Anonymous wrote:Many folks posting comments here are either delusional or have no clue and would write anything to support their point of view that defies common logic. TJ math 4 article detailing email from tj 4 math teachers was not a surprise given all the tj kids now admitted are not tested for math even in the essay portion. TJ math is generally much harder than regular high school math, and even those with aptitude in math have to work hard to get good grade in these classes. Based on the email from math 4 teachers, this tj class was offered extra support, extra practice tests and quizzes, much easier test still the scores were the lowest ever, many students did not bother to even show-up for remedial 8th period classes. The practice final exam contained similar questions that were in final exam still many student got it wrong. Read the full email from the teachers to get better perspective. Unfortunately the low level school board politician or the brain dead TJ principal and the equity crusaders will not care about any of this simply because they don’t care about common sense reforms, but this will not go away because students without solid understanding of math 4 will face problems with math 5 and calculus ab and bc. I expect this problem will continue until they update the admission process to identify strong math students or dumb down the math curriculum significantly.
There were 2024 kids in Math 4. And the kids from 2025 who took geometry in 8th.
And many kids are still recovering from the world being turned upside down. Not getting help? Not doing the test corrections? That’s a motivation issue, not because the kids weren’t strong in math.
Sorry - can’t blame it all on admissions.
The world gets turned upside down twice every 24 hours and nobody seems to notice.
The last few years have been exceptionally chaotic in case you haven't noticed.
I'd argue that my garden has never looked more orderly than it has the last few years.
Head in the sand.
And what, pray tell, would I need to be hiding from?
The mirror perhaps? You did not want to see the true picture of pomposity!
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I 100% disagree (at least for me-I concede that there are probably some white folks who feel as you express). I don’t mind hard work and I expect my kids to work very hard. I hate the aggressive and formulaic approach and I guess I do fear it becomes the norm. I hate the grade grubbing and cheating and all that it leads to (the obsession with test scores, number of APs and GPAs). I also mourn the loss of individuality and creativity. I understand that not all Asian families fit these stereotypes and I definitely knows white families who take similar approaches, so I’m going to say I hate the approach that is the stereotype of an Asian approach no matter what race the parent is. I think it’s destructive and takes the joy out of learning. I’ve worked with people raised under this approach and have found them to be rote and non-creative. Many are in careers they did not choose and hate. I want so much more for my kids than some false idea of prestige and a grind life. You all have a great time at TJ. I suspect it will be the high point of some of your kids’ careers. (Seriously, I saw TJ on the resume of someone in their 30’s. I laughed. We ended up hiring the candidate and they were ok, not great, not terrible.)
Anonymous wrote:Many folks posting comments here are either delusional or have no clue and would write anything to support their point of view that defies common logic. TJ math 4 article detailing email from tj 4 math teachers was not a surprise given all the tj kids now admitted are not tested for math even in the essay portion. TJ math is generally much harder than regular high school math, and even those with aptitude in math have to work hard to get good grade in these classes. Based on the email from math 4 teachers, this tj class was offered extra support, extra practice tests and quizzes, much easier test still the scores were the lowest ever, many students did not bother to even show-up for remedial 8th period classes. The practice final exam contained similar questions that were in final exam still many student got it wrong. Read the full email from the teachers to get better perspective. Unfortunately the low level school board politician or the brain dead TJ principal and the equity crusaders will not care about any of this simply because they don’t care about common sense reforms, but this will not go away because students without solid understanding of math 4 will face problems with math 5 and calculus ab and bc. I expect this problem will continue until they update the admission process to identify strong math students or dumb down the math curriculum significantly.
There were 2024 kids in Math 4. And the kids from 2025 who took geometry in 8th.
And many kids are still recovering from the world being turned upside down. Not getting help? Not doing the test corrections? That’s a motivation issue, not because the kids weren’t strong in math.
Sorry - can’t blame it all on admissions.
The world gets turned upside down twice every 24 hours and nobody seems to notice.
The last few years have been exceptionally chaotic in case you haven't noticed.
I'd argue that my garden has never looked more orderly than it has the last few years.
