New TJ Lawsuit Filed 3/10/21 by Pacific Legal Foundation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yet another pointer to the hypocrisy of this School Board when it comes to diversity and inclusion

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/fairfax-county-public-schools-academic-calendar

Those holidays were not fairly chosen — they left many out (like Lunar New Year) and were not supported by absence data. Not to mention the “inequity” for bus drivers and other hourly workers. I see no hypocrisy in hesitating to include those 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet another pointer to the hypocrisy of this School Board when it comes to diversity and inclusion

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/fairfax-county-public-schools-academic-calendar

Those holidays were not fairly chosen — they left many out (like Lunar New Year) and were not supported by absence data. Not to mention the “inequity” for bus drivers and other hourly workers. I see no hypocrisy in hesitating to include those 4.

How lovely is that nod to equity towards hourly workers. Below is the data point from the wjla link.

“Over the past year, during the pandemic, Prince William, Arlington, and Loudoun Counties have adopted some or all of these closures. And most of the large Maryland county school systems already observe the days as well.”

I suspect those school boards have less of a consideration for hourly workers. And the subtle pitch to pit minority against minority (“Lunar new year was not included”).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this has been posted yet, but one of the Pacific Legal attorneys testified before the House this morning, and spoke about the anti-Asian sentiments and TJ admissions.

+1

https://www.c-span.org/video/?509938-1/house-judiciary-subcommittee-holds-hearing-discrimination-asian-americans

His testimony starts at about 1:34:00.

Good lord! Now changing the TJ admissions standards to remove a gameable test is being lumped in with real anti-Asian discrimination. I worry our society will just start rolling their eyes at real racism because when people don't get what they want they cry discrimination, even if race has nothing to do with it. We need to aggressively address anti-Asian bigotry, but let's not dilute the real issues with what's going on at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One possible approach

1. 25% seats to a rigorous testing process. But use something that is a little more difficult to game.

2. 25% pure lottery based on certain cutoffs to GPA.

3. 25% to Teacher/Principal nominations at the local middle school level. Citizenship type activities, etc would likely be rewarded.

4. 25% to those with outstanding Sports/Arts/etc.

Gives a nice balance and I would guess also make it more diverse racially.

No admissions process is without drawbacks but by dividing the pool this way, there is less chance of being gamed.

And no, this would not result in TJ retaining its #1 ranking (if there is one), but that is a stupid goal anyway.

Anytime I see someone say "now TJ would lose its #1 ranking", I cringe. Focus on your kid, not the reflected glory of the school on you as a parent. - Indian[/quote

Sounds like you should be in favor of a merit lottery.

No. I am actually in the rally at TJ against it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While most posters on this forum are driven by a sense of propriety and not malice - casual anti-Asian racism can lead you here

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/us/metro-atlanta-shootings/index.html

Some pro FCPS admin posters here may not recognize their own casual anti-Asian racism, but they are perpetuating the same old racial stereotype and prejudice towards Asian communities. They don't really have any hard evidence to back up their assertion but they claimed things like "most TJ parents are here illegally", "far far too many TJ kids having mental health issues", "they cheat and prep", etc. In today's environment causal racism is deadly. Before spewing out your own prejudice ask yourself if you have real data to back it up.

It's sad that you are using this tragedy to make your keep TJ it is argument. SMH.

What is sad is how the “reformers” are following the Trumpian approach to make their majoritarian argument. Mexicans are rapists and Asians are one-dimensional cheaters. Stereotypes and name calling is the way to go. George Floyd was an isolated tragedy - how uncouth of you to use a tragedy to trigger a discussion on systemic racism. Deny the problem. Ignore leading indicators that point to anti-minority sentiment.

There is clearly reform needed on TJ admissions but the current approach is how poll taxes were used to bypass the fifteenth amendment. The new method gets the outcome the School Board needs and in the larger scheme of things equity vis-a-vis Asians is affordable collateral damage.

This is nonsense on about ten different levels. The only reason this conversation is even tangentially about Asians is because they are over represented in the TJ community by a factor of about 3.5-4.

You don’t get to cry “equity” when the likely upshot of all of this is that you become a slightly less dominant majority.

Kids at TJ (of all races) graduate with significant deficiencies in cultural fluency because they exist in a homogeneous space. That was the case when TJ was 60% white, and it remains the case now that TJ is 70+% Asian.

What you’re upset about is that the new process makes it more difficult to exert parental influence and resources on the process, and you believe you’re entitled to that advantage because you care more about TJ from an earlier age than other parents.

But the reality is, both the kids who get in to TJ with this new process and the kids who DON’T get in because of this new process will exist in spaces that are far more likely to produce positive educational environments and outcomes for the respective students.

I, and many others, disagree with pretty much everything you just said. You are also disparaging TJ graduates and could not be more wrong about their cultural fluency. This forum is packed full of complainers that know nothing about the school other than the fact that their little Larlo couldn't get in because he isn't as bright as mommy and daddy thought he was.

The staggering lack of cultural fluency displayed by the folks claiming to be TJ parents on this form kinda proves my point. The apple, as it were, doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

But unless you’ve had dozens of conversations with TJ graduates centering around how different it is to be around kids who don’t look like them in college, kindly have a seat. They know they’re sheltered. And they know they’re brought up with racist attitudes - white kids too, big time, btw. They suffer from the lack of representation as well.

Lord help me if I ever name any kids I have Larlo. I’ll admit that’s amusing.

Who needs STEM when we can just have PP give lectures on Kendi and “cultural literacy”?

