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a bad rap

March 9, 2011

Parents of minority students criticize culture at top high school

by Patrick Wall, at 8:19 pm

City Councilman Charles Barron criticized Chancellor Cathie Black for failing to condemn a video posted by Stuyvesant High School students that used racial slurs. To Barron's right is Veronica Celestin, the mother of a Stuyvesant student.

Parents and politicians gathered today outside of prestigious Stuyvesant High School to condemn what they describe as a pattern of racial exclusion and insensitivity at the school.

The group was responding to an amateur rap video that shows four young white men — reportedly Stuyvesant students — using racial slurs. The video emerged after a former student at the school posted it to YouTube.

Recently critics have said that the city’s selective public schools don’t admit enough black and Hispanic students, and that the Department of Education hasn’t fully implemented its own anti-bullying program.

At today’s event outside of the ten-story school building in Lower Manhattan, several parents of students of color talked about their children’s experiences. Veronica Celestin, whose daughter Breanna found the video posted to Facebook, said they were disturbed by the “racist video.”

“This has been a very difficult and traumatic time for Breanna and our family,” said Celestin, reading softly from a typed statement.

Another Stuyvesant parent, Ruth Sowell, said that her child sometimes felt unwelcome at the school. Her son, Michael Bucaoto, is a Stuyvesant football player who is bi-racial.

“They didn’t treat him as an equal,” Sowell said. “He felt he had nowhere to go.”

The percentage of black and Hispanic students admitted to the city’s selective-enrollment schools has declined over the last decade. This year the city offered just 12 black students and 13 Hispanic students spots in the 2011 freshman class at Stuyvesant. Meanwhile, Asian students received 569 offers and white students received 179. In the 2008-2009 school year, just two percent of Stuyvesant’s 3,245 students were black and three percent were Hispanic.

Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the DOE, said the department is improving its outreach to parents in communities where student enrollment in specialized schools is low. She also said that the department is looking into the rap video.

“We are investigating this incident and will take disciplinary action against those involved,” Feinberg said. No Stuyvesant administrators would comment on the video or confirm if any students have already been disciplined, but several students said the four boys in the video have been suspended.

City Councilman Charles Barron criticized Chancellor Cathleen Black today for failing to condemn the video. He also said the DOE should act immediately to send a message to students that harassment is unacceptable.

“This is not a case of ‘boys will be boys,’” Barron said. “This is a form of cyber harassment, cyber terrorism, cyber bullying.”

In 2007, the city launched an anti-bullying program for schools called Respect For All. Last month, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced an expansion of the program, which involves staff training and protocols for tracking and dealing with bullying and harassment.

But in a survey of 198 teachers released last month, only 28 said they believed the city’s anti-bullying efforts have been effective. The survey was part of a report published by the Sikh Coalition, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).

The report said that despite the city’s detailed anti-bullying plan, many students still don’t know how to report bias-based mistreatment and many schools still fail to investigate reports of harassment.

Feinberg disputed the results of the survey, saying it relies on a “tiny fraction of staff and grossly misrepresents the strides made by our schools.” She also said that every school has a designated staff member to whom students can report bias-related incidents and that 4,000 school employees have participated in a two-day Respect For All workshop.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, said that the DOE should use the controversy over the video as a “teachable moment” about respect and ways to deal with harassment. But she added that racial imbalance in student enrollment can cause issues at schools.

“I think it’s generally agreed that Stuyvesant High School has a problem. There are very, very few African American students there,” Lieberman said. “And that number has dwindled over the last number of years from merely unacceptable to horrifically unacceptable.”

A Stuyvesant employee who asked not to be named said that the school could do more to promote diversity and discourage harassment.

“People here live in a state of denial,” said the employee, who was not a part of the press event. “Nothing’s done in a proactive way.”

Several students said that racial conflicts are uncommon at the school and the administration takes reports of bullying seriously. They also said that, after the video became public, the administration sent home a letter to families explaining the school’s policy on harassment.