Head in the sand.
And what, pray tell, would I need to be hiding from?
The mirror perhaps? You did not want to see the true picture of pomposity!
lol. If you can conclude that much from the very little that I said, it probably says more about you.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I 100% disagree (at least for me-I concede that there are probably some white folks who feel as you express). I don’t mind hard work and I expect my kids to work very hard. I hate the aggressive and formulaic approach and I guess I do fear it becomes the norm. I hate the grade grubbing and cheating and all that it leads to (the obsession with test scores, number of APs and GPAs). I also mourn the loss of individuality and creativity. I understand that not all Asian families fit these stereotypes and I definitely knows white families who take similar approaches, so I’m going to say I hate the approach that is the stereotype of an Asian approach no matter what race the parent is. I think it’s destructive and takes the joy out of learning. I’ve worked with people raised under this approach and have found them to be rote and non-creative. Many are in careers they did not choose and hate. I want so much more for my kids than some false idea of prestige and a grind life. You all have a great time at TJ. I suspect it will be the high point of some of your kids’ careers. (Seriously, I saw TJ on the resume of someone in their 30’s. I laughed. We ended up hiring the candidate and they were ok, not great, not terrible.)
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I 100% disagree (at least for me-I concede that there are probably some white folks who feel as you express). I don’t mind hard work and I expect my kids to work very hard. I hate the aggressive and formulaic approach and I guess I do fear it becomes the norm. I hate the grade grubbing and cheating and all that it leads to (the obsession with test scores, number of APs and GPAs). I also mourn the loss of individuality and creativity. I understand that not all Asian families fit these stereotypes and I definitely knows white families who take similar approaches, so I’m going to say I hate the approach that is the stereotype of an Asian approach no matter what race the parent is. I think it’s destructive and takes the joy out of learning. I’ve worked with people raised under this approach and have found them to be rote and non-creative. Many are in careers they did not choose and hate. I want so much more for my kids than some false idea of prestige and a grind life. You all have a great time at TJ. I suspect it will be the high point of some of your kids’ careers. (Seriously, I saw TJ on the resume of someone in their 30’s. I laughed. We ended up hiring the candidate and they were ok, not great, not terrible.)
If you perceive the "stereotypical Asian" to be aggressive, formulaic, grade grubbing, cheating, non-individual, non-creative, rote, and dissatisfied with their career path, then I am 100% certain that the issue isn't Asians. It's that you're racist. I understand that you'll get defensive and insist that you're somehow not racist, but if you were capable of normal levels of introspection, you'd realize that you're quite racist.
Anonymous wrote:Many folks posting comments here are either delusional or have no clue and would write anything to support their point of view that defies common logic. TJ math 4 article detailing email from tj 4 math teachers was not a surprise given all the tj kids now admitted are not tested for math even in the essay portion. TJ math is generally much harder than regular high school math, and even those with aptitude in math have to work hard to get good grade in these classes. Based on the email from math 4 teachers, this tj class was offered extra support, extra practice tests and quizzes, much easier test still the scores were the lowest ever, many students did not bother to even show-up for remedial 8th period classes. The practice final exam contained similar questions that were in final exam still many student got it wrong. Read the full email from the teachers to get better perspective. Unfortunately the low level school board politician or the brain dead TJ principal and the equity crusaders will not care about any of this simply because they don’t care about common sense reforms, but this will not go away because students without solid understanding of math 4 will face problems with math 5 and calculus ab and bc. I expect this problem will continue until they update the admission process to identify strong math students or dumb down the math curriculum significantly.
There were 2024 kids in Math 4. And the kids from 2025 who took geometry in 8th.
And many kids are still recovering from the world being turned upside down. Not getting help? Not doing the test corrections? That’s a motivation issue, not because the kids weren’t strong in math.
Sorry - can’t blame it all on admissions.
The world gets turned upside down twice every 24 hours and nobody seems to notice.
The last few years have been exceptionally chaotic in case you haven't noticed.
I'd argue that my garden has never looked more orderly than it has the last few years.
Head in the sand.
