FCPS TJ Class of 2024 Press Release - Buried; AA Admits "TS" to Mention

[Anonymous]

I hate how advocating for Black and Brown students always gets spun into an anti-Asian argument. It’s not about you; stop playing the oppression olympics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate how advocating for Black and Brown students always gets spun into an anti-Asian argument. It’s not about you; stop playing the oppression olympics.

I know it's not about me and no one said it was. I was responding to the issues raised by the PP which I have a right to do so.

[Anonymous]

I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

I am so sorry the TJ community did that to you. It’s reprehensible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I also want to say that i still believe we need to intervene to encourage more Black students to attend TJ. Of course there are extremely bright students who TJ is missing out on, and of course Black students don't want to be the only Black kids in the class. So yes, we quite possibly need affirmative action, but it's not guaranteed to work, and it absolutely won't work without support programs for students who are struggling. (At TJ, the only thing harder than getting in is staying in.)

But why? DD is quite often the only white girl in class, and it has never impacted her decision to take a certain class. She said she has never experienced or observed any racism at school. She has a lot of Asian/Indian friends, and an Asian boy keeps asking her out.

If you or your children are black, you have a chance to prove to the society how smart and hardworking you are, to break any bias other people might have. The more smart and hardworking black people a person meets, the less likely they are to think that black people are not focused on education. If your black kids don't even apply to TJ, the general bias will remain that black people are not interested in pursuing careers in STEM, taking challenging classes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

It happened to my son at TJ as well. He wanted to take the test to skip the "foundation of cs" course and requested the necessary documents from his counselor and she strongly discouraged him from taking the test and would not give him the required documents to take the test for months and he had to finally get the documents from another counselor and take the test and pass. Again, when he wanted to take the test to skip Pre-Calculus, his counselor strongly discouraged him and would not agree because she did not think he could pass the test. He eventually took the test after repeated requests and passed the test.

It happened again when he was registering for sophomore classes and his counselor (at TJ, counselor assigned in the beginning is the counselor for that student until graduation) discouraged my son from taking any AP courses and called me at work to tell me that my son should not take any AP courses in his sophomore year. She did not think it was a good idea (apparently, he did not come from the "right middle school"). My son had to jump through hoops in order to take AP courses in his sophomore year. When the time came to apply for colleges, this counselor again strongly discouraged my son from applying to any "top schools" and recommended UVA/VA Tech and few other similar colleges despite him being in the top 1% of his class with perfect gpa, near perfect SAT score, several leadership positions at TJ, writing awards and LD debate awards, published research etc.

And, my son is Asian so this kind of academic discrimination happens to Asian students as well at TJ.

[Anonymous]

This happens to "all" kids at TJ by the counselors. However simple English indicates this is not discrimination against Blacks, Asians, or whatever. The word discrimination implies choice and different behavior between different groups. This is standard operating procedure.

[Anonymous]

I am the black PP who posted. This is going to be my last post because the responses mimicked my experience at TJ and it's unhealthy to relive this anymore.

First, yes, when it comes to leadership, mentoring, student support, etc. TJ is a mess. I am not touching this and when I see threads of people who are like "me too" when it comes to my experiences...I am going to have to say this bluntly.

I was treated poorly because I was black. I constantly heard a drum of "comments" about race, the stupid bell curve research that's been debunked, affirmative action (woo-yah, a hot topic) and other bullshit. Regularly. From people who were teachers. From parents. From my peers. It's a toxic environment, no one cared when you try to bring it up (the counselors .. a joke...admins...turned a blind eye...and teachers...well, they were probably the most apathetic on this point because they believed the reductive, racist bullshit that appears on every TJ thread about race.

Deep breaths...

None of you care. None of you want anything to change. All you want is either a spot for your kid at TJ or your kid to kill it at TJ and then go to an elite STEM or elite non-STEM school where they will inevitably march up through grad programs, fellowships, jobs and careers that will further protect and promote the cycle that got them that attending spot, that big fancy law firm partnership, that start up that will yield massive cash, or that spot in the C-suite in the fortune 500. No one defending TJ intends or wants it to change. It is what it is and to pretend that whatever empty words or money spent on "culture" consultants is going to fix this because ... no one cares.

So, what does one do with this realization? You make different choices. You learn from my experiences, my mistakes. You opt out. You choose to thrive...and not just survive this "elite" hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the black PP who posted. This is going to be my last post because the responses mimicked my experience at TJ and it's unhealthy to relive this anymore.

First, yes, when it comes to leadership, mentoring, student support, etc. TJ is a mess. I am not touching this and when I see threads of people who are like "me too" when it comes to my experiences...I am going to have to say this bluntly.

I was treated poorly because I was black. I constantly heard a drum of "comments" about race, the stupid bell curve research that's been debunked, affirmative action (woo-yah, a hot topic) and other bullshit. Regularly. From people who were teachers. From parents. From my peers. It's a toxic environment, no one cared when you try to bring it up (the counselors .. a joke...admins...turned a blind eye...and teachers...well, they were probably the most apathetic on this point because they believed the reductive, racist bullshit that appears on every TJ thread about race.

