Anonymous wrote:
Honey. The good high schools don't need to trot out their anomalous college placements. TC has a graduation rate of under 80 percent.

It's very well known that if you're white and bright you can survive TC and leverage the stigma into a top college placement. But please don't imply that TC is a college prep environment because, really it is not, except for a subset of students. Some of us don't want our children to be in such a cynical education environment.

But, hey, if it makes you feel better to keep yelling "But! Penn! Columbia!" then more power to you.

Anonymous wrote:Was TC Williams ever in Fairfax County schools? I attended an FCPS school that played them in sports. The school had a decent reputation then. Do they still play against FCPS schools in sports?

Anonymous wrote:Everyone stresses to the nth degree about where to live. All the smart kids are at X school, so I'll move there, then my kid will be smart, too. Correlation isn't causation, folks. 90% of where your kid winds up will be based upon genetics, your kid's work ethic, and your own efforts as parents. As for the impact of "school quality," for AP courses, all schools have the same curriculum. You're gonna find good teachers just about everywhere. And you can find a cohort of similarly-motivated students almost anywhere for positive peer pressure---just help your kids choose the right kind of friends. We'd all be better off if we channeled all our energy stressing about which neighborhood/school district/pyramid is best, and focused that instead on helping our kids get the most out of their education, wherever they may be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're so right. I feel terrible for colleges like Columbia, Penn, Barnard, Smith, Wesleyan, Middlebury, NYU, GWU, Sewanee, & Skidmore, who are stuck educating last year's graduates of the "dysfunctional" TC Williams. And poor Duke, Bucknell, UNC Chapel Hill & Penn State (saddled with 2 TC grads each!). Not to mention UVA (18), VTech (13), William & Mary (3), JMU (4), GMU (15), VCU (10). Whatever will they do with so many terrible students from this dysfunctional school????

Okay, I get that you're more comfortable with a school where only 8% or 13% of the kids are economically disadvantaged (McLean & Yorktown, respectively), instead of the 58% at TC Williams. But don't pretend that you left b/c your kids could not get a good education there.

But did these students get into these schools because of TC Williams or in spite of TC Williams? Would the student who went to Penn State gone to Penn if he had gone to McLean High School instead of TC? Would more students have gotten into these good schools if they were educated elsewhere? We really don't know the answers to these questions. I don't live in Alexandria (or McLean for that matter), so I don't have a dog in this fight. But, my point is that showing that some students got into good schools from TC does not prove that the school is good. Just like showing that some kids fail from this school does not prove that it's bad. There is no way to know in advance how one's daughter or son will fare whether they go to TC or Langley or Robinson. Most people, however feel that they have a better chance to succeed where they are surrounded by other like students who want to succeed.

They may have got in because of TC - hard to know - but I do know that at least up until a few years ago, TC said they offered every AP course. So if that is still true then students could take all AP course in all subjects they wanted and not be constrained like other schools who may not offer every course.

It's no secret that white, bright students are kept well segregated from the masses at TC. If they did the same for middle school, more parents would stay put.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're so right. I feel terrible for colleges like Columbia, Penn, Barnard, Smith, Wesleyan, Middlebury, NYU, GWU, Sewanee, & Skidmore, who are stuck educating last year's graduates of the "dysfunctional" TC Williams. And poor Duke, Bucknell, UNC Chapel Hill & Penn State (saddled with 2 TC grads each!). Not to mention UVA (18), VTech (13), William & Mary (3), JMU (4), GMU (15), VCU (10). Whatever will they do with so many terrible students from this dysfunctional school????

Okay, I get that you're more comfortable with a school where only 8% or 13% of the kids are economically disadvantaged (McLean & Yorktown, respectively), instead of the 58% at TC Williams. But don't pretend that you left b/c your kids could not get a good education there.

But did these students get into these schools because of TC Williams or in spite of TC Williams? Would the student who went to Penn State gone to Penn if he had gone to McLean High School instead of TC? Would more students have gotten into these good schools if they were educated elsewhere? We really don't know the answers to these questions. I don't live in Alexandria (or McLean for that matter), so I don't have a dog in this fight. But, my point is that showing that some students got into good schools from TC does not prove that the school is good. Just like showing that some kids fail from this school does not prove that it's bad. There is no way to know in advance how one's daughter or son will fare whether they go to TC or Langley or Robinson. Most people, however feel that they have a better chance to succeed where they are surrounded by other like students who want to succeed.

Anonymous wrote:You're so right. I feel terrible for colleges like Columbia, Penn, Barnard, Smith, Wesleyan, Middlebury, NYU, GWU, Sewanee, & Skidmore, who are stuck educating last year's graduates of the "dysfunctional" TC Williams. And poor Duke, Bucknell, UNC Chapel Hill & Penn State (saddled with 2 TC grads each!). Not to mention UVA (18), VTech (13), William & Mary (3), JMU (4), GMU (15), VCU (10). Whatever will they do with so many terrible students from this dysfunctional school????

Okay, I get that you're more comfortable with a school where only 8% or 13% of the kids are economically disadvantaged (McLean & Yorktown, respectively), instead of the 58% at TC Williams. But don't pretend that you left b/c your kids could not get a good education there.

Anonymous wrote:You're so right. I feel terrible for colleges like Columbia, Penn, Barnard, Smith, Wesleyan, Middlebury, NYU, GWU, Sewanee, & Skidmore, who are stuck educating last year's graduates of the "dysfunctional" TC Williams. And poor Duke, Bucknell, UNC Chapel Hill & Penn State (saddled with 2 TC grads each!). Not to mention UVA (18), VTech (13), William & Mary (3), JMU (4), GMU (15), VCU (10). Whatever will they do with so many terrible students from this dysfunctional school????

Okay, I get that you're more comfortable with a school where only 8% or 13% of the kids are economically disadvantaged (McLean & Yorktown, respectively), instead of the 58% at TC Williams. But don't pretend that you left b/c your kids could not get a good education there.