Let's try it, Mayor DiBlasio! The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Someone from Stuyvesant said that once.
Why even the need for costly test preparation with so much free information available? Research capacity utilizing smartphone, tablet, etc. Free dictionary, thesaurus, YouTube math tutorials, free video lectures on every conceivable topic. Free access to classic literature in the public domain. Speedy research minus time wasting, sometimes fruitless old school card catelogue searches.
2
You write that "The change brings together issues of segregation, inequality, class and privilege ..."
What about the issue of merit?
What about recognizing & rewarding & reinforcing achievement?
What about rescuing CUNY from its role as the city's remedial high school math program?
8
If you want to set up mediocre students for failure, it's a wonderful plan.
If you want truly gifted students to choose private schools or move out of the city, it's a wonderful plan.
12
At my daughter's title 1 public high school, all freshman and sophomores take the PSATs and all juniors and seniors take the SATs. This happens during school hours, meaning absolutely zero parent involvement is involved. It is completely funded by the school district. I wonder if NYC could do something similar where every public middle schooler takes the magnet school admissions test during school hours without a parent needing to sign them up? This might turn up a surprising number of kids whose talents might have otherwise gone unnoticed.
2
The Left's obsession with race and gender, using social engineering to make every workplace and classroom "look like our world" is sick.
Meritocracy is blind.
Equality of opportunity, not equality of result.
5
Maybe we should ask more about what makes these schools 'elite' - is it the test to get in that weeds out any students that might have have been in underperforming schools. I reminded of a sentiment I heard Neil-DeGrasse Tyson express to the former chancellor-don't tell me your school/class is great because it takes high-achieving students and keeps them there. That student has the drive to succeed almost anywhere. Show me you can take the struggling students and lift them up and then I'll know you're good. Yes, long-term solutions for solving inequity and providing rigorous instruction across the board should be sought, but that doesn't mean short-term efforts can't be made for those students suffering in the interim. We shouldn't ever so easily dismiss ideas to solve a very serious problem of inequity. So we should consider them whether those ideas include universal pre-k, AP courses in all HS, mandating the test for all students, creating training programs at struggling schools, or allowing for a financial component for 20% of applicants. We may find that 15-18% of those 'low-income seats' still go to white and Asian students who are in poverty (many of whom would have likely made it through in the old system) and it will be deemed ineffective. That still wouldn't mean the effort and goal wasn't worthwhile https://braveintheattempt.com/2018/06/12/integrating-schools-in-nyc-and-...
3
Out of curiosity, looked up current demographic statistics for one of these elite schools:
https://data.nysed.gov/enrollment.php?year=2016&instid=800000046741
43% of students are economically disadvantaged. That's amazing!
Means those students got there through talent, hard work, and merit - not some quota.
And a large majority (74%) are Asian. What does that tell us - that it's not financial status, but the drive of individual students and family that got those students there.
Instead of penalizing those achieving students - maybe some other economically disadvantaged students should read from the immigrant playbook.
My parents came to US with $500 / person when my sister and I were in middle & elementary school. They went to public library, found best school districts (in Jersey, mind you), and rented the smaller/older apartment in best district they could afford. All because they understood the importance of education. Fast forward many years - with full in-state merit scholarships for undergrad (and paying own grad school) - I now work as a Quant and my sister finished her MD and residency. Economic mobility is easily achievable in this country - given hard work by students and positive encouragement from parents.
12
1) Better prepare middle school students in districts that underperform
2) create more local high school access for programs like Brooklyn Latin, which aim to graduate more well rounded well educated students.
That, however, would not be a quick political fix. It would help a lot more students have better options in life.
5
This proposal to change the entrance to the elite high schools is misguided. The problem is not the current entrance acceptance criteria, the problem is that many middle school children are not academically prepared to enter these schools and are not prepared for the rigors that these high schools require.
The changes being proposed will result with students not being able to keep up with the curriculum and either not doing well, or failing out of the school. This will result in questioning the school’s standards, and the probable result of that will be to lessen the standards, that will eventually lower the quality of the education and prestige of the schools to a point of not being ”elite” anymore.
The answer is to foster students at a young age to focus on their education so their ability to pass the entrance exam is higher. This will require the parents of these children to initiate this focus on education and ensure they maintain this focus.
If anything, this is a cultural issue, not a discrimination issue.
13
I pity the poor Black or Latino student who makes it into one of the specialized schools solely based on their test taking after all of this. Low expectations and suspicions of how they got it in will haunt these poor students.
9
Yawn. Do you say that about low-performing white students who get into elite high schools or colleges because their mommy and/or daddy knew so-and-so on the admissions board or were legacies with deep pockets? Sorry to break it to you. All minorities don't suffer from Clarence Thomas or I-Can-Only-Get-Ahead-Through-Affirmative-Action Syndrome.
Besides, Latino and Black students are not haunted. More than likely, they are constantly reminded of their race or skin color through a variety of microaggressions...like your comment.
1
ATOM:
Actually, an Atlantic article published today said that some black Stuyvesant alumni who had gone on to attend elite colleges believed that they were often suspected of not having achieved what they had on the merits. But when they told people they had gone to Stuyvesant they had more credibility because the entrance is by an exam.
"Do you say that about low-performing white students who get into elite high schools or colleges because their mommy and/or daddy knew so-and-so on the admissions board or were legacies with deep pockets?"
Ah, ATOM, but that's the beauty of Stuyvesant and why its student body is a lot smarter than the student body of, say, Collegiate or Trinity.
What you say is correct for private schools, but it's not correct for our "elite" public schools.
Staten Island Pizza Rats! Can't understand, why anyone would be surprised?! Though the Pizza is still a lot better in Brooklyn.
2
Mayor de Blasio is a vicious racist who does not believe black and Hispanic students can compete with poor Asian students. Maybe the problem is not race, but effort. If the black and Hispanic students, and their parents, put as much effort into education as the Asian students and their parents, maybe the black and Hispanic students will achieve the same results as the Asian students. The problem is not race, but effort, of both students and their parents. But racist de Blasio believes black and Hispanic students are failing because of their race.
10
No parent wishes for their child to be academic failures and/or dropouts. If the answer were as simple as the one you proposed, then this issue would not exist. Furthermore, since the number of White students has decreased relative to Asian students at elite, public high schools, would you use the same argument that White parents and students are not putting in enough effort?
You cannot compare cultures of immigrants. While they may have a few similarities they are vastly different.
[Resubmission: Please run this. It puts my subsequent comments in context.]
