Category: opinion
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Being black at Stuyvesant: Two students on what it’s like for African Americans at the specialized high school
Just because students are intelligent enough to pass a test doesn’t mean they understand people who might be ethnically, racially or culturally different. That’s what happened to Gordon in his freshman biology class when his lab partner blamed him for the AIDS virus. Or when he was told to “go back to Africa” because he…
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GET RID OF THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS
Excerpt from an interesting opinion on NYC specialized high schools. Do we need them? Why do we have them?… The very obvious solution to the specialized high schools’ diversity conundrum is here: get rid of the specialized high schools. They’re an ugly, embarrassing testament to America’s insistence upon inserting hierarchy into all things, including public…
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An Improvement to the Mayor’s Current Proposal
The mayor recently recommended a new specialized high school admissions procedure. Instead of a single exam, he’d like to identify the top 25% of NYC 8th grade students based on state score. Then from that group, make specialized high school offers to the top 7% of students from every school. A critic of the mayor’s…
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De Blasio’s Plan for NYC Schools Isn’t Anti-Asian. It’s Anti-Racist.
The mayor’s plan isn’t anti-Asian, it’s anti-racist. It would give working-class parents — including Asian-Americans — who can’t afford and shouldn’t have to find ways to afford expensive test prep programs a fairer chance that their child will be admitted into what’s known as a specialized high school. True, taking a test prep course doesn’t…
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NYC chapter of Sharpton’s group looks to scrap elite schools test, in break with longtime ally
“The National Action Network, as a Civil Rights organization, cannot allow nor support ‘elitism,’” the remarks state. “As for the opposition’s position for ‘keeping the test as is and fix all middle schools,’ NAN asks why hasn’t this been done before??! And doing so would take too long. Eliminate the test and fix all the…
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Testimony regarding segregation in New York City public schools
UFT opposes single measure admissionsThe union is on record criticizing and challenging the validity of a single test as the sole criteria for high stakes decisions – such as entrance to early elementary gifted and talented programs or specialized high schools. The proponents of these standardized tests for entrance to competitive screened schools allege the…
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New York’s Best Schools Need to Do Better
Another NYTimes editorial opinion. Many Asian-American New Yorkers have objected to eliminating the exam, arguing that the mayor’s plan would deny admission to hard-working and high-achieving children in their communities. Many alumni at Stuyvesant and other specialized high schools have argued that dropping the test would lead to the admission of students who could not handle the…
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NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson: The time to act is now on specialized high schools
I support the success of all communities, which is why I believe the single test admissions process used to gain admittance to our eight test-based specialized schools must be abolished. This is not a decision I make lightly, but I believe when tackling tough issues, we must make decisions based on fact, not on emotion…
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I’m an Asian American graduate of Brooklyn Tech. Please don’t use me as a wedge in your education lawsuit
The lawsuit, brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation ostensibly to contest alleged discrimination against Asian American students, targets changes to the city’s expanding Discovery Program. It allows students attending low-income middle schools to receive an offer to one of the city’s elite high schools if they score just below the admissions cut-off on the Specialized High School…
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How private tutoring makes an unequal education system even less fair
Studies show that almost every student can improve their grades with private tutoring. But when only the rich can afford it — in New York the average cost of private tutoring is $64 an hour, though rates can easily approach and even exceed $100 — it’s no surprise their children are overrepresented in elite high schools and colleges, at…