“I don’t like how Stuyvesant is getting a bad name because of it,” said Mohammed Rahman, a sophomore at the school. “It was just kids fooling off.”

Rahman added that the students in the video deserved to be suspended. “They went overboard,” he said. “They really need to understand that racism isn’t accepted at school or in general life.”

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  • James

    The rap video is terrible. No question. It’s awful and gross.

    But I think the bigger story is why Councilman Barron and others don’t protest outside district schools throughout the City every day of the year to demand that those schools do better in producing African American and Latino 9th Graders who are able to test into Stuyvesant.

    Instead, they protest outside Tweed to keep these underperforming schools open.

  • District 13 parent

    Are significant numbers of African American and Hispanic students testing into the specialized high schools from the charter schools?

  • Jojo459022

    The school is over 70% Asian (Chinese, Korean, Bangladesh, other South Asian Muslims, etc. etc.). Aren’t those minorities? Even many of the caucasian students are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union countries.

  • Dee Alpert

    Stuyvesant High, past home of a Dean who serially sexually molested young female students, secure in the knowledge that he was protected by other school officials and staff. After all school officials and staff were then forced to take NYC DOE sexual harassment training, another Dean – in flagrant violation of the training he’d just taken – told the NY Times that anonymous allegations re adults molesting students wouldn’t be reported to the Special Commissioner of Investigations because Stuyvesant faculty reputations had to be protected from … . While the molesting Dean was prosecuted and copped a plea, and the one who felt his primary job was to protect faculty’s reputations retired a year later, I’ve heard nothing which indicates that Stuy officials and staff, for the most part, now put students’ welfare first.

    Then there’s the fact that Stuy students no longer take the big, serious national science prizes.

    Sounds to me like the school’s administrators and many staff are – still – relying on the fact that with a student body that smart, adults can sit back and not bother doing the hard work to get seriously involved with the students.

    Same old; same old.

  • astudent

    First off, everyone has to back off of our school! NO matter how well a school is rated or how intelligent the student population is deemed to be there will still be people who aren’t as smart or don’t make the best of decisions. It would be much more logical to address those students and keep stuyvesant out of the picture….the media needs stories like this to gain viewers, they concentrate on stuyvesant when there are schools where students and teachers are beaten and abused on a daily basis

  • a specialized hs student

    I some nyc high school racial jokes are used all the time. They are jokes!! The students using them and the students hearing them all know this, and treat it as a joke. We all appreciate each other and work togather, there is no racial discrimination that I know of in specialized high schools. Most of the students in these schools are from diverse backgrounds and are tolerent of each other. I went to a specialized igh school and I know the culture very well. TIt is the same in all the specailized high schools and I do not think Stuy is any different.

  • Parent

    The student who said the media needs stories like this to gain viewers (that means you, Fox5) hit the nail on the head. Ditto for Charles Barron, who will use any situation where there is even a hint of a race issue to get his face on the news. Will Al Charlatan be next?

  • Stuyvesant Student VS

    Comedy is a way to exploit people, it can go too far, it has in this case, but why is it being brought up now? I am sure these things happen at other schools, I am sure a lot of what was said in the video people actually do think, then why condemn those who just expressed their thoughts. In Stuyvesant there are no metal detectors, while most other schools have them, stereotype? I think so. The media is misusing its power; to get more views and a better story they’re making everything a big deal and at a large scale, they should know that for 100 more views they are hurting one the greatest high schools in the city and all the students in it. Many people ruin their summer studying for the SHSAT and for the media to ruin the schools reputation is making that effort go to waste because its not only within the Stuyvesant community its public.

  • Disgusted New Yorker

    Admittance into the specialized high schools is purely based on performance on the SHSAT. There is no racial factor involved with admittance to Stuyvesant, or any other specialized high school. This is just a news exploit to get attention. How about focusing on other schools in which racial problems are obviously more serious?

