Honestly, unless you or a sibling, child, etc, has attended TJ, you really have no idea what its like. It is an awesome school full of dedicated students. There may be some “bad seeds”, but that doesn’t mean the school is bad. We have far less issues than most of the FCPS high schools. There’s less cheating, almost no drugs (it would be folly to say there weren’t some), used to be no theft (til the renovation started… boo, administration thinks its outsiders), etc. We have a lot more freedom than in other schools. And while other schools in FCPS have had problems in recent years with suicides (such as Woodson), I only know of one TJ alum whose death was declared a suicide (he was at Yale at the time) and that hit the TJ community pretty hard since he was a super popular kid at TJ. It was a wake up call for a lot of people (including me, i was in a club with him my freshman year) and really changed the direction of the school for the better.
We have other things to combat the stress too. Along with the excellent counseling services, before AP exams, we have stress less, laugh more week. My junior year, they started depression screenings for juniors because that is the hardest year at TJ and where students crack, if they crack. There’s been a huge effort at the school to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness and depression. This is really important because while these issues only affect a very small percentage of the students, catching it early allows them to seek help and bounce back.
Some may think testing for these problems is a bad thing, but it’s really not. As an example, when I was in middle school, my school was known for gang and drug issues (I went for the GT program). The administration from our first day said “hey, there’s issues with bullying, violence, and drugs, and they won’t be tolerated”. There were actually very few incidents at the school and those that happened were dealt with strictly. On the other hand, my brother’s middle school had the attitude of “what violence? we don’t have a problem with bullying, drugs, etc”. Yeah, kids at my brother’s school were robbed, beaten, bullied, etc. I felt much safer at my middle school. Denying that a problem exists, no matter how small, just makes the situation worse. So by recognizing the issues, school like TJ are making the school a safer place for everyone.
Overall, TJ students are happy and outgoing students. We don’t rack up achievements just to have achievements and trophies. We do what we’re interested in and love excelling and doing our best. Most TJ kids go on to live normal and successful lives. A lot of students go to school in-state and a lot of students don’t even apply to the very top schools.
I think what some individuals are saying is really an overgeneralization of the school. You really have to be there to understand it.