1
I am an African American who was accepted to Stuyvesant decades ago, although I chose not to attend (more on that later).
This is a very complex issue for me. The low number of black and Latino students is heartbreaking, especially since it has plunged from that of past years. I don't like the idea of Asian kids being subjected to a cram school mentality, if that's what's really happening. I hate that anyone who questions the change in the admissions policy is called a racist or a self-hating minority, while giving comfort to real racists who think that blacks aren't smart.
On the other hand, I believe in academic excellence and that "elite" should mean elite. Tests, while not perfect, are an appropriate means for screening students if they are deemed relevant and everyone has resources to study for the test. NYC now offers many free test preparation programs.
Having said all that, the only part of the plan I can support is the Discovery program, which offers enrollment to students who just missed the cut-off and take enrichment courses during the summer. Using system-wide measures of achievement like grade point average won't work. The schools are too varied in quality, grade inflation exists everywhere, and the state tests aren't as rigorous as the SHSAT. A reasonably objective measure of a student's ability is needed.
11
Imagine 3 schools. The top 10% of each school has the same IQ. In the best school, the top 10% know algebra and trigonometry. In the middle school, they know algebra but not trigonometry. In the lowest school, they know neither.
If you put them in the same school, what do you teach? If you teach calculus, 1/3 go to elite colleges and 2/3 fail. If you teach trigonometry, 1/3 learn it, 1/3 pass but learn nothing, and 1/3 fail. If you teach algebra, everyone passes, 1/3 learn something, and 2/3 are bored out their minds. No one goes to college. And if you put them in separate tracks, what's the point? You no longer have an elite school.
It's inefficient to educate the most capable students in the neighborhood schools. You'd need to provide a teacher for each 3 top students. With a centralized school you can have 1 teacher for 30 students, and the students will actually learn something. In a neighborhood school's class of 30 students, the top 2 or 3 will learn nothing.
Relax the IQ assumption and the problem gets worse.
The parents advocating this change have to realize that their students are less accomplished than the ones being admitted now. Changing the formula for admission in an effort to promote "diversity" will not make them more accomplished. Political action cannot fix that problem for you. Sorry.
DeBlasio's plan will destroy elite education in New York.
7
I don't think you really understand how instruction in these institutions works (or what IQ indicates). There is a wide distribution of ability even in these schools now across subjects and skilled teachers in these and other schools must differentiate and personalize instruction. It's the mark of good instruction. Also if they have the same IQ (and these tests don't at all measure that), they would have the same innate ability to learn Calculus, so why shouldn't they be together? You say 'less accomplished' but that may simply be due to lack of opportunity and resources in their community school without the benefit of additional community tutoring (as you find in some neighborhoods). The mayor's solution certainly won't wholly solve a problem that is created by the larger segregation in the communities outside of the schools, but your misunderstanding of what quality instruction looks like (and how classes/schools are structured) certainly doesn't adress the larger systemic concerns or even the specific ones with these institutions.
1
"There is a wide distribution of ability even in these schools now"
No. No, there isn't. There is a narrow distribution of ability at these schools. That's the point. All the kids at, say, Stuyvesant, are at the top. That's why you can put them in the same class. They're ready for the same material.
If you want to take Calculus, it doesn't matter what your "innate ability" is. It doesn't matter what skin color you have. It doesn't matter what resources your school had, or whether you've had all the extra tutoring in the world. The ONLY thing that matters is whether you can do pre-calculus, and the only way to show you can do it is to pass a test.
You say the mayor's solution won't wholly solve the problem, and I have to agree with you here. I have no idea how to address the larger systemic problem. It may be intractable. But the mayor's solution won't solve any problem at all, except the problem of winning minority votes. The cost, in my opinion, is the destruction of the specialized schools - a price he is willing to pay.
2.
The Specialized High Schools are intense, highly competitive places. That's what makes them special, but they are not for everyone, including some students who pass the exam. It does nobody any favors to admit students who -- for whatever reason -- are not at the level of the other students. Do we want segregation within the schools? Higher-level classes filled primarily with Asians, whites, while lower-level classes have greater proportions of blacks and Latinos? What kind of message will that send? What will that do to the self-image of blacks and Latinos? The students there now know they got in on the same basis as everone else. And getting in to a school like that is only the beginning of a series of challenges.
I know it's said that admitting less accomplished students (for the purpose of the argument I'm assuming that the test is an adequate proxy for ability) won't change the school, but that's not true. A teacher always ends up teaching to the level of the least capable students. It is the mission of every local high school to teach students at whatever level they occupy. That is not and should not be the mission of the Specialized High Schools.
Being accepted to Stuyvesant was a thrilling moment in my young life, as it was for my peers. I didn't go. Although I did well enough on the test to be accepted, it was known as a math and science school and those were not my strengths. It was huge and I was afraid of getting lost.
LAST COMMENT TO COME
10
[I don't see my first comment, in which I took a lot of time putting my views in context. I will resubmit it. Why does this keep happening?]
3.
Fortunately, I was able to attend an excellent private school on a scholarship. The classes were less than half the size of the average Stuyvesant class and the curriculum was more congenial to my interests. Otherwise, I would have attended Stuyvesant with pride, even with the two-hour commute each way.
The solutions seem to me to be:
--Better test prep and enrichment for poor students;
--An increase in the number of selective high schools with broader admissions criteria;
--Better education Citywide starting with pre-K.
But in a country in whch people don't really care about education and are unwilling to pay for it, the longer-term options are doubtful.
8
When I attended Bx Science back in the 1950s, the admittance test was an IQ-aptitude test, not an achievement test. If this is still the sole criterion, I fail to see any discrimination.
9
I went to Stuyvesant. Getting in is only half the challenge. You also have to succeed in highly demanding classes full of incredibly smart peers. The solution is better preparation not lowering the bar. Furthermore, black and Latinx students deserve the respect and credit that goes with gaining admission to an elite high school. Otherwise, they will invariably be suspected of getting in via affirmative action.
17
I agree with nearly everything you say but disagree with your statement that, "Black and Hispanic students need to put more effort into their education?" & "The playing field is as level as it is ever going to get."
I am the first in my family to have a college degree and a graduate school degree. I've wondered if I would have achieved this if we had not had books and newspapers at home. It was a subtle, unspoken acknowledgment of the value of education.
Yes, most teens could put more effort into their studies but to declare that black and Hispanic students are especially misses the mark. As long as the majority mocks academics as weak, humanly, etc the playing field will never be level.