Deep breaths...

None of you care. None of you want anything to change. All you want is either a spot for your kid at TJ or your kid to kill it at TJ and then go to an elite STEM or elite non-STEM school where they will inevitably march up through grad programs, fellowships, jobs and careers that will further protect and promote the cycle that got them that attending spot, that big fancy law firm partnership, that start up that will yield massive cash, or that spot in the C-suite in the fortune 500. No one defending TJ intends or wants it to change. It is what it is and to pretend that whatever empty words or money spent on "culture" consultants is going to fix this because ... no one cares.

So, what does one do with this realization? You make different choices. You learn from my experiences, my mistakes. You opt out. You choose to thrive...and not just survive this "elite" hell.

There is no monopoly on racism...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the black PP who posted. This is going to be my last post because the responses mimicked my experience at TJ and it's unhealthy to relive this anymore.

First, yes, when it comes to leadership, mentoring, student support, etc. TJ is a mess. I am not touching this and when I see threads of people who are like "me too" when it comes to my experiences...I am going to have to say this bluntly.

I was treated poorly because I was black. I constantly heard a drum of "comments" about race, the stupid bell curve research that's been debunked, affirmative action (woo-yah, a hot topic) and other bullshit. Regularly. From people who were teachers. From parents. From my peers. It's a toxic environment, no one cared when you try to bring it up (the counselors .. a joke...admins...turned a blind eye...and teachers...well, they were probably the most apathetic on this point because they believed the reductive, racist bullshit that appears on every TJ thread about race.

Deep breaths...

None of you care. None of you want anything to change. All you want is either a spot for your kid at TJ or your kid to kill it at TJ and then go to an elite STEM or elite non-STEM school where they will inevitably march up through grad programs, fellowships, jobs and careers that will further protect and promote the cycle that got them that attending spot, that big fancy law firm partnership, that start up that will yield massive cash, or that spot in the C-suite in the fortune 500. No one defending TJ intends or wants it to change. It is what it is and to pretend that whatever empty words or money spent on "culture" consultants is going to fix this because ... no one cares.

So, what does one do with this realization? You make different choices. You learn from my experiences, my mistakes. You opt out. You choose to thrive...and not just survive this "elite" hell.

There is no monopoly on racism...

The hell? That is a non response if I ever saw one. If this is a snapshot of what pp experienced my heart goes out to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

I had two Asian kids in TJ and experienced the similar issues as yours. So I'm pretty sure it's not a racial bias.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

Either that you're lying, or the counselor was too stupid to realize you had a HUGE hook for being black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a black student that went to TJ (in college now). And this thread is peak why TJ was an awful experience from a social standpoint even though academically I thrived. I am in therapy to work through the awfulness I went through despite doing "everything right" and excelling academically. I am doing great in college, but I would never, ever encourage my siblings to go to TJ (two passed) and my youngest is in 8th grade.

I find it weird how there is this obsession with race, prepping, cheating, and explaining why black people are not as intelligent or driven than other races of people. It's damaging. It is something that permeates not just from the kids and parents. I heard this from teachers, counselors, etc. I was underestimated. I was counseled against taking courses I excelled in. I was counseled against applying for colleges I not only got into...I got full rides. I was pushed down constantly while trying to excel in a challenging academic environment. It was EXTRA work that I didn't only not get credit for...I was gas-lit and told that it wasn't happening and I was being sensitive, crazy or just a victim. A whiner. A teacher at TJ literally said that to my face.

You know why black people avoid TJ? It is not because we can't get in or hack it. It's because it's toxic. Why bother when you can get a great education at your base without that extra helping of gas-lighting.

I had two Asian kids in TJ and experienced the similar issues as yours. So I'm pretty sure it's not a racial bias.

TJ is hard for everyone, regardless of skin color. This is why more and more qualified students choose not to attend TJ even after admitted. They either stay in their base school and be the big fish, or they go to privates. This is particularly true since attending TJ will hurt not help with college admission, unless you are at the very top. College admission in fact discriminates against Asian. Think about that.

[Anonymous]

Conflating academic rigor with overt racism towards non-Asian minorities by other students and administrators completely misses the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I also want to say that i still believe we need to intervene to encourage more Black students to attend TJ. Of course there are extremely bright students who TJ is missing out on, and of course Black students don't want to be the only Black kids in the class. So yes, we quite possibly need affirmative action, but it's not guaranteed to work, and it absolutely won't work without support programs for students who are struggling. (At TJ, the only thing harder than getting in is staying in.)

But why? DD is quite often the only white girl in class, and it has never impacted her decision to take a certain class. She said she has never experienced or observed any racism at school. She has a lot of Asian/Indian friends, and an Asian boy keeps asking her out.

If you or your children are black, you have a chance to prove to the society how smart and hardworking you are, to break any bias other people might have. The more smart and hardworking black people a person meets, the less likely they are to think that black people are not focused on education. If your black kids don't even apply to TJ, the general bias will remain that black people are not interested in pursuing careers in STEM, taking challenging classes, etc.

DP. So basically you’re blaming black people for ongoing racism against black people. Classy.