  • Guest

    So many Asians are getting into Stuy because they start prepping for the test in 5th grade. They go to these Saturday schools in their communities.

  • Guest

    Is it really the schools not preparing African American and Latino 9th graders for specialized high schools, or is it an issue of poverty, culture and parenting? After all, the public schools are preparing White and Asian kids for the specialized high schools?

  • Stuyvesant Student

    Then I suggest the other minorities do the same so they can score high enough to be given a spot here at Stuy.

  • Iagree

    White people tend to not want to spend their Saturdays in school prepping. They prefer playing sports, socializing, going to plays, spending time with families and friends, relaxing, volunteering, going away for the weekend, listening to music, going to museums, movies, parties, sporting events, reading and living life.

  • Stuyvesant Student

    Media is wack

  • Hlolol

    @Iagree Since when can one person speak for all white people? Also the asian students do live life, go to parties, movies, play sports, etc and still can find time to prep. Don’t make these pathetic excuses bringing others down to justify why only a certain group score high enough to get into a good school.

  • Ashlak

    The community is blowing this out of proportion. It was a joke, and it did not offend the person it was made for. People joke like this ALL THE TIME whether you choose to believe it or not. I am a student at stuy and there is NO RACISM, nor is anyone offended by this. We understand our age group will joke like this. Get over it, it most definately is a case of teens being teens.

  • Samler23

    Why is it that these same public schools can “produce” white and asian students that meet the criteria. It really is a matter of parenting and culture above all.

  • Guest

    Honestly, it pisses me off that as an Asian child, I’ve been bullied and harassed by Black and Latino teenagers in the Upper East Side, yet i am given no sympathy. Being called a Chink and Ching-Chong kid up there, I feel this is case is literally nothing compared to the world. They really need to Shut Their Trap and get moving because this is real life, and real life does not come with a pretty bow.

  • Guest

    I honestly think that the people complaining should just suck it up and move on. Every race gets hit with racism and just because racism against african americans was once a huge thing, it doesn’t mean that it still is. The current PRESIDENT is black. I don’t believe any ASIAN has reached that position yet. Teenagers will be teens and joke about these things, I’m sure that most adults out there have once said a racist comment anyways

  • Anonymous

    These Black and Latino students have spent their entire school careers under the Bloomberg regime, yet their numbers in the specialized high schools – to say nothing of the numbers of Black and Latino teaches in the schools – continue to decline.

    Now, what was that about “the Civil Rights Movement of our time?”

  • Simonegobin

    If find it interesting that these young men used rap as a means to do this. Judging from the video they have spent a lot of time rapping–and (if they are like many teenagers) listening to rappers who are black, and who use the “N” word liberally, and who make comments about other blacks, and women. It stings because it comes from white males. This video would be a non-issue if they were black males. As a teacher I hear bos make racist jokes with each other all the time. Our culture has come to a point when we say mean and racist things to each other and find it acceptable. The foolish lyrics from these boys sound like every other disgusting rap song out there spewing the same kind of nonsense. Stuyvesant HS has nothing to so with this.

  • EFM

    The way you talk, it seems you have something personal against this school.

  • Michael M. (parent still)

    Silly Rabbi, kicks are for Trids.

    When we finish busting the teachers union, and privatizing the schools, civil rights will have been accomplished.

  • Michael M. (parent still)

    So… Obama gets elected with 51% of the vote, and the other 49% are no longer capable of racism.

    Got it.

  • Michael M. (parent still)

    The admissions policy being “color-blind” has nothing to do with the attitudes of the kids admitted.

    My read on this (and I’m white), is that it’s adding insult to injury for the black community to see de facto skewed admissions, and then the ‘tude from those fortunate enough to get in.

    Or do you truly believe the system isn’t skewed for the current outcome?

  • James

    Your theory would hold, Guest, if there were no schools actually preparing low-income students for success in college and places like Stuy. Seeing as how there are a handful of schools in the City that are doing this well, your theory that it can’t be done rings hollow.

