Parent of TJ senior here. The adjustment in freshman year is hard st the beginning. New school, new peers, and very demanding work. Kids from some middle schools are more eel prepared than others. Overall, DC has had a very good time at TJ and would not change the decision to go there. The peer group for the most part (like 98%) are smart and kind and very interested in learning about anything and participating in all aspects of the school (google “I nite”or look up the Cappie reviews for Mary Poppins, for example). They are all busy and learning hard new content every day but they find time for sports, family, and chilling with friends. DC has remained friends with several peers from other schools and as often as not, those kids can’t go out to a movie or dinner or hang out because they are too busy with a school project. Every school in and around DC has issues. The main issue at TJ is stretching to learn more. With a few exceptions, there’s not a lot of busy work. The classes are on a fast pace and have more to cover than at any other F PS HS. Pull up the syllabi? from the TJ course guide if you want to see. DC isn’t at the top of the class but has learned so much about so many things, including the humanities. The German 10th graders read books that don’t even make it on a reading list until junior year at an Ivy college. The AP Lang class has read a number of interesting things this year including When Breath Becomes Air. Perhaps other schools have as well, I don’t know. But they don’t put limits on what TJ kids can learn and therefore they absorb a lot just being there. From the teachers and their peers. Immature kids might have an issue and I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with serious processing skill deficits (though there are plenty of kids succeeding at TJ with IEPs). It’s not all TJ Vents - dc and friends don’t even look at that page.

Also along the lines of two sides to every story, there is a new FB page called TJ Rocks. The other side of TJ Vents.

Here are a couple things

First, almost everyone would agree that TJ is an amazing school. The academics are excellent. And IMO the peer group is amazing. Second, anyone who is being honest would agree that it comes at a cost. The whole no such thing as a free lunch idea? Applies to TJ too. The question is how the cost/benefit analysis works for your kid and your family. Kids on TJ vents are mad about everything from having a pencil stolen (this month) to being miserable. It seems like the kids who are miserable are the ones whose parents have bought into the school, but the kids have not, but feel pressured or forced to stay. There was a suicide there this week. There are definitely unhappy kids.

In our house, we only commit to TJ one year at a time. And both parents and kids have to sign on to return after freshman and sophomore year. (I can’t imagine a kid making it through junior year then bailing when things start to get easier). But everyone was onboard with attending in the first place.

Second, I shudder every time I see a TJ parent on here advising the parent of a kid who is reluctant to attend to push the kid to try it for a year. I did not realize until I had a kid at TJ how hard it was for kids to leave. Everyone in their family and community knows they attend TJ and they put a lot of pressure on themselves to stay. They don’t want to look like they couldn’t hack TJ. They don’t want to feel like they had a miserable year or two of HS for no reason. They don’t want to start over as a sophomore or junior at a new school.
I would never, ever, allow a kid to attend who was not enthusiastic about going. Forget willing. They need to want it badly enough to make the sacrifice worth it.

Finally, for many kids, a base school is not fewer problems. It’s different problems. Very few people have a problem free HS experience.

The black and white thinking about TJ is a real problem. TJ is a grey area. You have to know your family and know your kid and listen to your kid. People who act like TJ is all fantastic or all terrible don’t have a kid there or aren’t being honest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put this FB page in context for me. Because reading the posts makes me think no one in their right mind would send their kids there. There is such a disconnect between the way TJ parents rhapsodize about the school on DCUM and how the biter, jaded students actually describe their experiences on that page. It’s not like they seem the least bit likable, referring to “base school plebs” and the like, but it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them when they come across as so miserable. Or is it just supposed to be a parody of teenage angst?

Why do we need to give a damn about what an idiot like you thinks about TJ? People go to TJVent to VENT, so you think it's representative of the whole TJ community and their everyday lives?
no one in their right mind would think that way, may be except for the idiots like you.

The OP was like saying judging from her post, her whole family is an A--hole, which is more likely than TJ Vent is representive of TJ.

Anonymous wrote:Put this FB page in context for me. Because reading the posts makes me think no one in their right mind would send their kids there. There is such a disconnect between the way TJ parents rhapsodize about the school on DCUM and how the biter, jaded students actually describe their experiences on that page. It’s not like they seem the least bit likable, referring to “base school plebs” and the like, but it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them when they come across as so miserable. Or is it just supposed to be a parody of teenage angst?

Why do we need to give a damn about what an idiot like you thinks about TJ? People go to TJVent to VENT, so you think it's representative of the whole TJ community and their everyday lives?
no one in their right mind would think that way, may be except for the idiots like you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who these happy TJ kids are and who their parents are. I guess there are some out of 2000. But as a freshman parent my experience is not a happy one. TJ is a grinder, teacher and counselors aren't helpful. DC doesn't even seem to have good friends anymore as no one has time for anyone else. I am not sure how next 3 years will go, thinking of moving. We know families who have kids who are upperclassmen, several of them ranging from seniors, juniors, to sophomores, and no one really is happy. I don't see the gloating picture presented here by some of the school. Miserable place, I dont think I want to go to that school for any event anymore, feel like we lost our child and the connection we had with the school.

