Northam’s “Anti-Asian, Anti-Immigrant” School Initiative

[Anonymous]

"More than 1,500 parents, students and alumni of the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology have petitioned Governor Ralph Northam to halt the “secretive and bigoted, anti-Asian, anti-immigrant effort” to substitute race-based admissions for the meritocratic admissions criteria now in place.

"The petitioners accuse Secretary of Education Atif Qarni of using Thomas Jefferson and other elite Governor’s schools around the state as a “Petri dish for experiments in social engineering.” They share the goal of increasing the number of black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students at “TJ,” as the Fairfax-based science and technology school is known, but not through the use of “short-sighted race-based solutions.”

https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/northams-anti-asian-anti-immigrant-school-initiative/

[Anonymous]

Seems to me that if voters in Fairfax County didn't welcome a focus on equity in county schools they would not have elected a 12-0 Democratic School Board. Those School Board members will be judged by whether, among other things, they supported initiatives like those currently under consideration by Northam's Secretary of Education.

[Anonymous]

While I. Elieve that many people on this forum are racist towards Asians and afraid of Asians, there is nothing wrong with the government wanting to help all people. It is the government of people for the people, and if some group is left behind, the government has to self asses and figure out what went wrong.

Where FX county (and other participating counties) is failing, is in providing an inadequate preparation and transparency for passing the TJ test, while testing skills that they do not teach in school. Heck, they don't even publish that you can take Algebra in 6th, and not even all schools offer it. How do they except children from schools where this isn't offered to do well on the test? The answer is that they don't. It's because of this that they know that they have to make a change, because they are grossly neglecting certain county residents, who happen to live clustered together, and are collectively disadvantaged.

It is not the Asians' fault. They are taking their children's education in their hands and filling in where the county is failing. The point is, that whether intentionally or not, the county is failing to serve all of its residents.

It may be true that TJ may bring in a lot of tax revenue for FX county, but we live in a country where there is one person one vote, and theoretically you shouldn't be able to buy your way in, and the way TJ is currently set up, is that you can buy your way in so to speak.

[Anonymous]

I wish they would solve the gender imbalance at TJ at least. It’s ridiculous who screwed admissions are towards boys. Girls are almost 50% of the applicants, but make up only 40% of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would solve the gender imbalance at TJ at least. It’s ridiculous who screwed admissions are towards boys. Girls are almost 50% of the applicants, but make up only 40% of the class.

This looks like a troll/computer to me. It's the same post over and over.

Have you ever heard of a tolerance interval? How statistically significant is this 10%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that if voters in Fairfax County didn't welcome a focus on equity in county schools they would not have elected a 12-0 Democratic School Board. Those School Board members will be judged by whether, among other things, they supported initiatives like those currently under consideration by Northam's Secretary of Education.

Er, school board members weren't chosen because of their focus on equity or because they are Democrats. They were chosen because those running against them were all total nutters. That's not the fault of the voters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I. Elieve that many people on this forum are racist towards Asians and afraid of Asians, there is nothing wrong with the government wanting to help all people. It is the government of people for the people, and if some group is left behind, the government has to self asses and figure out what went wrong.

Where FX county (and other participating counties) is failing, is in providing an inadequate preparation and transparency for passing the TJ test, while testing skills that they do not teach in school. Heck, they don't even publish that you can take Algebra in 6th, and not even all schools offer it. How do they except children from schools where this isn't offered to do well on the test? The answer is that they don't. It's because of this that they know that they have to make a change, because they are grossly neglecting certain county residents, who happen to live clustered together, and are collectively disadvantaged.

It is not the Asians' fault. They are taking their children's education in their hands and filling in where the county is failing. The point is, that whether intentionally or not, the county is failing to serve all of its residents.

It may be true that TJ may bring in a lot of tax revenue for FX county, but we live in a country where there is one person one vote, and theoretically you shouldn't be able to buy your way in, and the way TJ is currently set up, is that you can buy your way in so to speak.

Or, it may not be true that TJHSST's presence brings in a lot of tax revenue. I can think of many neighborhoods in the county where values would go up if the high schools were closer or less crowded. TJ may giveth, but it also taketh away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that if voters in Fairfax County didn't welcome a focus on equity in county schools they would not have elected a 12-0 Democratic School Board. Those School Board members will be judged by whether, among other things, they supported initiatives like those currently under consideration by Northam's Secretary of Education.

Er, school board members weren't chosen because of their focus on equity or because they are Democrats. They were chosen because those running against them were all total nutters. That's not the fault of the voters.