1
In Memphis we tried out the idea of putting underperforming students in with super-performing students. Some of the performance based "optional" students got placed in underperforming poor (minority) neighborhood schools. It simply managed to teach the students that white and asian people are superior. Unfortunately all students regardless of race were presented with that lesson. Don't lower the bar - help disadvantaged students get over the bar. We know they have the IQ to perform at that level, so help them get to the level where they can pass the test. You are not helping them by putting them in where they cannot perform to level - and everybody know that they are a lesser cut.
13
Why is the Mayor afraid to propose the easiest to implement solution? That is to greatly increase the number of already free tutoring classes and to greatly publicize those programs in the communities under represented in the elite schools! Get more black and Hispanic children into free tutoring class! Work to get their test scores up! That would answer those opposed to quotas and be much easier than getting Albany to change the law governing admission.
8
New admissions use “‘class rank’ & scores” ok very smart students from rigorous academic-challenging middle schools are discriminated against. Theoretically the test score will admit potentially deserving kids. At least the new criteria doesn’t use race. I attended an elite presidential blue ribbon / magnet public HS in the south. It was full of Indian, Asian, Middle-Eastern (Hindi, Buddhist, Sheik, Muslim etc), Caucasian (Protestant, Caholic, Mormon, Evangelical, Agnostic), & African-American (Black Muslim etc) kids. This PS district is still ruled under a decades old desegregation case with a single Judge making “diversity” choices. In 1999 all the Asian and Middle-Eastern kids were classified as white, the Judge decided our school needed more African-American representation (50% black 50% non-black) to represent population demographic. There were not enough black kids who could pass the academic tests so entry criteria had to be lowered and more remedial classes offered at an ahem elite school. Good thing we have moved beyond 90s diversity. Hopefully NYCs elite public schools remain strong academic & arts schools whoever attends. Bottom line there aren’t enough elite schools to meet need...make more.
1
This is liberal pandering to its voter base. No Democrat politician wants to say what the real problem is, which is that parents of underachieving students are asleep at the wheel and they are failing their own kids. They are not drilling their kids to do homework, to do extra credit, to study for exams, keeping in touch with teachers, etc. Under-representation of minorities in elite schools is a symptom of this and many things, DeBlasio's plan is like taking Robitussin to cure lung cancer.
18
These parents are asleep at the wheel because they're TIRED. These kids come from areas with parents working 2-3 jobs, and single parent. The solution may not be to lower the bar for diversity sake, but it certainly says we should focus on making ALL NYC schools better. Going to an 'elite' school shouldn't be the goal, but to help every child achieve better then the previous generation. Any kids making it needs any and all support: parents, teachers, administration, tutoring...they shouldn't be made to feel less because they are not in the 'elite'
3
And these Asian American parents aren't working long hours? I would bet they work more hours than these under-represented minorities.
If you're a truly gifted student, you'll get in regardless of socioeconomic status. Because for them, the test is quite easy and requires no studying at all. Go in, take the test, leave, and then waltz through Stuy.
No truly gifted students are missing out on the specialized high schools. It's the fringe cases and if they couldn't self-motivate enough to study for and pass the test, they won't be able to hack it in the schools either. The SHSAT is a test of 1 of 3 things.
1. Your raw intelligence. If you're truly gifted you skate through the test with no prep. You're a perfect candidate.
2. Your work ethic. Maybe you're not immensely gifted, but you're smart and work your tail off. Another perfect candidate.
3. Your ability to cheat. A small percentage of the kids in specialized high schools are master cheaters.
If you can't get the score on the test you absolutely do not belong. It's really that simple.
11
Second law of thermodynamics - a system left to itself tends to the state of greatest disorder.
2
The single test admissions policy is a marvel of fairness.
Everyone takes the same test anonymously. Free test prep is available to every NYC student starting 16 months prior to the test.
You don't need connections or legacy admissions or wealth and influence. You just need to have the best scores in reading and basic math.
It's a true meritocracy, and look at the results. These schools are anything but broken. Socioeconomic diversity is already extremely high because anyone can sharpen a pencil and gain admittance.
To those who say racial diversity is an equally compelling goal of these elite schools, I say no. Your push for quotas means a less capable student gets in ahead of a more capable student because of racially designed quotas. The schools are there for our absolutely best students in the City so they can reach their extraordinarily high ceiling. Lower capable students can reach their ceiling at less demanding schools.
For example, at some middle schools, not a single student passed basic math proficiency. Does a student who hasn't demonstrated basic math proficiency need to go to Bronx Science to reach their ceiling? No, that spot should go to the student that is capable of college level math in high school. The less capable student needs remedial instruction, not advanced college math. That is the whole point of these slit schools. No student is well served being sorted by race (the intent of de Blasio's initiative) rather than ability.
39
Mayor DeBlasio, having failed to achieve equality by fixing what doesn't work, has decided to break what does.
At Brooklyn Tech 66% of students are from low income families and 80% are from minority families; they have a 96% on-time graduation rate with 94% of the students going on to four year colleges. This should be considered a liberal fantasy success story, and would be if only the students were from the right minorities.
You can not separate the specialized high schools from their admission process because the admissions process is what makes them specialized high schools. These schools do not have some magic teaching formula that can be applied to any student. They are great because they accept the best students on the basis of academic merit and nothing else. Forcing them to change their admissions policies would effectively dismantle them and that would be disastrous for New York City. When the specialized high schools are gone, working class families who care about education and want to build a better future for their children will leave New York and those who can afford to will simply abandon the public school system in favor of exclusive private schools, stratifying education along economic lines.
The solution isn't to dismantle the specialized high schools, it's to create more of them. If you believe that Asian students are taking up too many places in the top performing schools, MAKE MORE PLACES!
29
Well put. The specialize high schools needs to be meritorious. If one racial group is commanding more space that group's feelings about education, how they encourage their children in education should be explored and communicated to help others.
Your figures regarding the specialized Brooklyn school highlights the misconception that specialized schools are racist. What those figures demonstrate is the value and necessity of parental involvement; the mores of the community are important in determining outcome.
My granddaughter, and her classmates, are in their specialized school are in an environment that feeds their abilities and interests rather than being hindered by disinterested, and often disrupted, students.
The United States has long held the reputation of being anti-intellectual, down grading intellectual pursuits. It's long past due to show our valuing of those pursuits, not only to compete with other countries-that should be regarded as an outcome not a goal, but more importantly for the benefit of our children and democracy. As many have stated democracy is vulnerable because it demands an educated people.
