If you mean "my way or no way", good luck with that. |
I know you keep repeating that and hope that sticks.. Pissed off that you are losing your monopoly on racist behavior? How does it feel to be on the other side? - An African American parent. |
You're just firing on all cylinders with your biased views and agenda that were backed up by only hollow words. Do you have any evidence that the overcrowding problem was caused by TJ? I'd like to have a beer watching clowns like you entertaining us. |
| Where I live, there's a huge Russian community and, for the most part, they highly value education, and their kids do a LOT of math and science enrichment, and going to TJ is a highly regarded achievement for which families prepare from a young age. I wouldn't be surprised if a big percentage of the white demographic is Russian. That said, and be honest with yourself, if the Russian community were bigger, and made up a majority of TJ, would you be making the same arguments about equity and the same disparaging statements about them as you do Asians? I think not. I think you would admire and aspire to be them. You wouldn't say they're trying to keep blacks and Hispanics out (which is such a silly argument anyway because who at TJ would really be thinking about doing that?? That is a systemic issue). You might think you're not racist and just making rational, equitable arguments, but I don't believe that for one minute. You don't like Asians. Admit it and just put on your white pointy hat for everyone to see. |
I agree with the above. There are large cultural differences that some people on this thread are misattributing as racism. The fact is that the "typical American" (I know it's stereotypical to use this term), doesn't really put too much value on science, and especially mathematics. Evidence for this is systemic and shown by the widespread math phobia present even among teachers in schools. Some say they do value it, (but if they do, they certainly don't realize that it takes a lot of work to learn math and science well, and become better at it). With this in mind, what we're seeing at TJ is normal; we will never have a very large percentage of whites sending their kids there because they are well aware of how hard it is to get in, and then to succeed in a further 4 years there. But I don't see anything wrong with that, it's everyone's personal choice. Other cultures, (especially Asian cultures, Russian communities, etc), are the exact opposite in this regard. They place a very high value on science and especially math, so it would be natural that many kids are very interested in wanting to go to TJ. I don't see any "systematic" racism or bias that some people in this thread implied. |
It's not even up for debate whether TJ led to overcrowding. Jefferson kids all got sent to Annandale and over the years Annandale boundaries had to be adjusted to move kids to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Woodson and Edison because it was too crowded. In the process, they ended up concentrating apartments that had been split between Jefferson and Annandale at Annandale, making it one of the poorest schools in the county. And now there are multiple overcrowded high schools that would get relief if TJ exclusively served Fairfax students and boundaries were adjusted. So your arrogance is matched only by your stupidity, which we knew already. |
Reframing the discussion through your preferred lens doesn't make TJ any less discriminatory, make a large number of Asian parents at TJ any less racist, or in any way diminish the need to reevaluate whether TJ's continued operation as a magnet currently is imposing more costs than benefits. |
| It’s amazing how many of the arguments advanced by TJ parents track arguments by white supremacists to keep public schools segregated in the 50s. I hope the NAACP takes them on again when we have a less corrupt DOJ. |
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I have a (white) senior about to graduate from TJ. We live in Arlington, so APS pays (I think) about $15K per year to FCPS for each kid who goes to TJ. Its strange to me to see how many people complain about the "Asian" culture at TJ. As was mentioned above in several posts, Indian-American culture seems pretty different from Chinese-American culture, which is different from Korean-American culture, etc. I don't know whether TJ kids (or their parents) are racists. I suppose some are, and some (most) aren't. In his first year at TJ, my son complained that many of his classmates were arrogant, but I doubt that was confined to classmates who are put into the "Asian" bucket. It was a lot of work for him once he was there, but his interest in going had zero effect on his middle school experience in APS. And there was plenty of opportunity for socializing outside school, particularly with the other Arlington kids (even if my kid really didn't take advantage of that).
As far as closing TJ down because its unfair to students who live close to the building but can't go there, this is an argument we have have continuously in Arlington with regard to the option schools. My kid went through one of these programs in Arlington in both ES and MS, I've been hearing these arguments for years. (In fact, my kid was not able to go to the elementary school which directly adjoins our house, which was an option school, because he didn't win the lottery to get in. So I know how frustrating that can be. But while its true that if TJ were open to all neighborhood kids, then more of them would be able to walk to school. But not every kid can do that. So I can't see why its so unfair that some kids don't live close enough to their school that TJ needs to be shut down. As far as diversity, I think TJ is very diverse in certain ways. It was a good experience, I think, for my kid to be a "minority" at his school, so that he can experience what that is like. There is little economic diversity at TJ of course, at least with respect to poorer kids. I'm sure some part of that is the fact that having a car and flexibility to drive to TJ for different things makes going there a heck of a lot easier for most families. Not sure what TJ can do about that part. |
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Not sure that pointing to the option school model in APS is very relevant to the problems created or exacerbated by TJ. It's hardly a lottery school; rather, it's an invitation-only school that has very skewed admissions practices.
In addition, the option schools in APS educate kids in APS, not a whole host of other jurisdictions. So they don't take seats that otherwise might be available to other APS students. They simply reallocate them differently within APS. In contrast, TJ's operation as a regional magnet in a county with multiple overcrowded schools makes the overcrowding at other schools within FCPS worse. And the very TJ parents who otherwise might play a role in addressing those problems throw up their hands, profess indifference to the impact on other schools and students, and insist vehemently that their kids should continue to get a better deal than everyone else. Absolutely revolting. |
I think the total number of non-FCPS kids at TJ is less than 500. So that means that even if all of those kids disappeared from TJ, you would be adding a total of about 20 kids per high school over the whole system. Its just not a large amount of kids, relative to the size of FCPS. And those other jurisdictions pay money to FCPS (not to mention the money received from the state because of its status as a Governor's School). Sure TJ's existence creates some negative impacts on some students, but closing TJ would simply mean that different students would suffer different negative impacts. What makes the FCPS kids at TJ less important than kids at other schools? |
Not the pp you are responding to but.. your logic skills seem to be lacking. Obviously your kids are not at TJ so you MUST be the one filled with stupid genes. Also proven by the fact you continue to insist calling everyone that doesn't agree with you a racist. I don't care if you think I'm arrogant. Better arrogant than stupid I suppose.. BTW, tell your kids to take the bus and not walk across 495
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You don't give up, do you? Repeating something doesn't make it right. But hey.. It's a free country, at least until the communists take over.. NAACP (or anyone else for that matter) should pursue all options available to them to correct what they perceive as "inequities". I'm sure they will join the ranks of people trying to protect yellow and brown colored people's rights when it comes to college admissions where they are discriminated against.. but I doubt that. |
| I'm a Fairfax County resident but with grown kids so I have no skin in the game at this point, and I honestly couldn't read through every page of this discussion (though I find it interesting how much attention it is garnering), but I get the gist of the varying viewpoints and why everyone would be so fired up. However, regardless of what anyone thinks about TJ, don't you think getting rid of it would affect our real estate values? I know it's a bit selfish of me, but I'm going to sell in about 5-10 years, and I'm fairly confident that an FCPS without TJ would not be as desirable to buyers and industry alike. OK, fire away... I've armoured myself for your abuse... |
. I'm one of the pro-TJ posters. One kid about to be done with TJ and another at a base HS since I will not have skin in the game in about a year. I'm mainly posting to shut up the racists.
I don't think RE values will be impacted if TJ is gone. It might actually go up if your school is a good one. For example, a lot of the TJ kids come from the Herndon/Reston area. They are zoned to South Lakes or Herndon High. If TJ is gone, those parents will move to other areas zoned to Oakton, Madison or Mclean to get a "better" education for their kids and RE values in that area will go up. |