Anonymous wrote:My TJ kid has this multi teacher. They absolutely loved the teacher and agreed tests were way harder than other teachers. However, kid is saying that what was taught and the way it was taught was a huge advantage in college math class. So there’s that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The variability in instruction is frustrating. Multivariable Calculus is a completely different experience depending on who you get but it all looks the same on the transcript.

This is notorious with one teacher at TJ who goes his own way. But the issue with him isn’t supposed to be instruction. It’s the ridiculous difficulty of the tests. Much harder than the other teacher. They’ve made a lot of progress with standardizing grades and expectations through BC. I’m hoping the get there on the higher level classes. And APUSH. All the kids know there is one teacher who makes life... hard.

Anonymous wrote:The variability in instruction is frustrating. Multivariable Calculus is a completely different experience depending on who you get but it all looks the same on the transcript.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach science in college and have received teaching awards. I had to help a friend's child last year for his science class. I was disappointed in TJ's teaching quality. The kid is super smart and hard working. He is probably the top 5% in TJ. However he basically got nothing from class. In addition, the quiz/exam was unrealistic hard. I honestly cannot see anyone could pass the class without significant outside tutoring help. I was told many students dropped after the first exam. This is not a problem with the students, but the teachers. I heard not all teachers in TJ are like this but it is common. High expectation is not the same as just throw things at students. Teachers make a big difference in student's life. Guess what is this student's perception in this subject now? We are losing a bright student in this STEM field. This is sad. Based on this experience, I will think twice before send my own kid to TJ.

And they didn’t lose a bright student. Check with him in June. They had a kid who took too high and level and was returned to the right level. I expect he got a decent grade in honors without tutoring and a strong grounding in physics. The issue is they need to stop letting kids without the background try and then actively weeding.

It is indeed Physics. This kid got A at the end and scored 5 in AP Physics C. He said the AP test was not bad. But he does not like Physics and just glad it was over. Obviously he won't be pursuing anything in Physics, although I see a tremendous talent. That is what I meant by losing a bright student in the STEM field.

I guess. But he made that choice. TJ is very clear with kids and parents during registration. AP Physics requires self teaching BC over the summer. It requires twice the work of Physics 1. And here’s the thing. It doesn’t cover physics as well. TJ doesn’t offer an AP in physics before C precisely because they designed their own curriculum in Physics 1 that does not directly track AP. It’s considered on of the best in the world, and they regularly train educators from around the world on their Physics 1 curriculum. DH has a physics minor undergrad and does high level Calc and was very impressed with the grounding of Physics 1. And the teaching. (As a note, they do the exact same thing in geosystems. Mandatory senior class, requires bio, chem, Physics and Calc, taught as state of the art to teachers around the world). The suggested track is Physics 1 to AP. But kids and parents get caught up in the academic arms race and quest for MIT, and extra AP, and many end up miserable.


I sound hard hearted. But after 4 years of TJ, I am done with parents who insist their kid overaccelerate at an already challenging school and then gripe about the kids being miserable. Skip test this, self study and petition out of that. Not follow the recommended path here. Kids can do that. But it should not be on TJ when the kids are miserable and struggle. Because they warn: if you do this, you will have 8-10 hours of homework a week (I just looked up the handout), have to self teach BC over the summer, and are likely to need to drop if if they don’t have BC already done and take Physics 1 first.

OTHO— DS has a friend who went the AP route junior year and dropped down after the first test. Finished BC, back in AP this year and says it’s night and day better. She loves the class (Engineering kid). Right about now, freaked out I’m going to have to drop AP Physics messages are popping up on the TJ inter webs. Again. So predictable if parents would accept the tracking recommendations.

Actually I did suggest the kid not to take AP C before the school year but he insisted... What surprised me was the bad teaching. This kid could do fine in Physics without my help if the teacher is good. He has the physical intuition and very strong math. Of course this is just one case, I am sure there are many wonderful teachers at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach science in college and have received teaching awards. I had to help a friend's child last year for his science class. I was disappointed in TJ's teaching quality. The kid is super smart and hard working. He is probably the top 5% in TJ. However he basically got nothing from class. In addition, the quiz/exam was unrealistic hard. I honestly cannot see anyone could pass the class without significant outside tutoring help. I was told many students dropped after the first exam. This is not a problem with the students, but the teachers. I heard not all teachers in TJ are like this but it is common. High expectation is not the same as just throw things at students. Teachers make a big difference in student's life. Guess what is this student's perception in this subject now? We are losing a bright student in this STEM field. This is sad. Based on this experience, I will think twice before send my own kid to TJ.

And they didn’t lose a bright student. Check with him in June. They had a kid who took too high and level and was returned to the right level. I expect he got a decent grade in honors without tutoring and a strong grounding in physics. The issue is they need to stop letting kids without the background try and then actively weeding.

It is indeed Physics. This kid got A at the end and scored 5 in AP Physics C. He said the AP test was not bad. But he does not like Physics and just glad it was over. Obviously he won't be pursuing anything in Physics, although I see a tremendous talent. That is what I meant by losing a bright student in the STEM field.

I guess. But he made that choice. TJ is very clear with kids and parents during registration. AP Physics requires self teaching BC over the summer. It requires twice the work of Physics 1. And here’s the thing. It doesn’t cover physics as well. TJ doesn’t offer an AP in physics before C precisely because they designed their own curriculum in Physics 1 that does not directly track AP. It’s considered on of the best in the world, and they regularly train educators from around the world on their Physics 1 curriculum. DH has a physics minor undergrad and does high level Calc and was very impressed with the grounding of Physics 1. And the teaching. (As a note, they do the exact same thing in geosystems. Mandatory senior class, requires bio, chem, Physics and Calc, taught as state of the art to teachers around the world). The suggested track is Physics 1 to AP. But kids and parents get caught up in the academic arms race and quest for MIT, and extra AP, and many end up miserable.


I sound hard hearted. But after 4 years of TJ, I am done with parents who insist their kid overaccelerate at an already challenging school and then gripe about the kids being miserable. Skip test this, self study and petition out of that. Not follow the recommended path here. Kids can do that. But it should not be on TJ when the kids are miserable and struggle. Because they warn: if you do this, you will have 8-10 hours of homework a week (I just looked up the handout), have to self teach BC over the summer, and are likely to need to drop if if they don’t have BC already done and take Physics 1 first.

OTHO— DS has a friend who went the AP route junior year and dropped down after the first test. Finished BC, back in AP this year and says it’s night and day better. She loves the class (Engineering kid). Right about now, freaked out I’m going to have to drop AP Physics messages are popping up on the TJ inter webs. Again. So predictable if parents would accept the tracking recommendations.