Reply to Washington Post Article On Freshmen Admitted Under New Admissions Process

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]25% low income? Oof, this is going to shift the schools budget  from academics to social and welfare needs, you want to avoid schools with farms in the double digits.[/quote]

So the kids who have the interest and the aptitude to attend TJ but lack the external supports from their schools and parents should be regulated to attending high schools with over 25% FARMs students because you are worried about having them at TJ? Do you even read what you are posting?

The kids in the article all commented that the test was a barrier but as soon it was gone they thought that they would apply. They are enjoying their experience at TJ, especially the STEM type classes, and are happy to be there.

Regardless of how kids are admitted to TJ, capable people are excluded. There were kids with high test scores that were not accepted at TJ when the test existed. There are not enough seats for all of the kids who are interested and qualified.

I have no idea what budget you think has to be shifted for the higher percentage of FARMs kids. There are more kids who will get free or reduced price meals. They all qualified based on meeting the pre reqs that TJ set out for applying so it is not like they need different classes.

It is kind of gross that your concern is that the school now needs to change how it meets the social and welfare needs of its students because they have increased the number of qualified kids who come from impoverished backgrounds. [/quote]

It will go downhill, the kids don't have the means to do after school tutoring support etc that prior tj students do. The school is going to have a mess on their hands when test scores come out [/quote]

Are you saying that the reason why most kids at TJ are successful is because they are paying for additional tutoring? That is a problem. The classes shouldn’t be so hard that tutoring is common place. Just like the test shouldn’t be set so that kids who take specific prep classes have an advantage. The classes and admittance requirements should be developed so that kids can succeed with the materials provided at the school.

If the kids who have had success at TJ have had success because they are paying for tutoring, then maybe those kids didn’t belong at TJ.[/quote]

Newsflash all the parents of good schools do this[/quote]

I used tutors when I was struggling with my LDs in ES. I didn’t use tutors in HS or college or grad school. I managed to earn my PhD without tutors. I guess I did it or wrong or I was capable of excelling without tutors.

Tutors are fine, they help a kid who is struggling to understand the material. But they should not be something required to do well in school. I would expect that the students at TJ are able to excel with limited help from tutors. Just like I think they should be able to do well on the Quant test without prepping. I am less impressed to hear that kids need tutoring to do well at TJ.

[/quote]

Sure torturing isn’t “required”, but extra help is always great, even for high performing kids who want more help. Who are you to say when tutoring is appropriate? My oldest kid is in a PhD program—who cares if you never asked for help in yours. Asking for help isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.

GTFOH[/quote]

I ask for help. We all participated in peer review of each others work, we studied together, we had weekly presentations where we critiqued each others work. I went to office hours when I needed help with stats or some other subject. All perfectly normal and very useful. Also very different then hiring someone to work through your assignments with you. I don't know of any one of my peers who hired a tutor in grad school and it was a top program.

There is nothing wrong with tutoring, it is incredibly helpful. But to claim that students who are attending a school for "the gifted" shouldn't be there because they can't pay for tutors is silly. I would expect that students at TJ are able to study together and visit Teachers for office hours. I would hope that the students that are attending a school and taking the advanced courses are capable of doing the work with help from peers and their Teachers, while helping others in their stronger areas, and not needing to hire tutors to get them through classes. Or pretake the classes in the summer.

But don't claim that kids from higher SES schools are more deserving of acceptance because they can pay for tutoring while FARMs kids are going to be an issue because they cannot pay for tutoring. All that tells me is that you see TJ as a school only for those who can pay for classes to prepare for tests, or take a class in the summer, or hire a tutor to succeed and not as a school for the gifted or advanced. A gifted or advanced kid would not likely need tutoring or prep or pretaking classes to keep up. They might need to ask for help but they don't need a hand up to appear brilliant. [/quote]

It seems like the kids who only got in because they were enabled by extreme prep often struggled. Instead of being able to do their assignments in 2 hours a night they worked 6-8 and never slept. This is also a problem and seems unfair to these kids.[/quote]

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