I have a feeling that he was not saying TJ was “celebrating kids who got in 8 8vies”. (When was a TJ student admitted to all 8 anyway?) He meant the society as a whole as reflected in the coverage of such incidents in the mainstream media. Then he moved on saying as a result TJ kids were taking it as the ultimate goal. I could be wrong. Maybe they did “celebrate”?
“The student newspaper has a column devoted to student achievements, which includes awards in many different subjects and school ECs (debate, music, foreign language, math, sports, etc)” Evidently you think that’s a good idea in this kind of environment. But to me, in this context, it seems like throwing fuel on the fire. Why do you need these things published for everyone to see all the time? Can’t students just go about their business and not have it be everyone’s business? Yes, it would be nice to celebrate accomplishments, but I suspect that in this environment it’s just feeding the frenzy of competition.
Our school doesn’t publish this kind of list. Mention or recognition of awards ranges from none to haphazard. Yes, it would be nice to get some recognition for these students, but I would never trade the atmosphere in our school for that in TJ.
But that’s normal coverage of any school newspaper. I don’t know it there should be a column “devoted to” student achievements, but schools newspaper covers such things as news stories. Nothing wrong with that.
My high school paper didn’t have a column devoted to student awards. They wrote stories about what was happening in the school. My kids’ high school doesn’t really have a newspaper.
Now I’m curious. Is it usual for a school’s newspaper to publish a column exclusively devoted to student awards?
Yes, I do believe that section of the newspaper is appropriate. It’s not that large of a column… it’s less than a quarter of a page. Stuff that is put in it is like students who make district band, the fact that the debate team won a big tournament, it’s titled “kudos and accomplishments”. It doesn’t celebrate every little award. Also, I don’t think this has anything to do with the current situation in the school. Students enjoy reading that small section, but it’s not like we compete especially to be in there. A lot of times, this is how we find out about things because students don’t really mention their achievements to each other usually. Having this column allows us to congratulate each other.
TJ has one of the best student newspapers in the country and has won numerous awards for it. I would recommend actually reading it before complaining about it. It’s available online for the public to read; just google “TJ Today” or visit http://www.tjtoday.org/archives/.
I really hate that people are blaming the administration for this. The competitive nature of TJ does not come from the administration, but from the pressures that students and their families put on themselves. Stop blaming this on TJ; this was a sick Asian student who couldn’t handle the pressure her parents put on her.
And most schools I know of, at least the ones in FCPS do have these sorts of columns.
Elizabeth Lodal was principal of TJ from 2000-2006. Below is an interview she gave to Washingtonian magazine in 2006 with observations about the pressures at TJ and the pervasiveness of cheating. Those comments seem particularly prescient:
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/work-education/education/thomas-jefferson-high-school-interview-with-principal-elizabeth-lodal/
Oh, I am sure most of it is coming from the families. But it seems to me the administration can do things to lessen the pressure and making statements to a major newspaper as quoted earlier certainly does not help things. It just doesn’t seem like the sort of leadership that community needs. Saying “We celebrate” sounds like the school is supporting 100% this idea, and calling it a “bar” sounds like kids who don’t achieve this simply don’t measure up. To me, this quote sounds very telling of an administrator who totally buys into the culture they should be trying to change.
Mr. Kosatka’s quote was taken out of context.
Does anyone have the context?
Again, he was talking about society and the media, not the school. He was condemning it.
Student services at tj is really amazing. You just need to reach out. My counselor helped me get through so many things, from dealing with past emotional scars (from years of bullying) as a freshman to my rough patch junior year. He was the one that realized I was different and led me to get tested for the neurodevelopmental disorder I have. He went out of his way to make sure we were ok and he honestly was probably the best person I’ve ever met.
Interesting Washingtonian article. In a relatively short amount of time The Asian student population has gone from 36 to 70%. Tutoring classes in TJ prep for admission are prevalent.
Admitted to all eight ivies.
