Tj teachers - Be prepared!
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Anonymous
So you somehow magically know more than someone who has 2 kids at TJ and volunteers there a lot! Visions and Tarot cards? |
Anonymous
Of course I didn't go to TJ! Neither did most people that post here including you. Not sure what you do to have "seen" over 10,000 kids graduate from TJ (not sure what that means.. unless you consider yourself the fairy godmother of all kids at TJ) but cut that superior attitude. You don't know more than I do, especially with no kids that have gone through TJ. I stand by my statement that Black kids at TJ are not treated badly as you depict. Neither of my kids do it, none of their friends do it and I have not witnessed or have others report witnessing such incidents. If it happens, it must be a secret that only you are able to 'see' through your visions. If a kid did say what you implied to a black kid's face, that shows a lack of tact more than racism IMHO.. Here's reality. All things being equal (grades, ECs, etc.) if a black kid gets a spot at a college that a non-black kid doesn't, it's not wrong for the other kid to feel some resentment. Why is that automatically considered racist? Not only are others not supposed to say anything that may be construed as racist (I agree with this) but now they aren't even allowed to THINK anything along those lines? And y'all keep wondering why Trump won the last election and came close to winning this one?!?!? |
Anonymous
Literally everything you wrote here is wrong except for 3 things: 1) "Neither did most people that post here" - that is correct. But I did, a long time ago. My techlab was CAD and the lab director was Ken Domina. I could go on, but that should be enough for the people on here who actually know what they're talking about. 2) "Neither of my kids do it" - I can't say that's categorically false, though really neither can you. Kids generally don't come home and brag to their parents about their microaggressions. Suffice it to say, I've had several TJ students come to me over the years to talk about hearing the "all because you're Black" garbage - AND I've had both white and Asian students come to me frustrated that they didn't get into their school of choice and blaming affirmative action. It's a teachable moment that a lot of kids need because of what they hear at home - and frankly, the outsized importance that they and their families place on admission to prestigious schools. 3) "that shows more a lack of tact than racism" - true, but irrelevant. The fact that it shows lack of tact doesn't help the kid to whom it's directed, and it shows a lack of tact whether it's said to their face, behind their back, or on TJ Vents. The arguments that you're making here are the same types of arguments that these kids make - which is excusable when you're 17 and have a very limited concept of the world around you, but not when you're an adult. Many kids at TJ simply cannot fathom the possibility that a Black or Hispanic kid was simply more qualified than they were to attend Harvard, or that a Black or Hispanic kid was simply more qualified to get into TJ than their best friend who went to Rachel Carson with them. The existence of affirmative action anywhere, to these families, implies the ubiquitous presence and application of affirmative action EVERYWHERE. "All things being equal" is never a thing. All things are NEVER equal. Kids at TJ might have some idea of each others' grades and SAT scores, as well as their ECs, but those are only a small part of the overall picture of each student. Context matters in admissions - it always has and it always will. It's the reason why companies have job interviews instead of just hiring people purely on their resumes. Kids can think whatever the hell they want to, however misguided it is. It's usually the parents' job to help set them in the right direction - although that last paragraph you wrote kinda throws that idea out the window. |
Anonymous
"The existence of affirmative action anywhere, to these families, implies the ubiquitous presence and application of affirmative action EVERYWHERE. " Yes, the soft bigotry of lowered expectations caused by lowering expectations. "The way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race" - Chief Justice John Roberts |
Anonymous
Why is this ok to give preferential treatment to black people at school, college, work environment, but nobody is supposed to acknowledge the FACT that the preferential treatment exists? Colleges have lower SAT and GPA thresholds for black students, TJ has changed the admission standards to accommodate black applicants, companies are paying for free masters degree for black people, see here: https://www.benefitnews.com/news/pwc-offers-free-masters-degree-for-black-latinx-accountants I read a long article in the Washington Post recently how Google donated over $100M to historically black colleges, helped to rewrite their computer science curriculum, volunteered many hours of their time teaching black students, offers them internships, but their black employees are still not satisfied with these efforts and demand more and more. |
Anonymous
| The PwC article at the link above shows that there only 9% Asian accountants and 13.6% LatinX. Why are they focused on increasing the percentage of LatinX offering them free degrees and don’t care about the lower percentage of Asians? Isn’t this an illustration of the racial discrimination of Asians while giving preference to black and LatinX? Same approach that TJ is now following. And for some reason, everybody, kids and adults, are supposed to shut up and pretend they don’t see the obvious. |
Anonymous
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Black and Hispanic students at TJ are not treated badly or viewed as a product of affirmative action. Why would they be when they were admitted through the same rigorous process?