4
>The United States has long held the reputation of being anti-intellectual, down grading intellectual pursuits.
It still is unfortunately. Kids from immigrant families tend to exist in a background that values education and intelligence for a better future. Kids from American families? LOL *UGH SCHOOL*
Here in Seattle area, where NY Today was already here at 3 AM, so if you stay up late, you kind of get NY Today yesterday! For possible fun, regarding the "And Finally" section: Maybe the name (chosen after all by The People) will function as a reminder, that the subway Pizza Rat isn't on Staten Island.
tune of "I'll Take Manhattan"
He plagues Manhattan
But won't plague Staten Island too
Our borough's not a Rodent Zoo.
Check out our ferry
Where floors are very nicely kept
Our workers are adept.
As you have toured and shlepped
They've mopped and swept
Our sanitation
Is a sensation worth a cheer.
And note that Rodent is not here.
That New York Pizza Rat got much fame
A weird and perverse acclaim.
He won't plague Staten.
We note that in this name.
5
Trying out your new musical?
1
Leon, not a tryout, they're just doing the show, so much done for a 3-week run. Their season's been Streetcar Named Desire, Closer, Proof, Taming of the Shrew, Bye Bye Birdie, Wit, and - (!) our sci-fi show [Even some 1980s moments dazzlingly rethought by this amazing director-producers-etc team with our blessing for the "me too" - as we recalled last night that just 12 months ago, Kevin Spacey was hosting the Tonys and oh, how the whole world has changed!].
NYToday pals, if any friends in the Pacific NW, email me; I've used up my comps, but I'll pay for them. FJL1960 is my aol. Like any typical non-profit theatre season, it does its three weeks and then usually disappears. Schedule is here:
http://secondstoryrep.org/mainstage/season19/starfighter.html
This debate is laughable. As an educator for over twenty years, I will clearly state that the Mayor's plan is a legitimate mover toward a more well rounded assessment, though maybe not well rounded enough. Anyone upset by this is out of their mind. I laughed out loud when I read that Kenneth Chiu felt that this was a discriminatory plan agains Asian Americans. Get over it already, and start looking for even better ways to make sure admission is a well rounded process.
2
There are other high-quality high schools in NYC that do not use this test, but use broader criteria (eg Eleanor Roosevelt HS).
Instead of denying high achievers who pass the exam admission in favor of other students of merit, why not invest in creating additional high quality schools with broader criteria, rather than changing schools such as Stuyvesant HS and Bx Science, which have been succeeding for many decades in enabling low income kids to get a good education?
10
How about eliminate all tests ?, let’s just promote certain percentages of each group politicians want votes from?, let’s just be truthful for once on the real intentions of all this lunacy
1
Why fix the actual problems when you can just do a quick PR hit for your wikipedia page?
The equality in schools is a complex problem of culture, school, background, wealth, etc. But trying to eliminate the SHSAT isn't going to do much besides drop NY off all academic rankings.
Specialized high schools allow those top % of students in the city overall to continue learning at a higher level that they are capable of. By effectively eliminating their chance to move on, you are forcing them into remedial classes at normal high schools.
You are effectively telling those top students "BAD, YOU CANT BE BETTER THAN THE REST, ITS UNFAIR". And it comes back to a large American culture problem these days that values stupid things over intelligence (immigrant background students on the contrary do really well because they highly value intelligence ;))
And yes, there is a point, that its unfair that the top 5% of this "low performing" middle school can't compete with the top 5% of this "amazing" middle school. But those top 5% won't be able to keep up in a specialized high school. The schools will be forced to punish everyone by lowering standards.
The reality is there needs to be a push to fix American culture to value intelligence. There needs to be a real attempt at improving all schools and not just doing stuff for some PR and then forgetting about it. And also people have to accept that at the end of day, everyone is different and may not be at the same level. That's life.
According to the The College Board, in 2017, African Americans took over 300,000 Advanced Placement examinations. Their average score was a 2, that's a 'D':
https://www.jbhe.com/2018/02/the-racial-gap-in-advancement-placement-tes...
New York City schools spend over twice as much as California schools on educating K-12 students. Good for you! And yet the 'Achievement Gap' has remained steady for the past 40 years. Your teachers are not racists, you're spending plenty of money helping struggling students. Why is Bill de Blasio so unwilling to say that Black and Hispanic students need to put more effort into their education? The playing field is as level as it is ever going to get. Does the mayor believe that Black students can't compete on a level playing field? 90%(?) of NFL and NBA players are Black. That's probably due to effort.
Only the highest scoring students are admitted to the top specialized high schools, they are the elite, they have earned their places. And students come from all over the city. Unfortunately, if you just increase the number of specialized schools, admitting students with lower scores to them, you will end up with the same racial demographics. So de Blazio wants to stack the deck, by race.
This desire for 'Social Justice' (whatever that means) is exactly why Trump is winning. (Even though he lost by about three million votes.)
15
You reported and selected only the negative data to fit your argument.
Here's the article in its entirety:
According to the latest data from The College Board, in 2017, African Americans took a total of 307,427 Advanced Placement examinations. This was 6.4 percent of all AP exams taken that year
The average score on Advanced Placement examinations for African American students in 2017 was 2.03. On the AP scoring system of 5 to 1, a score of 2 is equivalent to a grade of D in a college-level course. For White students the average score on all AP tests was 3.02, roughly equivalent to a letter grade of C.
But there is a wide disparity in success levels for African American students on AP examinations. Of the 38 AP examinations offered in 2017, African Americans scored the highest on studio art, German, and one of the calculus tests. These were the only AP test where the mean Black score was higher than 3.0, equivalent to a letter grade of C.
The lowest average AP score for Black students was on the physics 1 test. The average Black score was 1.58. Blacks also posted low average scores on AP tests in chemistry, environmental science, and statistics.
Don’t destroy these schools! The smart, hard working kids and their parents most of whom are poor, work long hours and sacrifice to pay for test prep classes. They have earned a place in these schools. You should not get a spot in these schools based on the color of your skin. This is racism. Twenty percent of the Asian and White kids who earned a place will not be able to attend because twenty percent of the seats are now going to be reserved for lower performing brown and black kids? This is wrong. I hope the parents and kids in these top schools protest, fight and win. They should sue the city for discrimination.
18
Exactly , it’s a easy target instead of fixing the real problems
2
The same arguments you made were used against admitting women, and non-White non-Christian men to college.
You don't get rid of inequity by kicking out Asian students, which is what this is about, obviously. What about making the entry exams better, i.e. more IQ test like, harder, more selective and less test prep- more talent-dependent?
