Article on TJ student

[Anonymous]

I am against the lottery, but Didi's story at TJ is important to read for all sides.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/10/19/thomas-jefferson-high-school-diversity/

[Anonymous]

The TJ student has made it very clear she is in favor of the lottery.

People who claim you should read her story, but then reject what she's fighting for, are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The TJ student has made it very clear she is in favor of the lottery.

People who claim you should read her story, but then reject what she's fighting for, are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

You can empathize with a person's plight but also not agree with their solution. Why is the lottery the only solution?

How about finding other means of increasing URM representation?

Off the top of my head you could go with Superintendent's plan to pick a group of 100 students factoring SES, sending school, and ESL.

Then pick the rest of the students using the old system.

That should get you increased URM representation without the need for a lottery.

Why is a lottery seen as a holy grail?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The TJ student has made it very clear she is in favor of the lottery.

People who claim you should read her story, but then reject what she's fighting for, are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

You can empathize with a person's plight but also not agree with their solution. Why is the lottery the only solution?

How about finding other means of increasing URM representation?

Off the top of my head you could go with Superintendent's plan to pick a group of 100 students factoring SES, sending school, and ESL.

Then pick the rest of the students using the old system.

That should get you increased URM representation without the need for a lottery.

Why is a lottery seen as a holy grail?

In part because it fully avoids the creation of a new two-track student body at TJ. There is obviously already enough crap going on about who does and doesn't "belong" at TJ. The 100/400 proposal would not solve that problem, and we all know that Student 401 from Carson will file a lawsuit claiming he should be at TJ rather than Student 1-100.

[Anonymous]

Why is it so important to focus on a person's skin color? Why isn't TJ diverse enough?

[Anonymous]

The whole point is that TJ ISN'T DIVERSE. It’s an Asian school in northern Virginia. Needs a whole make over in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so important to focus on a person's skin color? Why isn't TJ diverse enough?

You should read this article and see how the Asian students treat one of the few Black girls there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The TJ student has made it very clear she is in favor of the lottery.

People who claim you should read her story, but then reject what she's fighting for, are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

You can empathize with a person's plight but also not agree with their solution. Why is the lottery the only solution?

How about finding other means of increasing URM representation?

Off the top of my head you could go with Superintendent's plan to pick a group of 100 students factoring SES, sending school, and ESL.

Then pick the rest of the students using the old system.

That should get you increased URM representation without the need for a lottery.

Why is a lottery seen as a holy grail?

In part because it fully avoids the creation of a new two-track student body at TJ. There is obviously already enough crap going on about who does and doesn't "belong" at TJ. The 100/400 proposal would not solve that problem, and we all know that Student 401 from Carson will file a lawsuit claiming he should be at TJ rather than Student 1-100.

Well, then there needs to be a better plan.

While it's good to be uplifting URMs, it's not ok to be setting up such a huge roadblock to another minority in the process.

We're not talking like a 10% drop in Asians. With a lottery we're talking like a 30-40% drop in representation. Potentially more depending on how that top 100 thing works out.

That's not ok.

We shouldn't be gatekeeping Asians so heavily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The TJ student has made it very clear she is in favor of the lottery.

People who claim you should read her story, but then reject what she's fighting for, are trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

You can empathize with a person's plight but also not agree with their solution. Why is the lottery the only solution?

How about finding other means of increasing URM representation?

Off the top of my head you could go with Superintendent's plan to pick a group of 100 students factoring SES, sending school, and ESL.

Then pick the rest of the students using the old system.

That should get you increased URM representation without the need for a lottery.

Why is a lottery seen as a holy grail?

In part because it fully avoids the creation of a new two-track student body at TJ. There is obviously already enough crap going on about who does and doesn't "belong" at TJ. The 100/400 proposal would not solve that problem, and we all know that Student 401 from Carson will file a lawsuit claiming he should be at TJ rather than Student 1-100.

Well, then there needs to be a better plan.

While it's good to be uplifting URMs, it's not ok to be setting up such a huge roadblock to another minority in the process.

We're not talking like a 10% drop in Asians. With a lottery we're talking like a 30-40% drop in representation. Potentially more depending on how that top 100 thing works out.

That's not ok.

We shouldn't be gatekeeping Asians so heavily.

The lottery would be region or pyramid-based, not race-based. You seem to think Asians are entitled to over 70% representation in perpetuity and, therefore, any decision that reduces that percentage is inherently discriminatory. I don’t think that argument will get you very far. If anything, FCPS may just get fed up with the attitudes and decide to convert TJ back into a neighborhood school. But maybe that’s what you want if you can’t have “your TJ.”

[Anonymous]

It’s sad that she’s a Muslim immigrant from an Arab country (Sudan) yet she is expected to be the “spokesperson” for black tj students. Her life experiences have likely been very different than those of US-born African-Americans yet she is treated as the unwanted black kid in class. Sad on many levels.

[Anonymous]

Another system they could have used is take the top x% of students of every middle school. That's fair and transparent. Rewards hard work. Doesn't resort to a lottery.

Lottery is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Muslim from Sudan may add diversity. But descendants of American slaves should have priority. Having black skin alone doesn't make you diverse.

[Anonymous]

I wanted to hug her! It was heartbreaking that she started researching and using lightening skin cream in an attempt to fit in more.

[Anonymous]

Lottery is a bad idea. It will not solve the problem of diversity and will create new problems.
My kids went to TJ, it wasn’t easy to get in and studying there wasn’t easy either. They wanted to go to TJ and worked for it. The problem with lottery is even if you have 4.0 gpa, it doesn’t guarantee to get in. Forget 3.5 gpa, Every year there are more than 500 kids who has 4.0 gpa, how do you choose the best?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Muslim from Sudan may add diversity. But descendants of American slaves should have priority. Having black skin alone doesn't make you diverse.

True, but the racists who tormented her in class didn’t care that she wasn’t a descendant of slaves.