Believe it or not, you can have both! And they complement each other beautifully

How does that increase STEM scores and abilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While most posters on this forum are driven by a sense of propriety and not malice - casual anti-Asian racism can lead you here

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/us/metro-atlanta-shootings/index.html

Some pro FCPS admin posters here may not recognize their own casual anti-Asian racism, but they are perpetuating the same old racial stereotype and prejudice towards Asian communities. They don't really have any hard evidence to back up their assertion but they claimed things like "most TJ parents are here illegally", "far far too many TJ kids having mental health issues", "they cheat and prep", etc. In today's environment causal racism is deadly. Before spewing out your own prejudice ask yourself if you have real data to back it up.

Exactly. There is a huge amount of casual anti-Asian racism in this community and on this board. Those people need to examine their thoughts and statements. Many are from those who fully adopted the anti-racist philosophy but have no awareness of their own racism against Asian Americans. It’s not just trumpers who do it. It has become a huge problem in America and those folks need to own up to their own thinking and statements.

It is worth noting that the folks who advocate for the status quo with respect to elite school admissions find a lot of friends in the Trumpist community.

The reason is because they hate Black folks WAY more than they hate you, and you do a good job of keeping them out of "their" schools.

But they still hate you enough to commit atrocities against you given the opportunity. They are using you.

Taking race out of admissions is not the same as hate. It's looking for equality in admissions decisions as opposed to affirmative action.

Equality based on what? Some misguided notion of “merit” as narrowly and conveniently defined by an ability to study for a high-stakes exam?

You mean like what is required to practice most professions?

It's a very narrow group of professions that require exceptional performance on high-stakes exams to practice. VERY narrow. Those jobs make a lot of money, but there are a lot of ways to make a lot of money that are outside of those realms.

What is required to practice most professions is professionalism, the ability to collaborate, the ability to follow and give instructions, reliability, integrity, a relevant skill set and many others. Not much of that is about exam performance.

You can't pass the test you can't practice. This self selects a very small portion of society.

[Anonymous]

You can't pass the test you can't practice. This self selects a very small portion of society.[\quote]

You can if you have the underlying natural talent. And those are the kids who benefit the most from a specialized school environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this has been posted yet, but one of the Pacific Legal attorneys testified before the House this morning, and spoke about the anti-Asian sentiments and TJ admissions.

+1

https://www.c-span.org/video/?509938-1/house-judiciary-subcommittee-holds-hearing-discrimination-asian-americans

His testimony starts at about 1:34:00.

Good lord! Now changing the TJ admissions standards to remove a gameable test is being lumped in with real anti-Asian discrimination. I worry our society will just start rolling their eyes at real racism because when people don't get what they want they cry discrimination, even if race has nothing to do with it. We need to aggressively address anti-Asian bigotry, but let's not dilute the real issues with what's going on at TJ.

Racism and Discrimination are different things. The hearing was on discrimination, and school admissions policies absolutely discriminate against Asian Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You can't pass the test you can't practice. This self selects a very small portion of society.[\quote]

You can if you have the underlying natural talent. And those are the kids who benefit the most from a specialized school environment.

And test prep allows mediocre kids to masquerade as talented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You can't pass the test you can't practice. This self selects a very small portion of society.[\quote]

You can if you have the underlying natural talent. And those are the kids who benefit the most from a specialized school environment.

And test prep allows mediocre kids to masquerade as talented.

Let's see some data. Show me a study or two that says test prep makes a significant difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You can't pass the test you can't practice. This self selects a very small portion of society.[\quote]

You can if you have the underlying natural talent. And those are the kids who benefit the most from a specialized school environment.

And test prep allows mediocre kids to masquerade as talented.

That must be why a majority of TJ kids end up at community college. You must be right.

[Anonymous]

Gaming the test is a red herring. If that's the issue, the solution couldn't be any easier. FCPS just needs to release past tests for everyone to practice. One highly respected math teacher even offered to write new tests.

What Varsity Blue cheating scandal showed is that the test is actually not that easy to game. The test is one objective measure that levels the playing field. Famous Hollywood actors had to pay $$$ to someone to cheat. The kids from the poorest neighborhood can achieve a high score by working hard. And the rich kids with all the money and resources couldn't do it on their own. And the small samples of Varsity Blue showed the stereotype perpetuated here that a certain community cheats is not true.

[Anonymous]

Here is my big question. Why can't the county just limit seats by middle school and call it a day. Use the same test and scores be damned assign seats by feeder middle schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this has been posted yet, but one of the Pacific Legal attorneys testified before the House this morning, and spoke about the anti-Asian sentiments and TJ admissions.

+1

https://www.c-span.org/video/?509938-1/house-judiciary-subcommittee-holds-hearing-discrimination-asian-americans

His testimony starts at about 1:34:00.

Good lord! Now changing the TJ admissions standards to remove a gameable test is being lumped in with real anti-Asian discrimination. I worry our society will just start rolling their eyes at real racism because when people don't get what they want they cry discrimination, even if race has nothing to do with it. We need to aggressively address anti-Asian bigotry, but let's not dilute the real issues with what's going on at TJ.

Racism and Discrimination are different things. The hearing was on discrimination, and school admissions policies absolutely discriminate against Asian Americans.

No the admissions policies do not discriminate against Asians. They have a race neutral set of standards. Just because it may change the number of Asian kids at the school doesn't make it discrimination. Your argument is basically unless the number of Asian students at TJ remains the same or more, that is discrimination against Asians. That's not the standard for what is or isn't discrimination. I'm totally sympathetic to Asians and think there is no place for discrimination, but this isn't it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is my big question. Why can't the county just limit seats by middle school and call it a day. Use the same test and scores be damned assign seats by feeder middle schools?

Why spend time and money on administering a test if you're going to ignore the test? The feeder school allocation would be a great way to allocate slots to a school that should serve the whole county, but that would still be viewed as anti-Asian because TJ students are now concentrated from certain MS, so the demographics of TJ will certainly change.