Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current principal's policies are not doing any favours to the students. She keeps saying that the staff is not there for the student's GPA but to be the GPS of the students. I don't think any colleges are looking for GPS. I am pretty sure that starting with class of 2025, the number of TJ students getting admitted to top college's will go down. Teachers there are frustrated because the students are not able to cope up with the rigor of the curriculum. Students seem to expect a curve for every tough test

There will be a much broader distribution of SAT scores with the class of 2025.
The consistency of mental horsepower just isn't there anymore.
You now have a school that is about as competitive as the top half of McLean's honor students.
There was a time when the vast majority of the Virginia USAMO qualifiers were from TJ.
This year's USAJMO (mostly freshmen and sophomores) is seeing a lot more diversity, with McLean, Longfellow and other Virginia schools seeing several students qualify.
Did all these students getting USAMO and USAJMO not apply to TJ or did the race driven admissions process fail to select them?

That's notable. The more likely of your scenarios is that top STEM talent is not getting recognized in the new admissions process.

Why does every blessed TJ thread have to devolve into morons complaining about the admission systems?!?! Give it a rest!!!! Let us talk about the school without sucking every thread down the same rabbit hole loop about admissions!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

I'd heard that too.

I'm sorry, but I have to call. There's just no way that the two PPs are legitimate posters. This kind of conversational structure and logic simply does not arise in a normal discussion unless the goal is social engineering.

It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

There's no source or context to this statement. Anyone intelligent enough to have a relevant opinion in a TJ/AAP discussion would realize that to have value, a comment should have at least something to justify it. In particular, it would by very interesting to know that there is a connection between the use of tutoring centers and community-degrading behaviors in schools, so a genuine contributor to the discussion would be very much motivated to share their basis for thinking so.

As is, without a basis, it's still controversial to assume that paid academic preparation has a detrimental effect on student behavior; that the previous TJ community was unreasonably toxic; or that the current TJ regime notably improved. A legitimate participant in the conversation would be painfully aware that a vapid comment such as the one above does nothing to clarify any of these issues.

Finally, without context, we don't know whether "TJ is less toxic because of less prep" means, for example, that Curie students degraded the community, or if it means that there are fewer quality students so mediocre students are more comfortable in the idea that they have the run of the place. Without knowing where the comment is coming from, we have no way to judge.

Of course, a single value-free, opinionated comment might not be telling on its own, but it gets followed up with...

I'd heard that too.

Yes, certainly. It gets repeated here over and over. Most likely by the same poster(s). Saying "I'd heard that too" in support of an unsubstantiated comment does not somehow imbue it with the depth, substance, or legitimacy that it completely lacked a moment ago. It certainly does not establish the kind of independent validation that it's trying to insinuate. Instead, it's more like saying that you agree with yourself. This isn't something a normal, intelligent people would say given the context, because it only serves to emphasize the emptiness of the preceding comment. If anything, it's something that you do if you're trying to groom an unconscious "everybody's saying it" type of reaction.

I'm sorry that I'm picking on two relatively trivial posts, but eventually I do get fed up with these kinds of posts being injected into a conversation over and over just to frustrate people and derail the conversation.

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

NP. The principal at our ES is very anti achievement and anti competition. Is it better or worse than our old principal who retired who celebrated achievement? Not sure, but it is different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

I'd heard that too.

If the ability to afford test prep were a preference, we would see more whites than asians.
Whites are 50% of Fairfax while Asians are 20%
Whites have higher median incomes and wealth than asians.
If they were prioritizing wealth and income, you would expect there to be at least twice as many whites as asians and yet that doesn't happen.

Under the old system, they were prioritizing objectively smarter kids from families that valued education more than other families. And even then it was watered down by a lot of "holistic factors that prevented TJ from becoming as overwhelming asian as schools like the NYC specialized schools that only use an entrance exam.

Why do you always bring race into it? This is a race blind process. It's not about being able to afford test prep. Whites seem more interested in soccer camp than buying access to the QuantQ.

Because race was the driving force behind this change.
Absolutely noone thinks this was an attempt to improve the quality of the students. Not even you.

We have seen this racist trope for generations any time someone outperforms whites.
Jews outperform whites and Jews are characterized as smart but lacking character. It is the central platform of anti-semitism in America. Jewish success is the result of sneaky connivances.
East Asians outperform whites and East Asians the academic achievement gap is explained away by accusations of cheating. When this becomes untenable, they are characterized as lacking the personal qualities that we value as a society. Mostly leadership and character.
South Asians outperform whites and we see a similar pattern. Except this time it isn't the white supremacists from the right, it is the DEI/CRT crowd from the left.
White kids were over-represented at TJ and other places like it for decades and it wasn't until they became under-represented that there was a political will to change admissions standards to increase the black population.