I wonder if the Montgomery Blair parents say the same thing about their kids in the MCPS magnet? Is it just being around a bunch of driven smart kids or is it something about how the TJ curriculum is structured or something else? Does your child have friends; do their parents feel the same way as you do? Does you child see the grind as a passionate intellectual journey or does your child see it as a grind just like you do?

Addressing both posts... I have a kid at TJ as well. It's half-and-half IMHO. It was a difficult grind the first few months. Much better in the second half after DC adopted to TJ requirements. Lots of homework. Friends are a weekend thing but that was the case in MS as well. DC also plays a sport outside of school so has a network of friends there as well who meet for practice and games at least 3 times a week. So, it's not all bad.

We keep reminding DC that the base HS is always and option at the end of each year. I think DC will want to continue at TJ. So maybe the first pp should consider that if their child is not happy at TJ. No reason to prolong the agony.

We also know a bunch of seniors who got into great colleges and are really happy with that outcome.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know who these happy TJ kids are and who their parents are. I guess there are some out of 2000. But as a freshman parent my experience is not a happy one. TJ is a grinder, teacher and counselors aren't helpful. DC doesn't even seem to have good friends anymore as no one has time for anyone else. I am not sure how next 3 years will go, thinking of moving. We know families who have kids who are upperclassmen, several of them ranging from seniors, juniors, to sophomores, and no one really is happy. I don't see the gloating picture presented here by some of the school. Miserable place, I dont think I want to go to that school for any event anymore, feel like we lost our child and the connection we had with the school.

I wonder if the Montgomery Blair parents say the same thing about their kids in the MCPS magnet? Is it just being around a bunch of driven smart kids or is it something about how the TJ curriculum is structured or something else? Does your child have friends; do their parents feel the same way as you do? Does you child see the grind as a passionate intellectual journey or does your child see it as a grind just like you do?

I don't know who these happy TJ kids are and who their parents are. I guess there are some out of 2000. But as a freshman parent my experience is not a happy one. TJ is a grinder, teacher and counselors aren't helpful. DC doesn't even seem to have good friends anymore as no one has time for anyone else. I am not sure how next 3 years will go, thinking of moving. We know families who have kids who are upperclassmen, several of them ranging from seniors, juniors, to sophomores, and no one really is happy. I don't see the gloating picture presented here by some of the school. Miserable place, I dont think I want to go to that school for any event anymore, feel like we lost our child and the connection we had with the school.

Anonymous wrote:Put this FB page in context for me. Because reading the posts makes me think no one in their right mind would send their kids there. There is such a disconnect between the way TJ parents rhapsodize about the school on DCUM and how the biter, jaded students actually describe their experiences on that page. It’s not like they seem the least bit likable, referring to “base school plebs” and the like, but it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them when they come across as so miserable. Or is it just supposed to be a parody of teenage angst?

There will always be kids who complain about their schools. There is always parents who would complain about their kids’ education. TJ Vent is a place where kids can vent. It does not represent the entire school. There is TJ crush too. Does it mean the entire school is sex driven? C’mon!!!

Anonymous wrote:Have a look at the tjtoday school newpaper (google) and you will get a different view of the "heartbeat" of the school

But that will be the face of students presenting themselves positively to curry favor with teachers and colleges. I’m more concerned that the posts on the FB page reflect how they really feel.

Have a look at the tjtoday school newpaper (google) and you will get a different view of the "heartbeat" of the school

Anonymous wrote:Put this FB page in context for me. Because reading the posts makes me think no one in their right mind would send their kids there. There is such a disconnect between the way TJ parents rhapsodize about the school on DCUM and how the biter, jaded students actually describe their experiences on that page. It’s not like they seem the least bit likable, referring to “base school plebs” and the like, but it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them when they come across as so miserable. Or is it just supposed to be a parody of teenage angst?

So does DCUM represent the entire class of parents with kids in schools in the DC area? I don't think you would say yes. There are approx. 2000 students at TJ and if 30 of these at any time are using "TJ Vents"-conventions to express themselves and take out their vents in an exagerated way but in the "safe space" of the FB page, does that truly represent what is happening to the other 1970 students? If you went to the student clubs and just google youtube "TJHSST" you will get a lot of alternative views of happy kids doing really creative things and come away with a diametrically different view of TJ.

Put this FB page in context for me. Because reading the posts makes me think no one in their right mind would send their kids there. There is such a disconnect between the way TJ parents rhapsodize about the school on DCUM and how the biter, jaded students actually describe their experiences on that page. It’s not like they seem the least bit likable, referring to “base school plebs” and the like, but it’s still hard not to feel sorry for them when they come across as so miserable. Or is it just supposed to be a parody of teenage angst?