The kids who get in with the new system with middle school quotas and preferences for certain kids with “experience factors” will certainly be viewed as weaker candidates since they needed special accommodations to get admitted. |
Anonymous
+1000. No one at TJ looks upon TJ blacks or hispanics as less than or not deserving, because they are there via the same standards as everyone else. Next year, on the other hand, might be another story (I know it's terrible to say that but, if you're honest with yourself, you'd understand how there could be doubts. That goes for next year's freshmen of any race, btw.) |
Anonymous
"My best friend got stuck on the waitlist because of you" "You're so lucky, you're gonna get in anywhere you want because you're Black" "I wish I were Hispanic so I could get into Yale" "Are you sure you want to go straight to Math 5? Kids from your area tend to struggle when they get here..." Families in Northern Virginia have always believed that some level of affirmative action has always existed at TJ. Their view of Black and Hispanic students is so low that they see the existence of ANY of them at TJ as evidence of affirmative action. They have told me so to my face (I am neither). What's remarkable about the above statement is that folks actually believe that they can tell who got in with "Experience Factors". That statement in and of itself is EXPLICITLY racist. Believe me when I tell you that there will be plenty of Asian students who will be helped by this process. PLENTY. Kids who come from schools that are historically underrepresented at TJ - but still happen to be Asian. Kids who are low income - but still happen to be Asian. And there will be wealthy Black and Hispanic kids coming from Rachel Carson and Longfellow and Kilmer, just like there always have been. |
Anonymous
Probably because we dragged them over here from Africa against their will 400 years ago and built this country on the backs of their slave labor. Or because we still work to deny them the right to vote. Or because we shoot them in the streets for no reason. Or any of the millions of other things we've done to Black folks over the years. Here's the key difference. It's not explicitly wrong to acknowledge the fact that there are areas where we're trying to make amends for all of the deep transgressions we've committed against the Black community during America's sordid history. It is explicitly wrong to attribute the success of any individual, or the failure of another individual, to a systemic adjustment such as this one. It is WRONG to assume that the person you're talking to or about is less qualified than you are just because of the existence of these adjustments. It is WRONG to believe that you've worked harder than someone else because affirmative action exists and is applied to others. It is WRONG to assume that someone's family cares less about academics than yours does just because they spent thousands of dollars on preparing you for admission to TJ and theirs didn't. |
Anonymous
Most of us have no ancestors who owned or sold slaves. Actually a lot of black people have ancestors who sold their neighbors as slaves. How do you differentiate a black person whose ancestor sold slaves from a person whose ancestor was sold and why should the same preferential treatment be given to both of them equally, just because they happen to have the same skin color? If I came from a different country that has never had any slaves, why am I also required to be forever apologetic for the behavior of some jerks who owned slaves 400 ago? |
Anonymous
No one is asking you to be apologetic. We're just asking society as a whole to stop assuming that the existence of affirmative action as a measure of redress necessarily means that any Black success can be explained by affirmative action - and therefore by anti-Asian (or anti-white) racism. This may affect you, but it isn't about you. |
Anonymous
Of course, in order to succeed you need to have various skills. At the same time, being good-looking and/or tall and/or black helps to achieve success. It's easier to get a promotion for a 6 ft tall man than for a 5 ft short man. It's easier to find a partner when you have a beautiful face and attractive body. These days, it's also easier to get into a good college or receive a promotion if you are black. Why can't we just acknowledge these facts and why our kids can't acknowledge what they see? It does help with college admissions to be black. Nobody is saying they can get into the top colleges ONLY because of their skin color. It's just that a threshold for them to get in is lower. Since there are so few of them at TJ, any black student with the perfect GPA and SAT score will be accepted by the top colleges - which is not the case with the Asian kids. Even white students as a minority at TJ might benefit from their race during college admissions. |
Anonymous
Yes, they are saying exactly these things. This is a huge part of the point that I and others have been making and that TJ students have confirmed repeatedly. One of the consistent microaggressions foisted upon students belonging to underrepresented groups is that they wouldn't have gotten into "school X" - INCLUDING TJ - but for the fact of their race. Or that they're going to have an easier time getting in and therefore don't have to work as hard. If you don't understand how toxic that behavior is, and how it causes kids who are already doubting themselves to further question their self-worth, then you are a part of why the environment is as toxic as it is. |