Reply to Why is TJHSST exempt from overcrowding?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'll bite:

TJ admissions favor
1) Kids from higher SES families who potentially give kids greater opportunities
2) Kids whose parents are highly educated who emphasize the importance of education
3) Kids from cultures that emphasize education (and perhaps prepping)

These things tend to be correlated with race.

So what is the solution?  First, try basing admissions on un-preppable tests.  Advertise the program more heavily in areas with kids without these advantages.

Obviously, this will only do so much.  Most of these advantage come from the kids' home life.

Should the schools consciously take race into account when admitting students?  Many would argue that this is explicit racist.
Even if one takes race into account in the second, more holistic, phase of the admissions process, it is probably too late.  Few AA and Hispanic kids make it into the second round of the admissions process.[/quote]

True, True and True. I have a kid at TJ and a kid in the middle of applying and go back and forth on this.  If there are a limited number of spots, they should go to the kids that want them badly enough to work for them, right?  Except that if you take this too far, you get a race to nowhere.  My genuinely brilliant kid who likes good at STEM and lots of other things but has lazy streak kid was admitted.  My all STEM all the time kid who oozes STEM passion and has her STEM career planned out and works so hard at everything kid may not. Kid1 says frankly that if he was admitted and Kid2 is not, there is something very, very wrong with TJ admissions.  He might be right.  Or, it might be that he spent years not being challenged by FCPS AAP and getting the easy As, and he’s the one who really needs the extra push in high school, while she will be fine with the full slate of APs at her base school.  To you take the smartest kids?  Or do you take The Who show that they want it the most?  Right now, TJ aims for a mixture of the two. Imperfectly. With a heavy dose of luck.

As for SES, the reality is that [b]getting into TJ is hard.  Succeeding at TJ is hard.  Parenting a kid at TJ is hard.  The kids need to be smart and to work hard. But they also need academic, financial, and emotional support at home.  [/b]Kids who can succeed at TJ without significant  parental investment in their education are genuine outliers.  I don’t think you do kids any favors by lowering admissions standards for them unless you are also prepared to make the curriculum significantly easier. Admitting a kid who can’t succeed does more harm than good. [/quote]

+1. Well put.  For those of you clamoring to "open up TJ to everyone".. Be careful what you wish for.  TJ is a real PIA.  I'll not send my second DC there![/quote]

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