIME and can participate in the AIME only if they score 120 or above or finish in the top 2.5% of the AMC 10, or if a student scores 100 or above or finishes in the top 5% of the AMC 12. The AIME is administered in schools in March." Less than 0.1% of 8th graders qualify for AIME.

Ugh the stupid, it hurts!

1) the TJ test is before the AMC 12 or AMC 10 qualifier
2) the Last TJ admissions process deadline is just after the AMC, so the only way the kid can include that king of recognition in the app is through a teacher reference, assuming they made the first cut and went into the TJ semi-finalist pool.
3) the reason why so few (and in your estimation 0.1%) of 8th graders qualify for aime isn't necessarily due to brilliance, but much more likely the fact that they are 8th graders....the qualifying tests for AIME are designed for sophmores - seniors in high school. While still a significant distinction to qualify, the rarity does not necessarily illustrate a math genius, any number of alternative scenarios are possible.
4) almost all TJ test preppers also prep for AMC, so the short is, AMC is beatable just like most nonCAD tests (and even some CAD tests). The whole top5%/top2.5% ranking with AMC does not actually denote score distribution, it is an arbitrary estimate of placement within the entire U10th population

Again, you're trying to make a single case of rejection into an ethnic prejudice in TJ selection, when the actual acceptance statistics just don't bear that out. Grow up, the kid didn't get in. And his rejection has nothing to do with his Asian ethnic background.

My kid is a member of the TJ Varsity Math Team. He doesn't know and cannot recall ANY TJ students who qualified for AIME as a middle school student. Of the 480 incoming freshmen each year, there might be 1 who qualified for AIME as a middle school student.

That's because they don't generally take the AMC 10 or AMC 12 in middle school....not because they couldn't have qualified...again correlation doesn't suggest causation...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

virtually no black and Hispanic kids apply to TJ, so it is kind of hard to admit them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I think it is very impressive for a middle school kid to be AIME qualifier. Even MIT is impressed with AIME qualifiers like being INTEL semifinalist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I think it is very impressive for a middle school kid to be AIME qualifier. Even MIT is impressed with AIME qualifiers like being INTEL semifinalist.

Then perhaps the boy will go to MIT. Not getting into TJ doesn't preclude that, you know. May actually make him more determined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I think it is very impressive for a middle school kid to be AIME qualifier. Even MIT is impressed with AIME qualifiers like being INTEL semifinalist.

Then perhaps the boy will go to MIT. Not getting into TJ doesn't preclude that, you know. May actually make him more determined.

+1. People need to stop being so linear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I thought FCPS school board revised the TJ mission statement to require exceptional quantitative skills for TJ applicants to prevent further math remediation problems . Guess that was just a lip service.

[Anonymous]

Because some people have the hunger to get ahead. The drive is sometimes stamped out as generations go on as there is more of a sense of security or apathy with time and familiarity.