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Not to be outdone by its leftist neighbor to the west (Loudon County), the Fairfax School Board is considering dumbing down the requirements for admission to the prestigious and competitive (public) TJ School, whereby admissions tests will no longer be required. Apparently, too many of the students scoring the highest are white and Asian, and leftists don’t like that. Better to lower the school to achieve “diversity,” even though it makes the school less advanced.
And read carefully. Of the 500 slots, 100 of them will be given out to those who are the best academically, regardless of skin color. The remaining 80% will be a lottery.
The best school in the county, previously RACE-BLIND with admissions going to the best and brightest.....dumbed down by the leftists.
I can't help but pity the "below standard" students admitted. According to my high school transcript, my IQ score puts me in the "very superior" or "extremely high" range, but I am NOT a genius; and I know that I would have hated being placed in a super-genius environment with people who are in the top 0.1% when it comes to intelligence. I know that I wouldn't have fit it, that I would have struggled, and that I would have hated it.
I think that this would be like an Olympics hockey training team (f there is such a thing) being open to anyone who can skate at all. Eliminating spots for the most talented and giving the spots to those much less talented would bring down the entire team, as the coaches would need to spend more time on those less talented students. The more talented would probably become impatient and snobbish toward those who couldn't keep up (and there might even be some subtle bullying involved); the less talented would suffer with frustration and issues of self esteem because they would be even more aware of their limitations; and the more talented would lose some of the attention they would need if they were to do their best. EVERYONE would suffer, I think.
Of course, I could be wrong about that.
Last edited by katharsis; 06-24-2021 at 04:15 PM..
Not to be outdone by its leftist neighbor to the west (Loudon County), the Fairfax School Board is considering dumbing down the requirements for admission to the prestigious and competitive (public) TJ School, whereby admissions tests will no longer be required. Apparently, too many of the students scoring the highest are white and Asian, and leftists don’t like that. Better to lower the school to achieve “diversity,” even though it makes the school less advanced.
And read carefully. Of the 500 slots, 100 of them will be given out to those who are the best academically, regardless of skin color. The remaining 80% will be a lottery.
The best school in the county, previously RACE-BLIND with admissions going to the best and brightest.....dumbed down by the leftists.
You say that the new system is 100 academics based and 400 lottery based. I don’t see any affirmative criteria on race in that admission process.
The very fact that they’re lowering standards because too many whites and Asians were getting in DOES make it a race thing. Otherwise, the best 500 students would get in, as in years past. Now, the best 100 get in, and the new reduced standards for the remaining 400 slots make it more likely for more blacks and Latinos to get in.
That’s the purpose of the change. It’s designed to give students less academically accomplished a chance, when it should just be the best and brightest. The result is that this school, once a real beacon, will not drop down a few notches as the level of class instruction is lowered.
Has anyone seen the movie "Finding Forrester"? It is about a genius black kid who was admitted to a very prestigious private high school BECAUSE HE WAS A GENIUS (but not because of his race).
What I think prestigious schools should do. Set aside a certain number or percentage of slots for poor non-white students with above average IQs and give them full scholarships. Everyone would recognize that they were there because of their intelligence and for no other reason. I think that would help change the automatic bias from "She's only here because she's black" to "She's only here because she is so intelligent." There might be still some snobbery on the part of the rich kids, but I think it would cause them to realize that intelligence is not exclusive to those who are white and affluent (or Asian).
“The first thing that we’re asking for is a revamped admissions process that is more equitable.”
The proposal would change admissions from being test-based to a lottery system that would require a 3.5 GPA.
The school often ranks No. 1 in the nation. Little said the change would make the student body more diverse.
Oh and here is the punch-line to the joke....they want to change the standards to let in more minorities that previously didn't qualify so that they can feel meritorious. What the fudge?
Quote:
“At TJ, it was really hard to walk the halls and not feel a sense of judgement from your peers and your teachers who felt that you were only there for the color of your skin and not because you too were meritorious and deserving of the opportunity,” Little said.
The very fact that they’re lowering standards because too many whites and Asians were getting in DOES make it a race thing. Otherwise, the best 500 students would get in, as in years past. Now, the best 100 get in, and the new reduced standards for the remaining 400 slots make it more likely for more blacks and Latinos to get in.
That’s the purpose of the change. It’s designed to give students less academically accomplished a chance, when it should just be the best and brightest. The result is that this school, once a real beacon, will not drop down a few notches as the level of class instruction is lowered.
It’s all about race, like everything these days.
They can kiss that top ranking good-bye...wow, a 3.5 GPA these days from another school is pretty much 1/3 of the kids. Going from taking the top 0.5% or higher to taking 80% of your class from the top 1/3.
What conversation do you have then about diversity and how your schools SAT score average just dumped 50 points or more.
Oh silly me, you stop publishing that information of course. lol.
Not all 3.5 GPA's are alike. There was a news article about a year ago (I think) in which a high school valedictorian was completely unprepared for college because her 4.0 G.P.A. was so inferior to other kids from other schools whose G.P.A. was not nearly as high. If memory serves, she ended up taking remedial math because her high school's math classes were so poor that she was lacking in even some basic math skills (as hard as that is to believe).
P.S. on Edit: I am not sure if this is the same student, I read about, but the story is VERY close, at least, so I think she is the student I remember reading about. https://detroit.chalkbeat.org/2019/1...f-college-thes
Has anyone seen the movie "Finding Forrester"? It is about a genius black kid who was admitted to a very prestigious private high school BECAUSE HE WAS A GENIUS (but not because of his race).
What I think prestigious schools should do. Set aside a certain number of slots for poor non-white students with above average IQs and give them full scholarships. Everyone would recognize that they were there because of their intelligence and for no other reason. I think that would help change the automatic bias from "She's only here because she's black" to "She's here because she is so intelligent."
Perhaps, but certainly not to the extent of what Fairfax is considering doing with TJ. They’ve dropped it from the best and brightest 500 students, all the way down to 100. The remaining 400 get admitted through the lottery, and that will chance the nature of the academics severely. If they wanted to give blacks and Latinos a better chance, why not flip it so that the best and brightest 400 still get in, with the “set-aside” bring 100 slots?
The ones this new process will hurt are the best and brightest 101 - 499. Now they will be thrown in with the lottery. But apparently they were primarily white and Asian, so it’s OK to make it harder for them to get in, and lots of these kids who were the very top will have to attend the “regular” school to make way for more diversity at TJ.
It should just be the best 500 kids. If they turn out to be mostly white and Asian, as apparently is the case, so be it.
Perhaps, but certainly not to the extent of what Fairfax is considering doing with TJ. They’ve dropped it from the best and brightest 500 students, all the way down to 100. The remaining 400 get admitted through the lottery, and that will chance the nature of the academics severely. If they wanted to give blacks and Latinos a better chance, why not flip it so that the best and brightest 400 still get in, with the “set-aside” bring 100 slots?
The ones this new process will hurt are the best and brightest 101 - 499. Now they will be thrown in with the lottery. But apparently they were primarily white and Asian, so it’s OK to make it harder for them to get in, and lots of these kids who were the very top will have to attend the “regular” school to make way for more diversity at TJ.
It should just be the best 500 kids. If they turn out to be mostly white and Asian, as apparently is the case, so be it.
Rachel, they aren't considering it-it's a done deal. The numbers for the Class of 2025 were announced yesterday:
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