And what, pray tell, would I need to be hiding from?
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
+10000 - this describes the true politics of the situation exactly.
It's actually driven by the NAACP but the rest is true. White liberals actually care more about racial issues for URM than actual URM. And of course the irony is Asians are an actual minority group but not in academics.
It wasn’t “driven” by the NAACP. Changing TJ admissions was very far down the list of their priorities heading into 2020.
It was Atif Qarni and Scott Brabrand who decided to treat Floyd as the pretext for changes at TJ. Brabrand saw it as his opportunity to get back into the good graces of the mostly white School Board. As Rahm Emanuel once said “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” It became the opportunity for the whites resentful of Asian success to put the Asian families in their place under the pretext of helping other URMs.
Of course, they deny that they are trying to discriminate against Asian kids, so they cloak it in reducing the number of kids from “over-represented” schools that just happen to have large Asian enrollments. They further label all those families as “wealthy” families who are “grooming” their kids for TJ, even when the Asian families may have scraped to live in those districts and not have had the means to pay for extra tutoring, etc.
The whole situation has been repugnant, and the School Board members who either foisted this on families or cowardly went along with it despite their reservations (especially Tholen and Pekarsky) need to be removed next year.
Anonymous wrote:I have mixed opinions about pushing the kids. I feel that sometimes parents needs to push a little so kids are not afraid of exploring new activities, learning new stuff or giving up prematurely. I have seen this with my own kids as they were a little afraid/hesitant a little and needed help from the parents initially, but once they got hooked and realized it’s not hard and scary as they imagined, they loved and did more stuff with out much help. If parents don’t provide that initial push, they would never had started on their own. But it wrong to push the kids beyond their abilities and/or unlikely to get the traction or develop interest. Please note that not all kids are same and you need to adapt accordingly.
It’s not the “pushing” as much as it’s the pushing with a precalculated checklist of activities and tutoring with a singular goal.
Introducing kids to new activities is different than signing them up for extensive tutoring and numerous predetermined STEM (and other ECs) at a very young age, expecting them not just to learn and explore new things, but to win at all costs and punishing them when they don’t.
Ok? No one commented on introducing kids to various activities?
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I 100% disagree (at least for me-I concede that there are probably some white folks who feel as you express). I don’t mind hard work and I expect my kids to work very hard. I hate the aggressive and formulaic approach and I guess I do fear it becomes the norm. I hate the grade grubbing and cheating and all that it leads to (the obsession with test scores, number of APs and GPAs). I also mourn the loss of individuality and creativity. I understand that not all Asian families fit these stereotypes and I definitely knows white families who take similar approaches, so I’m going to say I hate the approach that is the stereotype of an Asian approach no matter what race the parent is. I think it’s destructive and takes the joy out of learning. I’ve worked with people raised under this approach and have found them to be rote and non-creative. Many are in careers they did not choose and hate. I want so much more for my kids than some false idea of prestige and a grind life. You all have a great time at TJ. I suspect it will be the high point of some of your kids’ careers. (Seriously, I saw TJ on the resume of someone in their 30’s. I laughed. We ended up hiring the candidate and they were ok, not great, not terrible.)
If you perceive the "stereotypical Asian" to be aggressive, formulaic, grade grubbing, cheating, non-individual, non-creative, rote, and dissatisfied with their career path, then I am 100% certain that the issue isn't Asians. It's that you're racist. I understand that you'll get defensive and insist that you're somehow not racist, but if you were capable of normal levels of introspection, you'd realize that you're quite racist.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I have never seen that on here. Examples?
And TJ reform isn’t about knocking down Asian students; it’s an attempt to lift others up by leveling the playing field. This admissions process isn’t perfect but it’s a step in the right direction.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
+10000 - this describes the true politics of the situation exactly.
It's actually driven by the NAACP but the rest is true. White liberals actually care more about racial issues for URM than actual URM. And of course the irony is Asians are an actual minority group but not in academics.
It wasn’t “driven” by the NAACP. Changing TJ admissions was very far down the list of their priorities heading into 2020.
