The New Integration: Diversifying Specialized High Schools in New York City
By Jada Gordon
The following article is featured in the October 2019 edition of The Campus.
In New York City, there are eightspecialized high schools with the most decorated scholastic reputations. Although they areelite and have 100% percent graduation rates, they lack diversity both ineconomic background and race. Whilethese elite schools should be seen as an opportunity for higher education,inclusive to all, these institutions have rather become increasingly unattainablefor a large population of the often economically disadvantaged immigrant/refugeeand minority students.
According to an article in The NewYork Times, one of these specialized high schools and also one of the city’smost elite, Stuyvesant High School, offered acceptance to only seven blackstudents out of eight hundred and ninety-five slots. This is only one year in a steady decline in the acceptanceof black students to the specialized school. For example, only ten blackstudents were admitted to the school in the last academic term, and thirteenthe year before. A similar trend has occurred in other specialized highschools, such as The Bronx High School of Science, with twelve students ofcolor admitted last year, compared to twenty-five the previous.
New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio,has a plan to diversify the elite specialized high schools. Part of hisproposed plan is to eliminate the specialized high school entrance exams, alsoknown as the SHSAT’s. This proposal has been met with an abundance of criticismfrom alumni organizations of the schools, as well as Asian American groups, whofear that this elimination would lower the academic rigor and standards theschools are known for. A City College of New York student, who works as asubstitute paraprofessional for teachers assistants and wishes to remain underthe name J.F, agrees that eliminating the test is not the way to go aboutcombatting diversity issues: “Ibelieve in diversity but, for once, I think this is wrong. I think we should bepushing students of different races to go into specialized high schools.Specialized high schools have an entry-level test you must pass to getconsidered for acceptance. Why aren’t all students being prepared andchallenged to pass that exam?”
Thusfar, the notion to eliminate the exam has been unsuccessful. While efforts,such as offers for free test prep and day-time examinations for the SHSAT’s,have been made, they have failed to effectively boost the admission rates forselect groups of students, or diversify the student populations of theseschools.
Anotherproposition made by Mayor De Blasio entails the elimination of talented and giftedprograms in schools throughout the city. Under this proposal, high achieverswould be forced to make sacrifices in their education in order for theirschools to adequately support struggling learners and thus ‘level the playingfield’. Olivia Kelly, a 7th grade teacher at Brilla College PrepSchool whose students would be deeply affected by these decisions, states: “Idisagree that the programs should be eliminated because I truly believe thatthose programs do a good job of preparing students for life after high school.”
Allof this, in summary, exposes a major fault line in a New York City schoolsystem that is failing a large contingency of their students by failing to beaccessible to all students,regardless of race and economic background. It stands to question, how arestudents supposed to be ready for the rigor of college and the real world ifthey are not able to access an education with the resources necessary tosupport them in reaching standards meant to challenge/prepare them? Accordingto a study conducted by The New York Times, Black and Brown students make uproughly 67% of New York City schools. This majority of a minority population beingexcluded from these elite schools prove that question of resources over meritmay play a part in the admission process.
Kelly said it best, the power of change foracademics comes from the influences within, she states, “I believe those thathave the knowledge and experience to make useful change are the ones seated inthe desk and standing in the front of the room, teachers and students know bestwhat they need”. Students need exposure to rigorous and challenging curriculums(based on education level), ingrained scaffolds and supports to facilitatestudent’s success, and finally, they must be nurtured in what they show growthand promise in. It is possible to do both and diversifying specialized highschools is just one vehicle in pursuit of this goal.
