Anyone know of a humanities magnet high school (alternative to TJ)?

[Anonymous]

Another possibility is that the teacher recommendations were not that strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The power point has a clear agenda to get rid of the essays, particularly the one which asks students to consider an ethical issue in a scientific context. I actually was happy when I read that my child had to think and write about an ethical issue on the exam. Considering such issues at an early age and continuing to do so through their schooling can only be a benefit to students who would like careers as scientists.

Lots of comments are included to make TJ sound like it's on a downward spiral. I was present at the meetings last year about the letter the math teachers wrote and I came away from those meetings with a completely different sense of the extent of the problem, the possible causes (many were listed), and possible solutions.

The fact is, Northern Virginia has lots of kids who are extremely talented in math and have also read widely and can write well. There is no need to accept kids who are great at math but need help in writing when there are so many who can do both. With only so many spaces available at the school, it makes sense to fill them with students who can do the math and science and then write about it, too.

Interesting Reddit exchange where TJ alums compare what TJ used to be like:

http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1ipv66/til_that_the_1_high_school_in_the_us_thomas/

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County School Board Governance Committee has proposed to go back to the "holistic" admissions process for TJ that was in place from about 2005 to 2010 during its last work session.

I think the "holistic" review system will be more subjective and not any better than the current system although the current system has lot of problems to begin with. it might even be worse since the "decline" in math and other ability of TJ students more or less began around 2006/2007 with the move towards the "holistic" review process (after the blue ribbon panel on diversity issue) from the system that was in place prior to 2005. Each tinkering seems to make the process worse.