It was Atif Qarni and Scott Brabrand who decided to treat Floyd as the pretext for changes at TJ. Brabrand saw it as his opportunity to get back into the good graces of the mostly white School Board. As Rahm Emanuel once said “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” It became the opportunity for the whites resentful of Asian success to put the Asian families in their place under the pretext of helping other URMs.
Of course, they deny that they are trying to discriminate against Asian kids, so they cloak it in reducing the number of kids from “over-represented” schools that just happen to have large Asian enrollments. They further label all those families as “wealthy” families who are “grooming” their kids for TJ, even when the Asian families may have scraped to live in those districts and not have had the means to pay for extra tutoring, etc.
The whole situation has been repugnant, and the School Board members who either foisted this on families or cowardly went along with it despite their reservations (especially Tholen and Pekarsky) need to be removed next year.
Citation? When did they say any of these things?
Go back and review the comments made in 2020 by Meren and Brabrand, or just scroll this thread for the multiple references to “wealthy” schools and parents “grooming” their kids for TJ. And, of course, the choice of the word “grooming” is quite deliberate and made with a full understanding that the word has sinister connotations. It’s shameful.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
Agree. I specifically discouraged my DD from considering TJ. The culture is toxic. I’m not jealous of TJ families, white , Asian or black. I have a high IQ kid, with a strong STEM interest, who did really well elsewhere. I don’t think TJ would have been better. More advanced classes? Sure, but that’s available in college and there is no rush.
Agree. I don’t see the value in the increasing level of acceleration just for acceleration’s sake. It’s not a race.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
+10000 - this describes the true politics of the situation exactly.
It's actually driven by the NAACP but the rest is true. White liberals actually care more about racial issues for URM than actual URM. And of course the irony is Asians are an actual minority group but not in academics.
It wasn’t “driven” by the NAACP. Changing TJ admissions was very far down the list of their priorities heading into 2020.
It was Atif Qarni and Scott Brabrand who decided to treat Floyd as the pretext for changes at TJ. Brabrand saw it as his opportunity to get back into the good graces of the mostly white School Board. As Rahm Emanuel once said “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” It became the opportunity for the whites resentful of Asian success to put the Asian families in their place under the pretext of helping other URMs.
Of course, they deny that they are trying to discriminate against Asian kids, so they cloak it in reducing the number of kids from “over-represented” schools that just happen to have large Asian enrollments. They further label all those families as “wealthy” families who are “grooming” their kids for TJ, even when the Asian families may have scraped to live in those districts and not have had the means to pay for extra tutoring, etc.
The whole situation has been repugnant, and the School Board members who either foisted this on families or cowardly went along with it despite their reservations (especially Tholen and Pekarsky) need to be removed next year.
Citation? When did they say any of these things?
Go back and review the comments made in 2020 by Meren and Brabrand, or just scroll this thread for the multiple references to “wealthy” schools and parents “grooming” their kids for TJ. And, of course, the choice of the word “grooming” is quite deliberate and made with a full understanding that the word has sinister connotations. It’s shameful.
Anonymous wrote:I don't see much evidence that Asian kids flooded into "under-represented" middle schools like Whitman and Holmes this past year to "game" the new process.
It seems more likely to me that Asian families will just anchor in the top pyramids so they can hedge their bets (still have their kids apply to TJ, but rest assured that the alternative is Langley/McLean/Oakton/Chantilly/Woodson). And, as TJ becomes seen primarily as an alternative to lower-performing high schools, fewer of their kids will apply, just like Asian families in MoCo send their kids to Wootton with only some considering the Blair magnet.
Correct. Asian will stay in top school zones.
Some will have a small house in a lower ranked area and a larger house in the top zone.
Seems so overkill for high school. TJ is just a high school in the end. No one cares if you went to TJ later in life and college outcomes aren’t really better because it’s so competitive. If you read their confessional page, cheating is rampant and kids are totally unhappy. It’s crazy to me that folks are this desperate for TJ. Get a life.
TJ is soooo shiny.
This thread is intended for people interested in TJ. This is not a place to bash TJ as that point is going to fall on deaf ears. What is your purpose except maybe as someone embittered that TJ is unattainable?