To your "Er," I'd say "Um," followed by "the crowd that has their panties most in a bunch over opportunities to diversify TJHSST are the ones you call total nutters."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I. Elieve that many people on this forum are racist towards Asians and afraid of Asians, there is nothing wrong with the government wanting to help all people. It is the government of people for the people, and if some group is left behind, the government has to self asses and figure out what went wrong.

Where FX county (and other participating counties) is failing, is in providing an inadequate preparation and transparency for passing the TJ test, while testing skills that they do not teach in school. Heck, they don't even publish that you can take Algebra in 6th, and not even all schools offer it. How do they except children from schools where this isn't offered to do well on the test? The answer is that they don't. It's because of this that they know that they have to make a change, because they are grossly neglecting certain county residents, who happen to live clustered together, and are collectively disadvantaged.

It is not the Asians' fault. They are taking their children's education in their hands and filling in where the county is failing. The point is, that whether intentionally or not, the county is failing to serve all of its residents.

It may be true that TJ may bring in a lot of tax revenue for FX county, but we live in a country where there is one person one vote, and theoretically you shouldn't be able to buy your way in, and the way TJ is currently set up, is that you can buy your way in so to speak.

Or, it may not be true that TJHSST's presence brings in a lot of tax revenue. I can think of many neighborhoods in the county where values would go up if the high schools were closer or less crowded. TJ may giveth, but it also taketh away.

I wasn't saying that it does. I was saying that it may be true, but it shouldn't matter, and if the county were doing things right, there shouldn't be a significant advantage because of SE status.

Also, almost all schools in the county are overcrowded. Property values are affected by school ratings and low income housing.

[Anonymous]

I said it in the other thread and I’ll say it again. There is a reasonable and even compelling public interest in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities at a STEM magnet high school, funded entirely by tax payers. This is basic stuff. Cultural silos should not be allowed to form in public high schools. If that means white and Asian kids (Males too), who are historically overrepresented in the field have it harder, tough cookies. It’s not actually “harder” if you think about what other populations have to overcome to even have a shot in STEM. If you don’t think STEM fields have a diversity problem, I can’t help you. You have no idea what you’re talking about. We need diversity if we want innovation.

[Anonymous]

We have STEM courses and perhaps we need more of them, but what we don’t need is one STEM magnet that chews up time and attention either because FCPS acts like it’s the only school that matters or because they are constantly tying themselves into knots trying to come up with new ways to get more Black and Hispanic kids into that school.

It is time to stop the bleeding, turn TJ back into a neighborhood school, and make the boundary changes that would follow from having another high school available that exclusively serves FCPS students.

Anything else is just going to create more challenges. For example, if they cap admissions by middle school, how do they deal with the additional overcrowding at some high schools or respond to the parents who no longer want a gazillion AAP kids at Carson? Or what if that just results in more geographic diversity, but not more racial or economic diversity at TJ? They could be at this forever, all while neglecting their other responsibilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I said it in the other thread and I’ll say it again. There is a reasonable and even compelling public interest in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities at a STEM magnet high school, funded entirely by tax payers. This is basic stuff. Cultural silos should not be allowed to form in public high schools. If that means white and Asian kids (Males too), who are historically overrepresented in the field have it harder, tough cookies. It’s not actually “harder” if you think about what other populations have to overcome to even have a shot in STEM. If you don’t think STEM fields have a diversity problem, I can’t help you. You have no idea what you’re talking about. We need diversity if we want innovation.

TJ is not funded entirely by taxpayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said it in the other thread and I’ll say it again. There is a reasonable and even compelling public interest in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities at a STEM magnet high school, funded entirely by tax payers. This is basic stuff. Cultural silos should not be allowed to form in public high schools. If that means white and Asian kids (Males too), who are historically overrepresented in the field have it harder, tough cookies. It’s not actually “harder” if you think about what other populations have to overcome to even have a shot in STEM. If you don’t think STEM fields have a diversity problem, I can’t help you. You have no idea what you’re talking about. We need diversity if we want innovation.

TJ is not funded entirely by taxpayers.

So what? If you consider PTSA contributions, neither are most schools.

Stop making silly arguments. TJ is a county-owned school primarily funded by county taxpayers, even if it gets additional payments from other localities, the state, and private donors. And it is the county and state that will decide its future, not some alum or parent giving money to the TJPF.

[Anonymous]

In order to implement our diversity goals, we have to implement racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In order to implement our diversity goals, we have to implement racism.

Nicely put.