Oddly enough this effort to a larger increase in the white population than the black population.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

I'd heard that too.

If the ability to afford test prep were a preference, we would see more whites than asians.
Whites are 50% of Fairfax while Asians are 20%
Whites have higher median incomes and wealth than asians.
If they were prioritizing wealth and income, you would expect there to be at least twice as many whites as asians and yet that doesn't happen.

Under the old system, they were prioritizing objectively smarter kids from families that valued education more than other families. And even then it was watered down by a lot of "holistic factors that prevented TJ from becoming as overwhelming asian as schools like the NYC specialized schools that only use an entrance exam.

Why do you always bring race into it? This is a race blind process. It's not about being able to afford test prep. Whites seem more interested in soccer camp than buying access to the QuantQ.

Tj parent of 2. Don’t give a care about “USAMO.” It’s not TJ High School of Math. Though that’s what it had become due to obsessive focus on excessively advanced math (families racing to get their kids in calc for freshman year) in admissions.

Anonymous wrote:Current principal's policies are not doing any favours to the students. She keeps saying that the staff is not there for the student's GPA but to be the GPS of the students. I don't think any colleges are looking for GPS. I am pretty sure that starting with class of 2025, the number of TJ students getting admitted to top college's will go down. Teachers there are frustrated because the students are not able to cope up with the rigor of the curriculum. Students seem to expect a curve for every tough test

There will be a much broader distribution of SAT scores with the class of 2025.
The consistency of mental horsepower just isn't there anymore.
You now have a school that is about as competitive as the top half of McLean's honor students.
There was a time when the vast majority of the Virginia USAMO qualifiers were from TJ.
This year's USAJMO (mostly freshmen and sophomores) is seeing a lot more diversity, with McLean, Longfellow and other Virginia schools seeing several students qualify.
Did all these students getting USAMO and USAJMO not apply to TJ or did the race driven admissions process fail to select them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

I'd heard that too.

If the ability to afford test prep were a preference, we would see more whites than asians.
Whites are 50% of Fairfax while Asians are 20%
Whites have higher median incomes and wealth than asians.
If they were prioritizing wealth and income, you would expect there to be at least twice as many whites as asians and yet that doesn't happen.

Under the old system, they were prioritizing objectively smarter kids from families that valued education more than other families. And even then it was watered down by a lot of "holistic factors that prevented TJ from becoming as overwhelming asian as schools like the NYC specialized schools that only use an entrance exam.

Current principal's policies are not doing any favours to the students. She keeps saying that the staff is not there for the student's GPA but to be the GPS of the students. I don't think any colleges are looking for GPS. I am pretty sure that starting with class of 2025, the number of TJ students getting admitted to top college's will go down. Teachers there are frustrated because the students are not able to cope up with the rigor of the curriculum. Students seem to expect a curve for every tough test

Anonymous wrote:It's much less toxic now than when they were prioritizing people who could afford test prep.

I'd heard that too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

?
I don’t think you have kids there. She celebrates the academic extracurricular achievements just as they do sports / arts ones. While DC there has gotten all As so far, personally I think it’s good to try to tone down the focus on comparative grades though at this specific school. Kids get what they get for grades; the less they try to compete with each other on who can get the highest A the better.

I have a kid at TJ.

If you have interacted with her and got any guidance on how we are supposed to celebrate certain achievements you would understand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

?
I don’t think you have kids there. She celebrates the academic extracurricular achievements just as they do sports / arts ones. While DC there has gotten all As so far, personally I think it’s good to try to tone down the focus on comparative grades though at this specific school. Kids get what they get for grades; the less they try to compete with each other on who can get the highest A the better.

What is the teaching style? Do they need to learn it themselves, lecture style or interactive?

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

?
I don’t think you have kids there. She celebrates the academic extracurricular achievements just as they do sports / arts ones. While DC there has gotten all As so far, personally I think it’s good to try to tone down the focus on comparative grades though at this specific school. Kids get what they get for grades; the less they try to compete with each other on who can get the highest A the better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current TJ Principal is very anti competition. I cannot think of any other high school that plays down its own students achievements as much as the current TJ Principal. She actively discourages any celebration of student achievements.

It might be entirely to reduce pressure on students and she might genuinely believe this.

At the regional science fair that had dwindling participants from TJ, people attributed it to TJ principal having zero STEM experience. why would they recruit someone who lacked science and tech experience to lead a school established with the very focus in those areas?

How would a principal's science/math background affect the number of science fair participants? This is like blaming a school's poor sports performance on an unathletic principal.