NAACP, Local Advocates File Discrimination Complaint Against FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Wrong. Hayfield, Falls Church and West Potomac all have high black and/or Hispanic enrollments and are AP schools. And who says IB can't prepare students for a STEM career?

Because science IB courses are only worthwhile at the college level if they are HL vs. SL.

As an example, credit awarded for IB courses at GMU:

http://admissions.gmu.edu/exams/examBaccalaureateInternational.asp

Since a student can only take 3 HL courses as they are two year courses, it is very limiting for students interested in STEM pre-college work.

You get 7 credits at GMU for Math HL and 8 for Calculus BC. And you can still pursue a STEM major and career even if you get fewer college credits upon entry based on IB courses.

Not saying many might not prefer AP, but IB isn't as career-limiting as you imply. Did you want the NAACP to file a complaint challenging the fact that many, though not all, IB schools in Fairfax have high minority enrollments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Wrong. Hayfield, Falls Church and West Potomac all have high black and/or Hispanic enrollments and are AP schools. And who says IB can't prepare students for a STEM career?

Because science IB courses are only worthwhile at the college level if they are HL vs. SL.

As an example, credit awarded for IB courses at GMU:

http://admissions.gmu.edu/exams/examBaccalaureateInternational.asp

Since a student can only take 3 HL courses as they are two year courses, it is very limiting for students interested in STEM pre-college work.

You get 7 credits at GMU for Math HL and 8 for Calculus BC. And you can still pursue a STEM major and career even if you get fewer college credits upon entry based on IB courses.

Not saying many might not prefer AP, but IB isn't as career-limiting as you imply. Did you want the NAACP to file a complaint challenging the fact that many, though not all, IB schools in Fairfax have high minority enrollments?

I will amend my statement and say IB IS NOT AS STRONG A PREPARATION FOR A STEM CAREER AS AP.

(Better for you?)

I know a software engineer that majored in zoology for his BS. I would not recommend a zoology degree for someone going into a STEM career, but as they say, just about anything is possible. When I advise my kids, I tell them if they want to go into a STEM career, they are better off with AP vs. IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, but why does race now become an issue? Shouldn't they just figure out where the problems are with admission and fix it? Then admission would change relative to new criteria, not race. Honestly I never understood the aura of TJ. Is it just a status symbol for them or do people honestly think their local FCPS public high school with ridiculous numbers of AP classes offered these days isn't enough to then go on to a STEM career?

It's mostly a status symbol, and always has been. Go to Walt Whitman HS, Scarsdale HS, Lower Merion HS, Newton North, or New Trier HS, and ask if the students there suffer because they can't attend a specialized magnet. Most people there would laugh because they know how good those schools are. They may not be as highly ranked as TJ, but they serve their communities very well and people there get along with one another. In comparison, TJ has turned into one ugly Spike Lee movie.

stupid comparisons. New Trier for example has about 1% blacks. It's almost all white.
And I dispute the last sentence. TJ is a source of great pride to FCPS and is natioanally, even world-renown. Maybe blacks and Hispanics should study harder.

First of all, it's "renowned."
I've lived all over this country and all over the world and I can almost guarantee that TJ is virtually unknown to anybody else in this country except admissions officers (people in other states really could care less about your magnet), and the only international country that may have some fixation with TJ is South Korea. I'd attribute that to the Annandale connection. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, but why does race now become an issue? Shouldn't they just figure out where the problems are with admission and fix it? Then admission would change relative to new criteria, not race. Honestly I never understood the aura of TJ. Is it just a status symbol for them or do people honestly think their local FCPS public high school with ridiculous numbers of AP classes offered these days isn't enough to then go on to a STEM career?