    These schools have demonstrated that the issues of poverty, culture (whatever in the world you mean by that), and parenting can be mitigated through really good teaching, longer school days, longer school years, differentiated curricula, and high academic and behavior expectations, just to name a few.

    Sadly, the very schools preparing low-income kids for success are protested by Councilman Barron and others as funneling money away from the schools that aren’t working. These guys seem to want to maintain the status quo WHILE deriding its effects on low-income, African American, and Latino kids. Can’t do that and appear credible (not to mention caring and responsive).

  • James

    Sadly it’s not, Samler23. Not entirely sure what you mean by “culture,” but there are schools in this City that are producing results for low-income kids in preparation for places like Stuyvesant and college DESPITE the socioeconomic circumstances from which they come.

    But you do raise a good point, one that’s often derided by Councilman Barron, the NAACP, and others who usually post angry diatribes on Gotham Schools: There need to be different approaches in education to low-income and non-low-income kids.

    They start in Kindergarten at very different places academically. And to treat them (through a common curriculum, as the City does; through short school days; through short school years; through the same daily schedule that doesn’t necessarily prioritize literacy and math) as if they are the same hobbles kids at the starting block.

  • James

    It’s a really good question, District 13 Parent. I know a lot of the K-8 charters that came on line in the early 2000′s are now just preparing for their first 8th Grade classes. So we haven’t seen a tremendous number entering high school yet. It is to be seen. As for the middle school charters, I don’t think we’ve seen a tremendous number—if any at all

    The many friends of mine who went to Stuy (white, Asian, African American, Latino) all studied their rears off for the entrance exam. So I think the answer is going to be not just good schooling (which is most important), but access to these very expensive test prep courses and resources that seem to be vital in admission to Stuy and other testing schools.

    I wish there were time in the day to do both. (As an important aside: High-income parents often decry test prep in schools, yet they have no problem shelling out cash for their kids to test prep into Stuy and other selective high schools and colleges.)

  • James

    Important point, Parent. But I think the issue that we should all be concerned about is that Stuy and other specialized high schools in no way reflect the demographics of the City schools at large.

    In an ideal world, the racial and socioeconomic percentages of Stuyvesant would look just like that of the City’s public school system. When any and every school in the City can become a feeder school to Stuy regardless of the block it’s on or the ZIP code it’s in is when we know we’ve made our most prestigious school representative of the City.

    I don’t believe we should ever abolish the admission test (and the admission test alone) to get into Stuyvesant. I think we should demand that all City schools be able to produce kids—regardless of their demographic—to be competitive for it.

  • James

    We have a ton more work to do, Mfiorillo. A ton more. And I think Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein would be the first to say that 10 years of reform is a drop in the bucket when trying to reform a system of schools that evolved over a century into what we have today. Movements take ages. No one would claim we’re done.

    I think the original point I was making, though, is still valid: The very schools that hold promise in making a breakthrough with low-income kids are the ones often decried by Councilman Barron.

    And when the Regents hands proposals down to replicate some of the best practices of those schools into the larger system (as they did this week with proposals to make the school day and school year longer), let’s not dismiss them as unfair or unrealistic.

  • Michael Fiorillo

    James,

    Whenever the failures, distortions and manipulations of of the corporate ed deformers are pointed out, the response is the predictable boilerplate of, “Is there more to do? Of course.” They are utterly incapable of accepting responsibility for their destructive behavior, or the accountability they insist upon for others. Like taxes, accountability is for the little people.

    The reality is that “the very schools that hold promise” (presumably you’re taking the deformer party line here and talking about charters), do nothing of the sort, since they do not serve the same populations as public schools: they cherry pick their students, counsel out others, and have nowhere near the same number of students receiving free lunch (not reduced and free lunch, as charter advocates deceptively state), special ed services, ESL
    instruction, are in temporary housing or have interuppted educations.

