Letter to FCPS about TJ Admissions By TJHSST Students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs to TJ, those who don’t and get pushed in simply suffer, whether they are pushed in by overzealous parents or overzealous politicians. A differential equation doesn’t care what color of skin you have. Either you can solve it or you can’t.

You don't need to take differential equations in high school to succeed as a STEM major in college. TJ's goal should be to prepare high school kids for succeeding in STEM majors in college, not to make high school into college. I think that focus on making high school more like college instead of preparing kids to succeed in college is where TJ has gone off track and so is failing all except a small segment of the FCPS student body. Those who want a simulated college experience in high school should pay to have that privately and should not be able to use a public school for that purpose to the detriment of others.

x10000000

Yes! This!

If you don’t want to solve differential equation? then why do you even want to go to TJ?

I don't want my Kid to solve the differential equations, and I don't want your Kid to solve them too, SAD

DD takes DE class at TJ now and tells me every day how she loves it. If she had to go to her base school, she probably could have graduated after 10th grade. Maybe that’s what other advanced kids should do in the future: if they don’t win the TJ lottery, just go to the base school and graduate earlier.

Going to college at 15, 16? May not be mature enough or emotionally ready though.

Some people just can’t seem to understand. There are actually lots of kids at TJ who just love these kind of stuff and genially enjoying it. These kids need TJ.

Welp. You'll need to start coming up with a plan other than TJ to fill that "need."

Then people can “lottery” and destroy that one too

Not if you pay for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is embarrassing from the TJ students and I am frankly shocked that these decided to put their names on it. It's just not good writing. Their position is a defensible one but this is a poorly mounted defense at best.

The vast majority of students at TJ will not accept this change, and that's to be expected because they were admitted through a different process that told them that they were the best and brightest.

+1 to the letter being very poorly written.

to be fair it is a STEM school. I wonder if their college essays are equally well written; that could explain the annual disappointment at TJ

You might be on to something here....

+1

Very few Asians are lawyers.

This stereotyping is false. I work with quite a few Asian lawyers. I think the letter is poorly written, but that doesn't mean all TJ kids can't write or that all Asians can't write.

Just googled, data from 2018:

In recent years, race and ethnicity information has been collected as well, though currently only 20 states report that data to the ABA. For 2018, the reported data shows 85 percent of attorneys identify as Caucasian/White; 5 percent as African-American; 5 percent as Hispanic; 3 percent as Asian; 1 percent as Native American; and 1 percent as multiracial.

There you go. I totally don’t think Asians are smarter. They just get discriminated into STEM field where they thought only merit matters. And now that has to be taken away from them too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs to TJ, those who don’t and get pushed in simply suffer, whether they are pushed in by overzealous parents or overzealous politicians. A differential equation doesn’t care what color of skin you have. Either you can solve it or you can’t.

You don't need to take differential equations in high school to succeed as a STEM major in college. TJ's goal should be to prepare high school kids for succeeding in STEM majors in college, not to make high school into college. I think that focus on making high school more like college instead of preparing kids to succeed in college is where TJ has gone off track and so is failing all except a small segment of the FCPS student body. Those who want a simulated college experience in high school should pay to have that privately and should not be able to use a public school for that purpose to the detriment of others.

x10000000

Yes! This!

If you don’t want to solve differential equation? then why do you even want to go to TJ?

I don't want my Kid to solve the differential equations, and I don't want your Kid to solve them too, SAD

DD takes DE class at TJ now and tells me every day how she loves it. If she had to go to her base school, she probably could have graduated after 10th grade. Maybe that’s what other advanced kids should do in the future: if they don’t win the TJ lottery, just go to the base school and graduate earlier.

Going to college at 15, 16? May not be mature enough or emotionally ready though.

Some people just can’t seem to understand. There are actually lots of kids at TJ who just love these kind of stuff and genially enjoying it. These kids need TJ.

Welp. You'll need to start coming up with a plan other than TJ to fill that "need."

Then people can “lottery” and destroy that one too

Not if you pay for it.

1. Aren’t you discriminating the poor?
2. Public schools are required to meet this need by law

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs to TJ, those who don’t and get pushed in simply suffer, whether they are pushed in by overzealous parents or overzealous politicians. A differential equation doesn’t care what color of skin you have. Either you can solve it or you can’t.

You don't need to take differential equations in high school to succeed as a STEM major in college. TJ's goal should be to prepare high school kids for succeeding in STEM majors in college, not to make high school into college. I think that focus on making high school more like college instead of preparing kids to succeed in college is where TJ has gone off track and so is failing all except a small segment of the FCPS student body. Those who want a simulated college experience in high school should pay to have that privately and should not be able to use a public school for that purpose to the detriment of others.

x10000000

Yes! This!

If you don’t want to solve differential equation? then why do you even want to go to TJ?

I don't want my Kid to solve the differential equations, and I don't want your Kid to solve them too, SAD

DD takes DE class at TJ now and tells me every day how she loves it. If she had to go to her base school, she probably could have graduated after 10th grade. Maybe that’s what other advanced kids should do in the future: if they don’t win the TJ lottery, just go to the base school and graduate earlier.