It's mostly a status symbol, and always has been. Go to Walt Whitman HS, Scarsdale HS, Lower Merion HS, Newton North, or New Trier HS, and ask if the students there suffer because they can't attend a specialized magnet. Most people there would laugh because they know how good those schools are. They may not be as highly ranked as TJ, but they serve their communities very well and people there get along with one another. In comparison, TJ has turned into one ugly Spike Lee movie.

stupid comparisons. New Trier for example has about 1% blacks. It's almost all white.
And I dispute the last sentence. TJ is a source of great pride to FCPS and is natioanally, even world-renown. Maybe blacks and Hispanics should study harder.

First of all, it's "renowned."
I've lived all over this country and all over the world and I can almost guarantee that TJ is virtually unknown to anybody else in this country except admissions officers (people in other states really could care less about your magnet), and the only international country that may have some fixation with TJ is South Korea. I'd attribute that to the Annandale connection. Get over yourself.

This is just factually incorrect.
Every article I read refers to TJ as the "prestigious" Alexandria VA school. Being ranked number one in U.S. News and World Report for several years in a row gets the attention of educators and parents who care about this sort of thing.
I read an article about some parents from Colorado who moved here specifically so their kids could attend TJ.
There wouldn't be the fuss there is now if it wasn't regarded as the best school of its type in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, but why does race now become an issue? Shouldn't they just figure out where the problems are with admission and fix it? Then admission would change relative to new criteria, not race. Honestly I never understood the aura of TJ. Is it just a status symbol for them or do people honestly think their local FCPS public high school with ridiculous numbers of AP classes offered these days isn't enough to then go on to a STEM career?

It's mostly a status symbol, and always has been. Go to Walt Whitman HS, Scarsdale HS, Lower Merion HS, Newton North, or New Trier HS, and ask if the students there suffer because they can't attend a specialized magnet. Most people there would laugh because they know how good those schools are. They may not be as highly ranked as TJ, but they serve their communities very well and people there get along with one another. In comparison, TJ has turned into one ugly Spike Lee movie.

stupid comparisons. New Trier for example has about 1% blacks. It's almost all white.
And I dispute the last sentence. TJ is a source of great pride to FCPS and is natioanally, even world-renown. Maybe blacks and Hispanics should study harder.

First of all, it's "renowned."
I've lived all over this country and all over the world and I can almost guarantee that TJ is virtually unknown to anybody else in this country except admissions officers (people in other states really could care less about your magnet), and the only international country that may have some fixation with TJ is South Korea. I'd attribute that to the Annandale connection. Get over yourself.

This is just factually incorrect.
Every article I read refers to TJ as the "prestigious" Alexandria VA school. Being ranked number one in U.S. News and World Report for several years in a row gets the attention of educators and parents who care about this sort of thing.
I read an article about some parents from Colorado who moved here specifically so their kids could attend TJ.
There wouldn't be the fuss there is now if it wasn't regarded as the best school of its type in the country.

That's just is, op: Most parents outside of this immediate region don't care about this sort of thing. Link to the Colorado movers, or it didn't happen. And of course there would be a fuss -- it's still a highly coveted school in this particular region, but that doesn't make it world-renowned.

[Anonymous]

It's world renown in South Korea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, but why does race now become an issue? Shouldn't they just figure out where the problems are with admission and fix it? Then admission would change relative to new criteria, not race. Honestly I never understood the aura of TJ. Is it just a status symbol for them or do people honestly think their local FCPS public high school with ridiculous numbers of AP classes offered these days isn't enough to then go on to a STEM career?

It's mostly a status symbol, and always has been. Go to Walt Whitman HS, Scarsdale HS, Lower Merion HS, Newton North, or New Trier HS, and ask if the students there suffer because they can't attend a specialized magnet. Most people there would laugh because they know how good those schools are. They may not be as highly ranked as TJ, but they serve their communities very well and people there get along with one another. In comparison, TJ has turned into one ugly Spike Lee movie.

stupid comparisons. New Trier for example has about 1% blacks. It's almost all white.
And I dispute the last sentence. TJ is a source of great pride to FCPS and is natioanally, even world-renown. Maybe blacks and Hispanics should study harder.

First of all, it's "renowned."
I've lived all over this country and all over the world and I can almost guarantee that TJ is virtually unknown to anybody else in this country except admissions officers (people in other states really could care less about your magnet), and the only international country that may have some fixation with TJ is South Korea. I'd attribute that to the Annandale connection. Get over yourself.

This is just factually incorrect.
Every article I read refers to TJ as the "prestigious" Alexandria VA school. Being ranked number one in U.S. News and World Report for several years in a row gets the attention of educators and parents who care about this sort of thing.
I read an article about some parents from Colorado who moved here specifically so their kids could attend TJ.
There wouldn't be the fuss there is now if it wasn't regarded as the best school of its type in the country.

That's just is, op: Most parents outside of this immediate region don't care about this sort of thing. Link to the Colorado movers, or it didn't happen. And of course there would be a fuss -- it's still a highly coveted school in this particular region, but that doesn't make it world-renowned.

This was in an article in the Washingtonian, entitled "Success Factory," October 2009.

"As the schools reputation grew, a Jfferson diploma became a hot commodity. John Aulabuagh moved his family 1,700 miles from Estes Park, Colorado with an eye to getting his twins. Jack and Alex, into the school." It goes on to say the parents were positioning the kids to get into Harvard, Princeton or MIT. For their search they relied on the U.S. News and World Report rankings. They moved to Fairfax, rented a house, and the kids did get in.

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/work-education/education/success-factory-inside-americas-best-high-school/

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the guidance counselors move some through ...unless those kids did calculus in middle school I don't see anyone as a shoe-in.

[Anonymous]

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2012/jul/24/editorial-separate-and-unequal/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But we aren't talking about normal kids - the school only grabs the truly truly gifted. And that the demographics seems to favor Asians heavily. Perhaps they are gifted and their families work very hard to have them achieve. I know many asian families that pay for tutors and send their children to special schools on Saturdays to get them ahead.

If the other groups (white, hispanic, black, etc) can't compete they will be and should be left behind. Don't dumb the school down for quotas. That is why the U.S. is starting to fail.

+100. This lawsuit represents everything that is wrong with the US these days. It's no wonder that we're not competitive in the world anymore. But hey, instead of accepting responsibility and looking at ourselves, our family structures, our lack of parental involvement in our kids' education, our culture, or our priorities, and trying to improve these things, it's a lot easier to make excuses and blame someone else for our failures.

Tell the NAACP to stop whining and start working.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how much noise the NAACP are making over China's neocolonization of Africa. Too bad they can't stop it. Them chinaman are going to make Europeans seem like Bugs Bunny. This time they can't blame Whitey.

[Anonymous]

This is why the US is ranked 37 in math and science in the world. Let's just lower the standards of the best high school in America. That should help us be competitive in the global marketplace.

And people wonder why we keep losing jobs to Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why the US is ranked 37 in math and science in the world. Let's just lower the standards of the best high school in America. That should help us be competitive in the global marketplace.

And people wonder why we keep losing jobs to Asia.

Because their workers earn $2.00 a day in labor. That is why we keep losing jobs to Asia, just ask Walmart and friends. All your furniture that you purchased with the misguided belief that it was made in North Carolina, was made in Vietnam. Your bank routes your calls to someone in India who can never answer your questions, but it's cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why the US is ranked 37 in math and science in the world. Let's just lower the standards of the best high school in America. That should help us be competitive in the global marketplace.

And people wonder why we keep losing jobs to Asia.

Because their workers earn $2.00 a day in labor. That is why we keep losing jobs to Asia, just ask Walmart and friends. All your furniture that you purchased with the misguided belief that it was made in North Carolina, was made in Vietnam. Your bank routes your calls to someone in India who can never answer your questions, but it's cheaper.

Maybe. But an alarming number of IT and other technology jobs are going to people who are here on work visas. Those are the jobs I would be more worried about losing (not PP)