    They speak deceptively about “the civil right movement of our time,” while overseeing a re-segregation of the schools and teaching profession (which, through their efforts to eliminate tenure and seniority, they are quickly destroying). Take a look at who’s working at Twweed and in the hierarchy of the deformers: for the most part, it’s the blond leading the blond.

    What Bloomberg, Klein and their ilk have been successful at is fragmenting and destabilizing the public schools, diverting resources to private interests, demonizing teachers and their union. Having been their policy and intention all along – despite your test-marketed slogans – they unfortunately have been very successful.

    That success will be judged very cruelly by history

  • kk (parent)

    Michael Fiorillo,

    Once again, you so eloquently and clearly make your point. I wish you had the ear of someone with power!

    I also wonder whether the decline in students of color passing the specialized tests has to with the growth of test prep, focus on literacy (rather than say, literature), etc that James lauds and that has characterized school curricula under Bloomberg/Klein. Maybe the zeal for learning more or getting really into, say, science has been squashed out of children who must spend long days with little or no recess prepping in double literacy periods.

    Also, James, I too got the feeling that you were saying that charter schools (i.e., those schools which Barron decries) are the only one doing disadvantaged kids any favors. While my children are younger (so I have little direct knowledge of middle and high schools), it was my impression that some of the more progressive district schools (such as those that use performance-based assessments) are doing tremendous things for their students. Perhaps you should not be so quick to discount them.

    Finally, while I am not a native New Yorker, my perception is that Stuy has been viewed as less than friendly to children of color for decades. My husband, now in his 40s, chose Brooklyn Tech back then because he felt that Stuy would have been “too snooty” and he wouldn’t have fit in…

  • j uncool

    wait, is not there a first ammendment? i wish i could jail everyone who doesn’t like me. but i can’t. stop crying you spineless socialist whiners, when i think of the rap lyrics from BLACK crappers, this is nothing. keep up the good work boys!

  • j uncool

    how about i critisize some high school “culture”. at some major city high school in philly certain “students” beat up on asian student, and the solution is some “we are the world” committee to make them see the light. new york governor AQUITTS a black adult in a last minute pardon, for killing with GUN a 17 year old HS student. you tell me, who are the REAL hate mongers? FIRST ammendment, LEARN IT LIVE IT LOVE IT! grow the F*** up!

  • j uncool

    my heart pumps bilge water for anyone offended by these fine young artists! go cry to someone who cares, like the chinese government. i don’t have white guilt and i’m not politically going to kiss anyones butt. don’t you people have real work to do, i mean, you council people and school employees?

  • Stuy Alum

    I absolutely agree. Or do what I did: Start prepping at the end of 6th grade/very early 7th grade. I had just over a year to prep and not only got in but scored well enough to have my choice of science classes (Mrs. Manwell’s AT bio class FTW!)

    Seriously, stop complaining the test is unfair. There’s reading, writing skills, logic, and mathematics. These skills are essential for anyone to have and by complaining that the test is racially unfair, they’re just saying that Asians and whites are naturally better at math and reading and that should not be true. Just work hard and maybe you’ll get some results, people.

  • Stuy Alum

    I know what it feels like. When you go to a top school, even the slightest negative information explodes into top “news.” I graduated just a few years ago and experienced the same thing and felt the same way. Don’t worry about the outsiders talking crap about Stuy. You guys are the best and deserve the best. Best of luck with your studies and enjoy Stuyvesant while you can in those 4 short years…

  • Kelliu

    The beat was incredible. If the words were different, it would be a smash hit. Jay-Z or P Diddy should use the beat in a new song for kicks. Awesome beat guys!

  • James

    I just wish all the kids of Bed Stuy, Brownsville, Harlem, East New York…all had the luxury of “choosing Brooklyn Tech over Stuyvesant because Stuyvesant is too snooty.”