Going to college at 15, 16? May not be mature enough or emotionally ready though.

Some people just can’t seem to understand. There are actually lots of kids at TJ who just love these kind of stuff and genially enjoying it. These kids need TJ.

Welp. You'll need to start coming up with a plan other than TJ to fill that "need."

Then people can “lottery” and destroy that one too

Not if you pay for it.

1. Aren’t you discriminating the poor?
2. Public schools are required to meet this need by law

Really? I think they are obliged to provide a high school education but not necessarily one with advanced college level STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Make the test less preppable

While an admissions test is necessary, the current admissions test is flawed. Wealthier TJ applicants often attend private tutoring classes to prepare for the TJ admissions test. By creating a test that measures critical thinking, logic, and creative problem solving over standardized testing skills would help to eliminate the advantage that students who pay for private tutoring have. This was implemented for Class of 2022 admissions with the introduction of the Quant-Q, and we saw noticeable differences in class demographics."

What test would possibly fit this creteria? This was the goal of the Quant-Q. The Quant-Q is a GREAT test and is designed to be secured and unprepable. Go back and watch the school board meetings - everyone was SURE this would be the answer.

Unfornately, one prep company seems to have found a way to cheat their way to 28% of the class of 2024 by giving their students special access to the test. For the class of 2022, they only had 51 students, but "somehow" managed to get 133 students for 2024.

Also of note: One of the students is on the "2018 LIST OF CURIE STUDENTS WHO GOT ACCEPTED IN AOS/AET/TJ" published on the prep company's facebook page on 6/9/18. (I will not say which student!)

If the test prep ccompany cheated its way into admissions why FCPS and the virginia education dept has not constituted any enquiry? Till they do that it will be very hard to accept this farce

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is embarrassing from the TJ students and I am frankly shocked that these decided to put their names on it. It's just not good writing. Their position is a defensible one but this is a poorly mounted defense at best.

The vast majority of students at TJ will not accept this change, and that's to be expected because they were admitted through a different process that told them that they were the best and brightest.

+1 to the letter being very poorly written.

to be fair it is a STEM school. I wonder if their college essays are equally well written; that could explain the annual disappointment at TJ

You might be on to something here....

+1

Very few Asians are lawyers.

This stereotyping is false. I work with quite a few Asian lawyers. I think the letter is poorly written, but that doesn't mean all TJ kids can't write or that all Asians can't write.

Just googled, data from 2018:

In recent years, race and ethnicity information has been collected as well, though currently only 20 states report that data to the ABA. For 2018, the reported data shows 85 percent of attorneys identify as Caucasian/White; 5 percent as African-American; 5 percent as Hispanic; 3 percent as Asian; 1 percent as Native American; and 1 percent as multiracial.

There you go. I totally don’t think Asians are smarter. They just get discriminated into STEM field where they thought only merit matters. And now that has to be taken away from them too

I can Google too. 47% of Harvard Law's Class of 2023 are "students of color."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We agree that the application fee should be removed/reduced.
We believe it would be a good way to create equal opportunity among the applicants.
We truly believe that when there is no gap between income and educational opportunity, diversity within the TJ community will flourish naturally. Instead of hastily trying to “fit” in more diversity at TJ, we should be starting from a fundamental level to make education an experience that flows naturally and allows everyone equal

I don't know is this is laudable naive optimism or cynical hope that the system that favored them will remain in place until the impossible is achieved

I think it's the latter. How many years would it be before there is no income gap?! We should wait for that to solve the diversity problems at TJ? Ok. These kids are smart, they can't possibly be naive enough to think that offers a real solution to the current problem.

The income gap between asians and URMs is totally a made up one in fairfax county. In fairfax county, 22% of the asian households earn more than 200K a year and 16-18% of african americans earn more than 200K .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When 1/3 of the students are admitted from one prep place - change is needed. Immigrants are organized, and you better believe that information traveled like wildfire, just as the test questions and answers did. In what world is that okay? Why should cheating be tolerated?

Institute an enquiry to prove the allegation of cheating instead of spreading hate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When 1/3 of the students are admitted from one prep place - change is needed. Immigrants are organized, and you better believe that information traveled like wildfire, just as the test questions and answers did. In what world is that okay? Why should cheating be tolerated?

That prep school gives 3 or 4 times the work given by any middle school. So with that amount of prep given students will natrually pass into TJ. Why doent FCPS or the Virginia dept of education constitute an enquiry to prove the allegations. If not, dont spread the hate against immigrants who have come legally, pay heavy taxes than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is embarrassing from the TJ students and I am frankly shocked that these decided to put their names on it. It's just not good writing. Their position is a defensible one but this is a poorly mounted defense at best.

The vast majority of students at TJ will not accept this change, and that's to be expected because they were admitted through a different process that told them that they were the best and brightest.

+1 to the letter being very poorly written.

to be fair it is a STEM school. I wonder if their college essays are equally well written; that could explain the annual disappointment at TJ

You might be on to something here....

+1

Very few Asians are lawyers.