I’m not bashing TJ. I’m bashing the parents who have been plotting their child’s path for TJ admissions since 2nd grade because they are obsessed with the prestige.
Why would you bash parents who want their kids to be successful? You seem to be obsessed with perpetuating a particular stereotype of a TJ applicant in the past in order to justify a new process that, as this thread indicates, has been anything but smooth. You've offered next to nothing to suggest that the new process is better at identifying students who may have an actual interest in, or aptitude for, STEM.
I'm bashing parents fostering an unhealthy, toxic environment for our kids.
You could always raise your kids as you see fit, and stop interfering with how other parents raise theirs.
It reeks of privilege for people like you to assert that other parents are somehow fostering an "unhealthy, toxic environment" for your kids. It's like you think you're the ones who should always decide the rules and the appropriate cultural norms.
Hmm. I wonder why teen suicides are out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I blame the sports parents, too. It’s all too much! I feel horrible for these kids who have been robbed of their childhood and expected to plan for a career (or to be an Olympian, get a scholarship, etc) from early childhood. It’s so messed up.
You could just as readily ascribe blame to FCPS officials for keeping schools closed so long, with the resultant isolation, lack of social interaction with peers, and loss of learning. That seems to have much more of an impact on students' mental health than parents encouraging their kids to participate in a Science Olympiad or to apply to TJ.
But, again, if you think it's up to FCPS to counter parents who "rob kids of their childhood," then the logical inference is that you should be advocating for the elimination of the STEM magnet at TJ, and not tinkering with the admissions process to admit more kids who may not be up to the school's challenges.
See, if is all very obvious. The white parents have a playbook which kept them on top. And which they think is the right thing to do. The Asians have a different playbook that they saw. Now that the Asian playbook is winning, whites want to say it is a bad toxi playbook. For a while, whites were embarassed that a minority was doing well. And grudgingly let it go. Then the envy got too much and they started saying you are no longer a minority - let's use the URM weapon to bash them. And here we are. Whatever argument you have - there is a counter. You Asians are just privileged, overworking, cheating, unidimensina, toxic people who need to be replaced. Never mind what your background/income levels are. This is a moment in time to vilify you. There is an absolute problem with the black community which needs to be addressed, but we just have some immigrant kids with motivated patents from Africa and South America being accidental winners here. All power to them. No real impact in areas where there should be. Of course as long as the end result is less Asians. whites are heaving a sigh of temporary relief. There!
Nope.
Whites DGAF. When we looked at the application data on an earlier thread, only 50% of eligible white kids even bothered to apply compared to 90%+ black and Asian kids. White families aren’t “envious” at all.
The community looked at how this valuable resource was being utilized and it was monopolized by a small group of wealthy middle schools. And there were embarrassingly few URMs or ED kids. 0.6% ED in 2024.
Maybe it’s white guilt for building such an unfair system. But it’s certainly not “envy”. You are totally off base.
I disagree. I'm white, and for the most part, white people love the prestige. They just don't want to put in the work like Asian kids do. In this forum alone, there have been numerous threads with parents complaining that their white kids are behind the Asian kids, despite their white kids' superior "natural aptitude." White people want to disincentivize anyone getting rewarded for working harder than they're willing to work. Even in this thread, there are suggestions that the Asian work ethic is toxic, the kids are suffering due to the high expectations, and Asians are doing things wrong because no one is supposed to work that hard in America.
The TJ reform is all about taking away any and all incentives for Asian kids to dominate in academics. If Asian kids are knocked down a few pegs or stop trying so hard, it flows that white kids will look better in comparison. White kids weren't especially interested in TJ because it required too much work for too little gain. If TJ gets watered down and no longer has so many strong Asian students at the top of the class, white kids will flock back.
I have never seen that on here. Examples?
And TJ reform isn’t about knocking down Asian students; it’s an attempt to lift others up by leveling the playing field. This admissions process isn’t perfect but it’s a step in the right direction.
Nah, it’s more like claiming you have to burn the village to save it.
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