Anonymous wrote:
ITTA, Fairfax needs more magnet high schools but the school board and administrators are too caught up in politics to do what is best for the students. It seems like they loathe any program that siphons the brightest (AAP, TJ) out of the local schools.

This is the usual argument for the parents who think their bright kids who didn't get into TJ got a bum deal. Nothing prevents them from attending local schools that are among the best in the country and offer a staggering array of AP and IB courses.

FCAG usually has the most information on TJ applications/admissions, as they FOIA information from FCPS regularly. Usually the statistics focus on the kids from different middle schools applying to TJ.

To those of you who are carping about TJ, you are wasting your time. If you don't like what TJ has become, don't encourage your kids to apply there. You will have plenty of company, and your own kids can go to another school and still get into a good college or university. The School Board does not like what TJ has become and would close TJ down in a second if had the guts to do so, but it doesn't, since it's "the number one high school in the country" and the TJ parent/alumni lobby is vocal and well-financed.

Anonymous wrote:The real problem is the school is the same size it has always been, but the population in N. Va has probably increased by tenfold. There need to be more schools like TJ in the area. So many incredibly smart kids don't get in.

ITTA, Fairfax needs more magnet high schools but the school board and administrators are too caught up in politics to do what is best for the students. It seems like they loathe any program that siphons the brightest (AAP, TJ) out of the local schools.

Actually, there are many Korean children in Fairfax (specifically Annandale) who move here with relatives or even family friends. One older aunt or other female adult who is paid a salary by the families in Korea to chaperone the students, and multiple siblings, cousins, or unrelated students per house living dorm style.

Does anyone have the info. on the number of kids from each HS? I know my pyramid won't have a lot, but I'm just hoping they have a few.

Anonymous wrote:The current law does not prevent any students from attending any Virginia public schools. It does not care whether student is a current legal or illegal immigrant or a foreign student. There is nothing any school administrators can do which including TJ admission office. If you do not want any illegal immigrant or foreign student or non- U.S. citizen to attend any Virginia public schools or any public schools in general, you need to lobby the Congresses to change the law. For now, you are wasted your time debating on the issue.

It's actually a Constitutional issue per the Fourteenth Amendment -- see the US Supreme Court case:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0457_0202_ZO.html

As an aside, I heard that the admissions office for a certain well-regarded private high school was absolutely flooded with applications from Korea this year - that they could have filled the entire class with full-tuition Korean children who were well-qualified. The person involved told me that their small families mean that there are few children per family, and that that the families are willing to spend whatever it takes to get that child into a top US school. I'm sure the TJ experience is similar, except they have to move here for a few years prior to admittance.

I would not assume there are that many illegal students that are getting into TJ and thereby sabotaging your children's chances. Most TJ students I know that are minority and Asian are all 2nd/3rd/4th generation Asian that were born in the US. Parents were all educated in the U.S. and are professionals in DC. Of course there are recent immigrants, but who can fault them for wanting their kids to get into the best high school in the country? If they are willing to move to NoVA just so their kids have a shot at TJ, then more power to them... I lean left when it comes to affirmative action, even if it hurts Asians, and I am Asian myself with three kids who are potential TJ applicants in the future.

The current law does not prevent any students from attending any Virginia public schools. It does not care whether student is a current legal or illegal immigrant or a foreign student. There is nothing any school administrators can do which including TJ admission office. If you do not want any illegal immigrant or foreign student or non- U.S. citizen to attend any Virginia public schools or any public schools in general, you need to lobby the Congresses to change the law. For now, you are wasted your time debating on the issue.

Anonymous wrote:The real problem is the school is the same size it has always been, but the population in N. Va has probably increased by tenfold. There need to be more schools like TJ in the area. So many incredibly smart kids don't get in.

+1

The real problem is the school is the same size it has always been, but the population in N. Va has probably increased by tenfold. There need to be more schools like TJ in the area. So many incredibly smart kids don't get in.

sigh. They're asian kids so they can't possibly be american, right? I grew up with this assumption in a small rural town and it hurt then. It's disappointing that that's the assumption in a metropolitan place like D.C.

oh also, just because someone has an accent or speaks english as a second language doesn't mean they're not american...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school is a public school in the US, paid for by US taxpayers. This is not a resource for the world. It is to educate and benefit US children and to make up for the past harms committed against their ancestors in the US.

As long as someone is here legally, their children are entitled to attend the same public schools as yours. You may also be curious to know that skilled workers who are here legally pay taxes and SS yet are not entitled to draw anything from the system.

Planning it out like PP who mentioned businesses catering to this and the kids coming with the moms at a certain age seems like gaming the system to the detriment of the very people to whom the public school system are to benefit. That doesn't seem right. And the visa workers pay taxes in exchange for the privilege to work and live in the US.

Anonymous wrote:The school is a public school in the US, paid for by US taxpayers. This is not a resource for the world. It is to educate and benefit US children and to make up for the past harms committed against their ancestors in the US.

As long as someone is here legally, their children are entitled to attend the same public schools as yours. You may also be curious to know that skilled workers who are here legally pay taxes and SS yet are not entitled to draw anything from the system.

Anonymous wrote:This could all be rumor but I've heard that there are plenty of Asian - actually specifically Koreans - who move with mom to No Va in late elementary, rent a room, prep for test and enter into the FCPS system all in an effort to get into TJ.

and businesses serve these families are booming in Annandale.