This stereotyping is false. I work with quite a few Asian lawyers. I think the letter is poorly written, but that doesn't mean all TJ kids can't write or that all Asians can't write.

Just googled, data from 2018:

In recent years, race and ethnicity information has been collected as well, though currently only 20 states report that data to the ABA. For 2018, the reported data shows 85 percent of attorneys identify as Caucasian/White; 5 percent as African-American; 5 percent as Hispanic; 3 percent as Asian; 1 percent as Native American; and 1 percent as multiracial.

There you go. I totally don’t think Asians are smarter. They just get discriminated into STEM field where they thought only merit matters. And now that has to be taken away from them too

I can Google too. 47% of Harvard Law's Class of 2023 are "students of color."

I did not know this. I wonder then what the number was 10 years ago or 20 years ago that resulted in the number of asian lawyers today. Were there just no asian students back then? Or they just simply can’t make it in this field after graduation ?

Nevertheless, it doesn’t change the fact that asian students have this perception that might have affected their career choice too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care if you feel like your spot is "stolen" by the lottery. The lottery makes your chance of getting in equal to others. Why should higher SES kids whose parents can pay for enrichment, prep classes and tutors have a monopoly on attending TJ. Be grateful for the years and years of having that monopoly and stop trying to hog everything for yourself.

THIS.

-TJ alum

My kids had no enrichment, prep classes and tutors and have TJ students. Your generalizations suggest a real lack of critical thinking skills. You are not a credit to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What they really need is a letter from all the students who decided against attending TJ because they would have little or nothing in common with their classmates, and would feel unwanted.

They know they would feel unwelcome and most likely be hurt by bullying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You could use some therapy.

Nah. I wasn't born yesterday and can spot self serving BS when I see it. What kind of solution is income equality will solve TJ's diversity issues? If that's the the critical thinking the current TJ produces, change is long overdue.

Why do you think income inequality is the core problem here? Many poor Asian kids test into NYC's best schools--Stuyvesant, Bronx Science etc. Why do you think poor people can't test into TJ?

Look at the FARMS rate at TJ.

NYC uses one admissions test SHSAT to select students into specialized high schools.
46% of Stuyvesant High School students live below the poverty line.
44% of Bronx Science students live below the poverty line.

Why can NYC's poor students test into these elite schools? Why can't Fairfax County's URMs test into TJ?

Its unclear (to me at least) what definition of "poverty" NYC is using. Is it FARMs? Community Income?

In the policy world, defining poverty is not easy. Especially when comparing between localities.

Those numbers are free and reduced lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs to TJ, those who don’t and get pushed in simply suffer, whether they are pushed in by overzealous parents or overzealous politicians. A differential equation doesn’t care what color of skin you have. Either you can solve it or you can’t.

You don't need to take differential equations in high school to succeed as a STEM major in college. TJ's goal should be to prepare high school kids for succeeding in STEM majors in college, not to make high school into college. I think that focus on making high school more like college instead of preparing kids to succeed in college is where TJ has gone off track and so is failing all except a small segment of the FCPS student body. Those who want a simulated college experience in high school should pay to have that privately and should not be able to use a public school for that purpose to the detriment of others.

x10000000

Yes! This!

If you don’t want to solve differential equation? then why do you even want to go to TJ?

I don't want my Kid to solve the differential equations, and I don't want your Kid to solve them too, SAD

Why not?

They're fundamental to everything from modeling weather, circuits, heat transfer to the vibration of springs. Anyone who pursues a serious study of STEM will learn how to solve them, as much of the mathematics behind engineering is inaccessible without them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone belongs to TJ, those who don’t and get pushed in simply suffer, whether they are pushed in by overzealous parents or overzealous politicians. A differential equation doesn’t care what color of skin you have. Either you can solve it or you can’t.

You don't need to take differential equations in high school to succeed as a STEM major in college. TJ's goal should be to prepare high school kids for succeeding in STEM majors in college, not to make high school into college. I think that focus on making high school more like college instead of preparing kids to succeed in college is where TJ has gone off track and so is failing all except a small segment of the FCPS student body. Those who want a simulated college experience in high school should pay to have that privately and should not be able to use a public school for that purpose to the detriment of others.

x10000000

Yes! This!

If you don’t want to solve differential equation? then why do you even want to go to TJ?

I don't want my Kid to solve the differential equations, and I don't want your Kid to solve them too, SAD

DD takes DE class at TJ now and tells me every day how she loves it. If she had to go to her base school, she probably could have graduated after 10th grade. Maybe that’s what other advanced kids should do in the future: if they don’t win the TJ lottery, just go to the base school and graduate earlier.

Going to college at 15, 16? May not be mature enough or emotionally ready though.

Some people just can’t seem to understand. There are actually lots of kids at TJ who just love these kind of stuff and genially enjoying it. These kids need TJ.

Welp. You'll need to start coming up with a plan other than TJ to fill that "need."

It's called special education.

On the other hand, many of these kids really could test out of HS and go straight into college. Perhaps FCPS needs to start sending kids to NOVA who don't gain admission to TJ.