2
Most of the comments are not surprising given that New York is home to the country’s most socioeconomic and race segregated schools.
Heaven forbid that any Asian, Caucasian, students should have to suffer the indignity of going to a PUBLIC SCHOOL with a few ***historically**** disenfranchised minorities who barely missed the cut-off scores on a “standardized” test. The horror!!!!
New York City is a liberal Mecca. But when the conversation about desegregating our schools is brought up, many of us sound just like conservatives and Republicans in the deep South. We’re hypocites too!
3
The belief that you can determine a young adolescent's "real" potential by a test ignores the fact that people change, children change a lot and environment and opportunity will shape that change. A poorly prepared student from a weak middle school can turn that all around in a good high school with resources.
Obviously this issue would not be so fraught if NYC had many high schools with lots of resources and stellar reputations. But given that isn't going to change quickly, if at all, nor are all the middle schools suddenly going to provide equal learning environments, they should run a lottery among interested applicants. Or use the test to select a pool for the lottery but make it large - top 50 or 60% - so students who don't have access to test prep etc have a chance.
4
There are free test preps available to all students.
9
>A poorly prepared student from a weak middle school can turn that all around in a good high school with resources.
Well, from my experience in a major specialized high schools. There aren't really "resources". Lets say its more like you are dumped in classes and have to keep up ;)
Specialized high schools aren't magically some wonderland where kids are pampered and have 1-on-1 tutor. That would be a fantasy. At most you get teachers who don't hate their lives because their administrators are actually intelligent and trained in the sciences instead of some degree mill admin grad. There are some classes that you wouldn't normally find elsewhere but they make up only a part of the overall curriculum. (They still have to meet NYS requirements)
But yea, you start doing advanced math immediately and will be failed with no hesitation by teachers straight into summer school. Also in BTHS, they have absolutely no regrets about failing students from graduating altogether. I've seen plenty of them in my time there.
I had an english class in BTHS where 3 students were students that were failed the year before and prevented from graduating. Over a English class.
How's that for resources? ;)
4
Public elite high schools and public colleges must respect a very simple rule. 50% of students must be born and raised below the median house income, 50% of students must be born and raised above the median house income.
This is the only way to solve the social inequity which is hurting the most minorities. Unfortunately minority families living above the median house income will fight tooth and nail to make sure this never happen.
2
The majority of students in the special high schools are —already— BELOW medium income.
7
News flash, 66% of BTHS is below median income and 80% is a minority. (Literally only 20% white).
Now its people are upset because its not their preferred minorities.
3
“The Test”, ANY standardized test, stopped being unbiased decades ago. The moment prep classes and courses like Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc stepped into the picture, “the test” became a marker that separated the haves (those who could afford tutors, test prep classes, private education) from the have nots.
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I’ll be the first to admit that my Ivy League undergrad, and my top 10 med school and MBA programs were all made possible by the generous investment my parents (and later I) made in test prep.
Is it the only reason I got into my schools? Of course not, and what’s more, I ultimately had to do the hard work of graduating with honors. But it definitely helped.
I’ve tutored kids in test prep myself, in high school as part of community service, and later, to make a bit of spending money. The common thread across these experiences is that kids without the means to pay for the expensive courses rarely stood a chance. Even those that availed themselves of the free or subsidized prep I was providing were severely disadvantaged despite my best efforts to pass on as many of the “tricks” I was taught as possible.
Even though I’m a member of a minority group, I’m not a supporter of affirmative action or other race-based admission programs because I believe it’s less about race and more about economic disenfranchisement.
And lord knows I’m not a fan of DeBlasio. Nevertheless, I support this initiative.
It’s about fairness and transparency.
10
There is free test prep for every disadvantaged student.
4
For all the commentators that focus on the hard work of the students that are the top scores on the Specialized High School Admissions Test: These young students don't choose to spend their afternoons and evenings in cram schools - they are brow beaten by their parents who tie the worth of the family to the test. I believe this is the fundamental problem that needs addressing - If the only way students can gain admission to specialized schools is by embracing asian cram school culture, then the test must go!
6
The article is really an interesting analysis about tough choices and thoughts on the schools. The stakes for each student are high, and all the officials seem to mean well. But all people old and young are individuals, not just part of a demographic. It just seems to me that when the whole direction of a child's life comes down to one day of testing, don't we all have to remember we all have good days and bad days.
But maybe that's very early tough-love prep for life, sadly - one job interview for a half an hour can change your whole life as an adult, for example, as can one thoughtless moment causing a traffic accident. As has been said: There's one thing everyone knows, and that's that nobody really knows anything!
3
Just a reminder:
Anyone who doubts the destructive force of the 1960s should visit the City University of New York. Once a loose aggregate of elite colleges for the ambitious poor, it is now a bloated bureaucracy that jettisoned academic standards in the face of a flood of ill-prepared students. CUNY all but perfected the dismaying 1960s spectacle of educated adults cowering before know-nothing adolescents and outside agitators. In 1969 the CUNY administration, unwilling to defend the idea of higher education as a privilege earned by hard work, capitulated to violent student demands that the university be open to all. It radically lowered admission standards at the university's flagship liberal arts schools—City College, Hunter, Brooklyn College, and Queens College—and dropped them entirely for the community colleges. An academic tradition that had taken a century to create was torn down, in all but a few precious enclaves, in a few years.
17
Oh please! I went to Hunter College at the start of open enrollmznt. My problem wasn’t ever with the caliber of the students. It was sometimes with the caliber of the professors who had long been there and weren’t of the highest intellectual quality. But that changed when it became a new standard that tenured faculty have PhDs. Complaints about open enrollment tend to be dog whistles.
1
Tell that to the Baruch students who out performed all the Ivy League students in a recent stock portfolio contest.
1
What the city needs is three more specialized high schools to absorb the next tier that misses that misses acceptance
The city should have enough space in its specialized high schools for all students who score in the top x%
Then add schools that are accessible around the city and they will be more diverse
There are too few seats for these students
And the city needs more trade schools preparing the next generation of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and heavy equipment operators - these are good jobs too
33
The undeclared point of your comment is why aren't we willing to invest in all of our schools as we do with the specialised? Especially, perhaps, middle schools when children take the first unsteady steps to adulthood.
Simply having an education was once seen as valuable. One of the most damaging relatively recent changes in attitudes towards education is the emphasis of making the degree the means to a job, which it is but should follow valuing education for its own sake. It's truly no secret that our standards have fallen.
