Reply to Why don't people want to go to tj just because there are "too many" asians?

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Reply to "Why don't people want to go to tj just because there are "too many" asians?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s not that hard to understand people of Indian and Chinese origins have very little in common either by looks, culture, or religion (Indians are more of caucasians than “Asians”). So TJ actually has great diversity even in terms of race.  The negative posters on this board obviously knew this fact but chose to mislead people by labeling all of them as “Asians “ so that they sound the same. This is such a shame![/quote]
I think the fundamental reason for some people constantly attacking TJ is because it’s not a white-dominant school anymore, regardless of the status of diversity. [/quote]

This is technically correct. It is the fundamental reason for [i]some[/i] people attacking TJ, but not that many.

A much larger and more well-reasoned cohort attack TJ from a diversity perspective because a massive amount of resources are sunk into a school whose demographic looks nothing like the county as a whole.

Another big group attacks the TJ admissions process because its emphasis on demonstration of STEM interest favors families who are both willing to drive their students in that direction from an early age (regardless of their actual interests) and have the resources to do so. They've mitigated the test-prep issue slightly with the introduction of the Quant-Q (which should have a much higher barrier to entry).

Like it or not, it's much more socially acceptable for Indian, Chinese, and Korean families (and those from many other cultures) to dictate their child's path than it is for modern-day American families. This is a big part of why nearly 60% of applications every year come from Asian and/or "multiracial" families. It's not a judgment on that culture to point out that aspect of it - indeed, I think many people in those demographics would tell you that they're very proud of that aspect of their culture.

TJ has a reputation - deserved or undeserved - as a hyper-competitive, cutthroat, STEM-only environment that is highly populated by East and South Asian families who are far less concerned with the complete high school experience than they are with optimizing that experience toward elite college admissions. That reputation deters families of all races (indeed, even some Asian families) from a) engaging in the application process to begin with, b) accepting the offer of admission and c) staying once they're there.

There have never been enough Black/Latinx applications to begin with, and White applications have declined precipitously over the past dozen years. The number of those families (especially Black families) who are actually accepted but decline the offer of admission once they attend Freshman Preview Night and see how few folks look like them is heartbreaking and contributes to the chicken-and-egg problem of representation at TJ. You'd have more Black families interested in applying to TJ (and accepting their offers of admission)....if there were more Black families at TJ.[/quote]

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