From her GC: “It’s not typically what we advise,” because each school has its own personality, strengths and weaknesses, Hamblin said. “They share a football league in common, and that’s about it.”
I have also read that the number of applications to TJ has dropped.
Lodal specifically said that cheating is an issue anywhere and they have instituted both an honors policy and a mentoring program to lower its effects. Besides, cheating can only take you so far.
My guess is the top 50 students at TJ are really the top TJ students. You might get a few bottom 10-20% who work their way up with cheating … but these are still smart kids who are basically just cheating themselves.
TJ prep classes could help some, but really maybe just add 5 or 10% to an application. I am sure non-Asians could find someone to take their $600 and help their kids too. I think the difference is that for many of these families, first generation with extremely high work ethic, they are just willing to work themselves (to make $$ for test prep and tutors) and to have their kids work much higher than their non-Asian peers who are also on soccer travel teams or doing other things.
And given 40K college admission packages you read about, this seems pretty petty.
and it’s a high stakes test, so other than learning more - how can you really “cheat” your application.
TJ is a great school and a crazy story like this is really not a reflection of the school at all. Come on, no one at TJ believed it … .how could they ? I would think the Korean press would have done some minimal fact checking, like calling TJ, but maybe they just wanted to have a hero.
I think kids at this caliper would be doing amazing kids with or without a school newspaper … and some kids can enhance their natural and substantial talents with a huge workload at age 15 and some probably just can’t (and they still are TJ graduates and go to good schools and if not top 50, they will likely be the A students just due to previous classes and study habits). You will see them again in med school, law school, IB programs, whatever.
This could definitely have been phrased/edited better, but I believe that Mr. Kosatka was referring to “society” or “college-bound students” or “parents,” when he said “we,” not to TJHSST.
It’s pretty evident he meant “we” as in society. I’m sure the admins at TJ are just as tired of the cramming, certain-school-worshipping as the rest of us are. After many years on CC I’m certainly sick of it.
Just wanted to add on the cheating thing; it was a big problem, like at many schools. My junior year, however, TJ started an honor council like many colleges have to deal with honor code infractions. I think the efforts of the administration during the last three years to curb cheating have been very helpful and successful. They involved the students to better understand the mentality of the school, what was needed to change that mentality, etc.
I do think some of the students at the “bottom” of the class (note: tj does not calculate or release class rank) cheat to maintain at the school. Due to TJ being a selective magnet school, you have to maintain a 3.0 to stay (similar to many college scholarships and honors colleges) and I think some of the weaker students definitely feel that pressure. I knew a couple students in my days that failed to meet the minimum GPA.
Part of growing up is realizing that being second best at TJ or MIT or your state’s flagship or at work surrounded by brilliant people is a pretty dang good place to be.
As you move onto a national stage, there is only one #1 in a specific field and the odds are only 1/300,000,000 if you feel that you need to be #1 in the US (like the Zuckerberg, Harvard, Stanford person is trying to be).
i think she has a fine career ahead of her as a fiction writer …
PS - The acceptance list and where folks are attending should be a reality checks for all the wunderchildren out there. Remember TJ admission is nearly impossible and these kids have take programs of a rigor unimaginable in most public or even private schools.
Possibly they don’t have time for society saving ECs … but I think colleges know that.
there are just not 100 spaces at HPYS for exceptional students, you need to be truly exceptional …
And, whether for merit aid or due to difficulty in getting into those dream 8 schools, they are going a good variety of top 80 schools.
And I still think these are kids to watch when it comes to succeeding later in life. Many are exceptional and their lights will not dim with exposure to flagship or even lower universities.
I took a look at the column. It’s akin to a very short sports article where the team or athlete wins a match. “ABC was selected to participate in perform with the regional orchestra. She was selected for playing the flute. The orchestra will perform at 123 Place on February xx, yyyy”. It’s not like the Kudos and Accomplishments column contains accomplishments like “XYZ conquered the world (again)”. They are pretty much the usual high school accomplishments one reads in any local newspaper.