For example, the Wright brothers. People express surprise that these men, bicycle makers, with only a high school education were able to see flight in an entirely original way and create flight. It just might mean that high school once was more challenging, more fulfilling in meeting the needs of people.
It's a mistaken notion that private schools provide a better education. Maybe, maybe not. The point of elite private schools at any level is meeting people with higher economic means and important social connections. Our free public schools are a true contribution to individuals and society.
I am a Stuyvesant alumnus. Back then the school was largely Jewish. You're never going to stop dedicated people from preparing, or the tutors from figuring out how to sell their product. If you go to class rank in middle school, people will get their kids into middle schools where they can be at the top of the class. They'll have tutoring to do that. According to Alec Klein's book about Stuyvesant, the Korean community does that anyway. Obviously you need to find a way to upgrade lower-level schools.
I'm a retired lawyer. Life is about preparation, despite the inherent genius of our current Great "Leader." One answer would be subsidized tutoring for the tests, starting when kids enter middle school. Who's lining up to pay the extra taxes? Also, it's a myth that every kid will shine if forced into extra preparation. In our addled society, I don't think so. One answer might be to identify promising underprivileged kids at earlier ages and enrich their education. Smacks of the Soviet gymnastics program, but what can you do? I learned a cruel lesson when I was applying for law schools and told the pre-law advisor I'd spent my summers as a camp counselor. He said, I hope it was at a camp where they did model U.N. or Congressional debates, not volleyball. As I said, life is about preparation.
11
When I go over the GWB (I use EZ Pass) the machine doesn’t know the make, model or year of my car. It doesn’t even know that I live in New Jersey now.
.
So to with the test - it is blind and only knows how the taker scores. The system is blind to color, heritage, gender and if I took the test again today (I graduated from Science over 50 years ago) the test wouldn’t know that either.
.
The fault lies not with the selection system or with the test - it lies with the education the students get in the middle schools which underperformed in sending qualified students to take the test for our elite high. Put the resources in those 579 other middle schools and see what happens then.
.
Steve Cole
14
Keep the test as the sole criteria for admittance. Many of the Asian kids that earn entry are poor. Let's not discriminate against them. Do not use class ranking or middle school grades as criteria, as grade inflation is so rampant that kids only have to have a good attendance record in order to pass a course even if they fail exams. Class ranking encourages favoritism on the part of the teacher. Instead of holding 20% of the seats in elite schools for non-Asian minorities, ensure that all kids in middle school are being offered a good education. Open up a new elite school for students who score just below the current cutoff grade on the entrance exam. As it now stands, students can graduate from NYC High Schools with what would have been considered a Fifth grade education in 1960. Parents you have a role to play to make sure your child is learning.
17
Envious disproportionately academically failing subalterns demanding acceptance crutches(privilege). Actually sanctioning successful subaltern M-E-R-I-T based achievement.
2
I always wondered what was wrong with the politics of populism. This recent Pizza Rat phenomenon now answers that question.
3
Following on from my earlier comment, consider instituting a community service requirement- current and former students of specialized high scores donating a certain amount of time for either online tutoring for students from high poverty areas or teaching before school or after school or summer classes to help bring their knowledge and their privilege and their advantages to those kids. Specialized high school students had city funding for superior education - they should share the wealth...of knowledge. High poverty areas don't draw anywhere near the number of volunteers from families and graduate school of education students that wealthier areas do- a mandated service requirement would help to address that inequity.
My husband is a Bronx Science graduate-he would do this in a heartbeat. How many others would? Provide alumni contact lists for the last several decades to a city coordinator to help develop programs. Even if you got 5% of graduates-that would make an incredible educational impact, not only for today's students, but for helping to break the cycle of poverty in those communities.
Today, to my knowledge, only private schools have mandated community service requirements. Specialized high school students and graduates have been afforded a privilege that others in the city don't receive. It makes good sense to require that they give back to students who were not afforded those privileges.
Equalize learning in high poverty areas - don't dumb down requirements.
9
Rather than a requirement to community service provide opportunities of internship. Give these students the opportunity to learn about resumes, and if accepted into the internship having a valuable addition on one's college application.
1
The problem with taking a limited number from each middle school is that kids won’t want to go to tough middle schools anymore. The problem with using the state tests as the measure is that they will then “teach to the test” and the state tests will become more cutthroat. These solutions are facile and political and not at all thoughtful about our kids’ real lives.
12
Like the extremes in politics today - this decision skirts the hard work needed to make a more comprehensive improvement in education.
When I worked in East Harlem schools, we had a line out the door of kids and parents begging for a spot in the district's (unairconditioned no-frills) summer school. City and state budget limitations turned many away. It was devastating to us to say no to kids desperate to learn - and far more devastating to the families. I volunteered on my lunch hour and after school, tutoring kids and playing sports, to try and make more of an impact.
An old Carnegie case study said that 65% of learning happens in the home. For schools to even attempt to make up that gap- we need to spend money on more educational programs, not on test and admissions revision. How much is DiBlasio spending on these changes? How much are people spending to defend against these changes? Let's put that money into before school, after school and summer programs for kids who are desperate for them! Recruit volunteers to run education and test taking classes in high poverty area schools from alumnae who attended specialized high schools for the past several decades. Even if those kids don't qualify for specialized high school admission, it will help them perform better in high school and get higher SAT scores later on.
This decision happens long before high school admissions. Help to make the LEARNING equal-and that will help to make the admissions more equal -naturally.
18
My son took the test and went to Bronx Science about twenty five years ago.He never had a day of test prep.He is a smart lad.I like Mary's idea to create more elite high schools rather than degrading the ones we have by lowering admission standards.
31
Staten Island's train system is not underground, but it is still referred to as the "subway". And there is lots of great pizza in Staten Island. Let's go Pizza Rats!
2
Identity politics is just as corrosive as racism. Asian Americans aren't as reliably democratic voters as African Americans. An unbiased test has no place in that equation.
7
Hmm. Will this change (which btw is proposed, not a sure thing) include La Guardia high School admitting kids with no-to-average abilities in the arts? That would be more fair and inclusive! Also, can the mayor please diversify the city's varsity sports teams? No one ethnicity "owns" sports, right?
https://nypost.com/2015/09/27/the-top-sports-high-schools-in-nyc/
Also, they are called the "specialized" high schools. By calling them elite you are taking sides. Not unheard of for the NY Times, but still.