    Now, Michael is going to call this “Ivy League TFA-recruitment jargon” that has no positive impact on the lives of low-income kids. But what I know (that he doesn’t—and will never acknowledge) is that I spent my entire day in a classroom filled with students who were 92% FRPL, 12% SPED, and all from a very low-income neighborhood…teaching them Reading (3 periods), Writing, Math, Read Aloud, Science/Social Studies, Fitness (though they went to a fitness teacher), Art (though they went to an Art teacher)…from 7:15 to 4:00…communicating with a range of engaged families (one homeless, one a lawyer, and the rest running the gamut in between)…all at a school that accepted these students through a lottery (which I guess is cherry-picking, though I really don’t know how—Michael will probably say through targeted recruitment)…and my kids, who are in 2nd Grade, are reading at the level of Month One of the 3rd Grade Year, as measured by the TerraNova Exam (nationally normed and measured throughout the years) we took in January as yet another baseline of our success.

    And we do it on the same public dollar—and not a philanthropic cent more—that the traditional district school does down the block.

    Now, Michael (and Councilman Barron) decry this as pure madness. The families of my students cry when their friends can’t get off the waiting list into my school.

    I do not believe that me or my school’s model are the silver bullet. But I do believe we are a part of a multi-variable solution.

    And when one or two of my kids apply to Stuyvesant (after six more years of enjoying good teacher after good teacher—and then an entire year of test prep for the selective high schools) and get in, I will know that we are in fact doing our part to change history.

    Meanwhile, Michael will probably just be churning out more Gotham Schools posts and running for UFT positions.

    Nw, I’m off to prep for another day, call some families, take the 7:30 train to my Ivy League one-bedroom walkup apartment, heat up some dinner, and hit the sack. Peace.

  • James

    I just wish all the kids of Bed Stuy, Brownsville, Harlem, East New York…all had the luxury of “choosing Brooklyn Tech over Stuyvesant because Stuyvesant is too snooty.”

    Now, Michael is going to call this “Ivy League TFA-recruitment jargon” that has no positive impact on the lives of low-income kids. But what I know (that he doesn’t—and will never acknowledge) is that I spent my entire day in a classroom filled with students who were 92% FRPL, 12% SPED, and all from a very low-income neighborhood…teaching them Reading (3 periods), Writing, Math, Read Aloud, Science/Social Studies, Fitness (though they went to a fitness teacher), Art (though they went to an Art teacher)…from 7:15 to 4:00…communicating with a range of engaged families (one homeless, one a lawyer, and the rest running the gamut in between)…all at a school that accepted these students through a lottery (which I guess is cherry-picking, though I really don’t know how—Michael will probably say through targeted recruitment)…and my kids, who are in 2nd Grade, are reading at the level of Month One of the 3rd Grade Year, as measured by the TerraNova Exam (nationally normed and measured throughout the years) we took in January as yet another baseline of our success.

    And we do it on the same public dollar—and not a philanthropic cent more—that the traditional district school does down the block.

    Now, Michael (and Councilman Barron) decry this as pure madness. The families of my students cry when their friends can’t get off the waiting list into my school.

    I do not believe that me or my school’s model are the silver bullet. But I do believe we are a part of a multi-variable solution.

    And when one or two of my kids apply to Stuyvesant (after six more years of enjoying good teacher after good teacher—and then an entire year of test prep for the selective high schools) and get in, I will know that we are in fact doing our part to change history.

    Meanwhile, Michael will probably just be churning out more Gotham Schools posts and running for UFT positions.

    Nw, I’m off to prep for another day, call some families, take the 7:30 train to my Ivy League one-bedroom walkup apartment, heat up some dinner, and hit the sack. Peace.

  • Jenny

    it was a beat they were replaying from youtube…already famous rap called “the way i live”

  • Stuy ’09

    They chose rap because they were satirizing the genre using of the irony of white kids saying racist things that black rappers would say themselves.

    That’s why the video is acceptable in the context in which it was made.

  • