The answer lies in getting to these kids years before they take the high school test. They need investment at kindergarten and teachers not bound to a union that prevents them from working year round or late in the day. They need to lower the stress levels in their living environment at an early age. You cant patch it up when they are 13 or 14 by getting them into high stress schools. I am sure you know the research, these variables are the important factors for their success by the time they reach the high school testing.

RT

I’m old enough to remember seeing many white people marching along with Martin Luther King back in the 1960′s. In my college history classes, I learned of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 where Chinese people were kept out of the USA for over 50 years. The Japanese were held in Internment Camps during WWII while German and Italian were not.

Blacks are not the only people who fought for the rights now enjoyed by many in this country.

I love all people! Getting into the NYC Specialized High Schools should be based solely on merit and not on “race, religon or color.” Changing the testing format to give preference to certain groups is disgraceful and enthically immoral. That is why people are pissed off at the idea of changing a fair and open entrance exam. Can you imgaine not letting Michael Jordan or Alex Rodriguez play because their race are overly represented in their sports? It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it.

BTW: just remember, most likely, the rights you enjoy in this country were fought for and gained by the black people you now hate!

Also may i note getting a latino or black in the name sake of diversity is backwards, you should not have a mixture of race, but a diversity of peronailties, intersts, but certainly not race. 

……who would not apply to, let alone attend, CUNY.

Mea Culpa.

I like that you are reading these posts; it shows that you care about your idea. Obviously, you can feel the outrage at your seemingly innocuous proposal. It is of note that the hottest indignation come from either parents attempting to send their children to these schools or from former students. As an alum of one of these schools and, having read everything that you’ve written, I can clearly state that you are out of your depth here.

Now I can point to your faulty comparison between UTAustin and the specialized high schools, of how the nature and sheer size of a university makes for — what should be apparent — different dynamics of education than that of high schools. (At the top of my head, subpar students in a 100 person lecture do not have much effect. Also, they tend to opt out of the class rather quickly if they feel they cannot measure up, resulting in a natural equilibrium. Lastly, if I want to be an EE major, minority composition is irrelevant : after all, how many black EE majors are there?)

Or I can fault you for disregarding the tremendous sacrifices that parents are currently making in order to send their children to the specialized high schools. Quite often, both parents work long hours to supplement their children’s educations with after-school programs, so that their children may “not be penalized for what their schools didn’t do.” Considering these parents are often immigrants, coupled with the fact that immigrants tend to dwell in the same neighborhoods, it may be no surprise that “narrow slices” of the city dominate the admissions. While I’m sure we all agree with your warm statement: “I’d just like more of those kids who can do more to get a chance to do more”, you may not have understood that your suggestion would make a mockery of these parents’ toils by redistributing seats resulting from a fair meritocracy to those of a geographical mediocrity.

But I think I’ll focus on your apparent disconnect with the purpose of these schools. While anybody would agree with you that, in general, “the purpose of the public schools is to provide all students with broad opportunities to prepare themselves for the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of adult life”, surely the mandate need not stop there. These specialized schools are a haven for the best and brightest, whose abilities would only be hemmed in by their zoned high schools. (Not the least of which reasons would be the caliber of their classmates at the local schools.) These schools are supposed to serve as launching pads for Westinghouse finalists, future PhDs, future statesmen, future cancer-curers and the like.

And with all due respect to your position as former associate dean for collaborative programs at the CUNY, these specialized schools are to produce graduates who would not attend, let alone attend, CUNY.

How would this be achieve under your scheme ?

Let’s take a school like Stuyvesant HS that has 968 seats: NYC currently has 32 Districts all within the 5 boroughs. Are you suggesting that each of the 32 District sends 31 kids to Stuyvesant ?

Take a JHS like Mark Twain in Coney Island, Brooklyn (do a google to find their website – IS 239 ).

Mark Twain JHS, on their website, claimed that 71 of their kids received an offer to Stuyvesant HS (and 108 Mark Twain kids received an offer for BTHS). Will a school like Mark Twain be restricted on the amount of kids they can sent to a Specialized HS ? Will other schools in District 21 (like Bay Academy) also be restricted ?

How are you going to pick (or limit) the kids that ALLOWED to attend Stuyvesant HS from a school like Mark Twain OR District 21 ?

Although I, like others, value the opportunity that Gotham Schools provides to its readers to express their views on a wide range of topics, I never imagined that the wisdom of my proposal would be decided by a poll of the respondents. Instead, I had hopes and still hope that it will receive some attention from the leadership of the Department of Education and considered on its merits. I was surprised that the respondents did not metnion the evidence from Texas that indicates that a very selective institution (like UT-Austin) can change its admissions policy to one based on proportional representation (based on geography) without any advserse effect on student performance. I would have had a harder time making my argument if that evidence was not available. And let me repeat–I was recommedning that high achieving students from across the whole city, rather than high achieving students from relatively narrow slices of the city, be able to take advantage of the opportunities that the specialized schools offer. I should confess one prejudice–I do not believe that one of the purposes of the public schools of this city is to offer a free alternative to Dalton for parents who want their children to become doctors. Instead, the purpose of the public schools is to provide all students with broad opportunities to prepare themselves for the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of adult life. It’s clear that some students are prepared to do much more in high school than others and they should be provided appropriate opportunities. I’d just like more of those kids who can do more to get a chance to do more. Kids who have worked hard in schools that have not provided them with appropriate opportunties should not be penalized for what their schools didn’t do. I’d also note that I was not proposing any limit to the enrollment of kids from any of the racial/ethnic groups that we mistakenly rely upon to classify them. I’d also like to note that I said nothing about poverty–I am acutely aware of the fact that lots of poor kids excel in school. Truth be known, I am unequivocally in favor of eliminating the scourge of poverty for all families and kids but I would not invoke poverty as the key measure of ineqiality in this city. Race-based discrimination, and its results in schools, is not equaivalen to poverty. It works differently and can only be challenged differently. Two last points–1) I was surprised by how many of the respondents were experts on culture and 2) No one should respond to “Yellow Peril.”

ALSO: currently, Private school student have to ask for SHSI applications (or get it off the website – deadline is April 9, 2010). Check DOE website.

You information about SHSI is incorrect. I personally know of several children, Asian and white that are presently enrolled in SHSI. They did not apply to the program. No one applies. The school the children attend recommends them, based on their grades attendance and eligibility for a free lunch. This happens while they are in the sixth grade. A letter is then sent to their parents through the school, notifying them that they are eligible for the program. The parents or guardians decide whether to accept or refuse the offer. If they accept, the program begins that summer.

Apparently, you never heard of the Specialized High School Institute (SHSI). It’s a NYC DOE program (runs for 15 months that spans two summers) that prepares middle school 6th Grader for the SHSAT in the 8th Grade. The criterias are: 1). 675+ on BOTH 5th Grade NYS ELA/MATH, 2). 90% Attendance in 6th Grade, 3). Title I (Free Lunch) – (read poor children) — The program is FREE (yes, FREE) so that poor class of kids will have the opportunity to attend these specialized HS.

In 2006 and 2007, SHSI had no income requirement. However, application were NOT allowed for whites and Asian kids (do a google on ‘SHSI’ and ‘NY POST’ and you will see this is true). Parents like myself, who wanted to send our kids to Specialized HS had NO choice but to invest the time/money in our kids to make sure they can pass the exam on a even level with the kids in the FREE program.

So, maybe you should do some homework before getting up on a soap-box (and yes, tell your little cousins about the FREE test-prep).

Back to the inside message about neighborhood QUOTA with people like Tim, Smith and Gravey in this BLOG –

Apparently, they never attended SHS, never took the exam and do not have kids attending these school. They are looking thru the SHS window and making comments not understanding the amount of work and committment needed to get into one of these schools and to succeed. You and I are alumnus – we know, we understand. Nuff said.