20
" Admissions to The Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn Technical High School and such similar further special high schools which may be established shall be solely and exclusively by taking a competitive, objective and scholastic achievement examination, which shall be open to each and every child in the City of New York in the eighth or ninth year of study, in accordance with the rules promulgated by the N.Y.C. Board of Education, without regard to any school district wherein the child may reside. No candidate may be admitted to a special high school unless he has successfully achieved a score above the cut-off score for the openings in the school for which he has taken the examination. The cut-off score shall be determined by arranging the scores of all candidates who took the examination and who then commit themselves to attend the school in descending order from the highest score and counting down to the score of the first candidate beyond the number of openings available."
TEXT OF CALANDRA-HECHT BILL AMENDING SEC. 2590G,
SUBDIVISION 12 OF THE EDUCATION LAW
Hye Bill-read NYS Education Law before you open your mouth.
9
While I don't think there is anything wrong with the Mayor's plan to widen the pool for admission to selective schools, it does seem unfair to penalize one minority in favor of others. I think this is due to media and populus belief that some minorities have a harder time than others, and are poorer. Statistically, and in life, this isn't true but its a narrative that plays out well, and gives politicians brownie points for wokeness so its accepted.
I think life is about passing tests. That's how you get a job, are chosen for anything. Lowering or removing the bar just delegitimizes the achievement of students from targeted underrepresented minorities,creates resentment and negative sterotypes, and reduces fair opportunity for others. This staggering of opportunity to fit a populous created vision of oppression doesn't seem fair and is as extreme and wrong as anything the far right is doing in the opposite direction.
Most importantly, I think society and government needs to place less importance on students having an elite education and more on insuring all schools are good schools, and that all neighbourhoods have good schools. That's giving every child a fair chance at life and what should be the focus of government intervention and spending.
13
Success favors the prepared. Every student deserves and should receive the best possible education available.
Support your local schools as vigorously as you argue for/against change. The preschoolers who show up hungry and tired do not learn as well as those who are well rested, have access to high quality nutrition, and are spoken to with a variety of appropriate vocabulary. Start strong, stay strong.
5
I agree. I think the programs you mention are all integral in a child's ability to perform well. Its in these areas, and in funding and focus on public schools the public and government should be concerned. Adequate and aware assistance throughout the school years really should eliminate the need for demographically focused admission and consideration.
The thing that seems to be forgotten is that its not the school its the students. The reasons these schools "produce" such a successful "product" is almost exclusively that they have been supplied with a superb "raw material". Getting rid of specialized test as a criteria for specialized schools will simply lower the "quality" of what gets in and, therefore, lower the quality of what comes out. Sorry teachers, you do a great job but the success is due to highly talented and motivated students.
47
Yes! Good schools are not those that take high-achieving students and just maintain, they're the ones that take struggling students and lift them to new heights.
DeBlasio’s experiment sounds great - if he starts some new schools to try it out on. We dearly need more good high schools to accommodate everyone who can do well. So why not increase the size of the pie, instead of messing around with the 8 schools that are already the most successful?
43
because that would actually require work and investment, whereas this latest proposal is the easier cosmetic fix
9
Instead of packing students into the few elite schools available, I think the Mayor needs to focus on raising the standards at all of the remaining schools that these students seem so desperate to escape. It is imperative that teachers are well trained (and paid more), and schools are well funded despite the zip code they reside in. That is just a start! But I must say that I find it hard to believe that the entrance exam is completely unbiased since studies have shown that standardized tests do tend to carry a bias that benefits the very students who are mostly accepted into the elite schools.
19
As an educator (college) and the parent of a child who intends to take the SHSAT this coming October I have a few thoughts:
The problem is not that a special admission test exists, it is how the test is (not) supported by the curriculum and how it is clearly articulated by the schools themselves that a student WILL NOT achieve a score which supports admission to one of the specialized schools without spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on tutoring.
a. The state testing that the students undergo every spring is not timed, so the students do not have that constraint to work against. More importantly the students have been using scientific calculators (or asking Siri) the individual (usually multiplication) components of more complicated mathematical equations; on the SHSAT they have to do ALL work without electronic aid which adds significant time and stress to the test taking.
b. The tutoring is what sets up the economic and cultural disparity within (some of) these schools. As there are certainly deserving and qualified students that might not be able to afford this educational luxury.
c. I am fundamentally extremely opposed to tutoring for a test. This begins in grade school for G T. Tutoring creates an artificially constructed datum for admissions based on tutoring - not on a student’s genuine talent and capability. It does create a niche economy for tutoring companies who thrive on the parental frenzy created by admissions tests.
I could go on...
11
Left handlers have the highest math sat scores. They have reading and writing problems. Cursive is difficult. If they play the piano, no Carnegie hall. They will have difficulty learning sign language. If someone is forced to be right handed, some may stutter.
My father was a coal miner. I picked coal after school to take care of our coal stoves . I joined the army. After that I somehow knew I wanted to be a doctor.
I failed undergraduate but how would I learn. Dr. Edith Grotberg, American University changed my life. The oral comphrensives used three out of the four questions. Yes, I can improve reading and cursive in nine hours. Yes, open the doors, we are awaiting!
3
There is no correlation between being forced to switch handedness, and stuttering. This was a theory floated decades ago, later pulled back by the very theorist who came up with it when the research did not support his idea. Way past time to let this one go in the public's mind.
1
This won’t solve all the lack if inclusion issues, and it’s a start. Malcolm Gladwell has researched the higher ed myth that there isn’t a large enough talent pool of under-represented, minority students to accept into their elite institutions. (Revisionist History, Season 1, Episode 4.) It turns out this is because too many of these naturally gifted students, who have achieved the highest scores on the standardized tests in middle school (and we all know the well-documented cultural bias kids additionally master to score well without special tutoring, Kumon after-school programs, etc.) have dropped out by the end of high school. Middle school is exactly the time to intervene and encourage these students by preparing them to go to more competitive high schools where graduation and college beyond is expected.
10
The present admissions policy is completely unbiased; it is performance based. The problem is that different cultures place a different level of importance on education. When I was growing up in Brooklyn, most the kids played in the streets together after classes. But rarely the Asian kids, who were in their homes studying. How can we now place restrictions on the number of Asian or Caucasian children gaining admittance? Must politics enter everything?
The solution comes before reaching high school. To my knowledge their is no difference in IQ between genders or races. It involves schools and especially families working with their children, placing a priority on academic performance. If this is done, the issue will resolve itself. Easier said then done, but attainable.
60
Billy from Brooklyn writes that the current admissions policy is “not biased but performance based”. Nonsense.
Most kids who get into Stuy prep for months or even years in private test preparation classes. In the 1940s and 50s there were no such prep classes. Everyone in public middle school took the test one day in class. There was no warning and kids didn’t know what was going to be on the test. Today test preparation companies have analyzed the test and use preparation materials that bear remarkable similarity to actual test prep questions. Most of the kids who get in have attended test preparation classes like this.
Yes, some kids come from modest families who scrimp to provide test prep for their kids. But should we be rewarding the hard work of the parents or the intellectual ability of the children? I have worked in underprivileged schools for many years. I have seen many truly gifted kids who’s parents didn’t have didn’t have the time or the money or the community resources to help their kids prep for a place like Stuy. Public school should allow ALL kids to be given opportunity. It shouldn’t matter whether your parents can afford to pay for test prep.
Let’s not delude ourselves into believing that test taking is a purely meritocratic opportunity. These tests can be, and have been, rigged in favor of certain groups at the expense of certain other groups.
12
This is absurd and completely disregards the efforts put in by the child. They invested hours of study and they (not their parents) took the test. Should Juliard start rejecting musicians because they had the opportunity to practice too much?
There will always be talented students who do not make the cutoff no matter where you set the bar. We should be work on improving all the schools instead of diluting standards.
9
But FREE prep courses are available to all. Why should poor Asian minorities be penalized?
5
DeBlasio’s plan - clearly politically motivated - would damage the reputation and performance of one of the premiere educational institutions this City has to offer. It is the typical bean-counter bureaucrat’s approach to solving a problem. rather than doing the hard work needed to cure the disease, they just try to mask the symptoms of the disease so that they can then say everything is fine, just fine.
69
When I go over the GWB (I use EZ Pass) the machine doesn’t know the make, model or year of my car. It doesn’t even know that I live in New Jersey now.
.
So to with the test - it is blind and only knows how the taker scores. The system is blind to color, heritage, gender and if I took the test again today (I graduated from Science over 50 years ago) the test wouldn’t know that either.
.
The fault lies not with the selection system or with the test - it lies with the education the students get in the middle schools which underperformed in sending qualified students to take the test for our elite high. Put the resources in those 579 other middle schools and see what happens then.
.
Steve Cole
24
As a recently retired Assistant Principal from a K-8 School in the North Bronx, I do agree with de Blasio's plan. Competition is competition and I think the specialized schools serve the intellectual gifted students well. I have no problems with his plan to leave some seats open to students of color who score just below the cut off point, but you have to be careful. Over the years, I saw few of my middle school students test into the Specialized schools, but they did. They were hard working, dedicated students who were driven to succeed. I think we need to create more successful High Schools and quite a few already exist (many in fact). Two of my former students just finished freshman year at Fordham and Morehouse and they did not attend a Specialized HS. They attended high end, functioning high schools. My Godson attends Beacon (and yes, he even got into LaGuardia) and he is thriving there because of the richness of the music program and soccer team and the academics are rigorous (again, not a specialized HS) and yes, we have gotten into students into Beacon. So, the city HS system make exist in tiers and they function until you get the bottom rung - the Clinton High Schools of the system (although they even have a G & T HS embedded in them). So, de Blasio needs to work on fixing what is broken and those are all the failing High Schools (George Washington is another one). When attack something that works?
22
I graduated from Bronx Science; I attended it during the 80s. Test prep, while it may have existed, was not very wide spread. While I do not have statistics, the demographics of the school were still largely as described in this article, with large Asian populations, and the minorities were the least represented. Few, if any Asians, were from wealthy families and were mostly working class (the wealthy were mostly the white Jewish kids from Riverdale & the Upper East Side; not too many working class whites (me) either).
As an elite high school, Bronx Science has a challenging and rigorous curriculum, as it is should. Entering students need to already possess the abilities, habits and skills required to succeed or they will struggle mightily.
While I am sympathetic to the problem of low minority enrollment, and support the changes to the discovery program, the answer is not to get rid of the test, which ensures that the students who are admitted are up to the job of handling the challenging curriculum. Why is every NYC school student not equipped with the skills to enable them, if they have the ability, to succeed on the test? DeBlasio is merely using the specialized high schools as a scape goat for his failure to improve NYC's schools in general. Why are potentially gifted students not identified at a grade school and middle school level so that they can be provided the resources they need so they can then successfully take the test when the time comes?
46
1
I am an African American who was accepted to Stuyvesant decades ago, although I chose not to attend (more on that later).
This is a very complex issue for me. The low number of black and Latino students is heartbreaking, especially since it has plunged from that of past years. I don't like the idea of Asian kids being subjected to a cram school mentality, if that's what's really happening. I hate that anyone who questions the change in the admissions policy is called a racist or a self-hating minority, while giving comfort to real racists who think that blacks aren't smart.
On the other hand, I believe in academic excellence and that "elite" should mean elite. Tests, while not perfect, are an appropriate means for screening students if they are deemed relevant and everyone has resources to study for the test. NYC now offers many free test preparation programs.
Having said all that, the only part of the plan I can support is the Discovery program, which offers enrollment to students who just missed the cut-off and take enrichment courses during the summer. Using system-wide measures of achievement like grade point average won't work. The schools are too varied in quality, grade inflation exists everywhere, and the state tests aren't as rigorous as the SHSAT. A reasonably objective measure of a student's ability is needed.
8
Lifelong, that's lots to consider, wonderfully stated. For me, whatever problems my since-birth neurological disability has brought me in my 50s, my college advisor told me that he shared with the law schools I applied to that I'd done "all this even with a handicap" which he described. My folks totally got to stop feeling any bad feeling about my disability when it felt clear from my college advisor that the disability enhanced my chances and made the admissions folks at Harvard Law take real notice of my application, even coming from a CUNY college like Brooklyn. Is it affirmative action to have succeeded as a white Jewish male but with a handicap, which I never could have succeeded at without so many college classmates bending over backwards, and then at HLS, so many people (truly liberal in best sense) like my Moot Court student advisor explaining so gently to our judges panel bombarding us with questions when I argued before them, or the second year student in the Prison Legal Assistance Project being a sort-of human shield when needed, in the 1980s, before the ADA ever existed. (Still can't believe the 2010s sudden intolerance after 52 years of a handicap not holding me back.) But why did Harvard Law School pick me *(Yale did not, Columbia did not), leading to everything good in my life, including indirectly my spouse? Had to be "affirmative action" which can happen even for a white Jewish male from Brooklyn College.
2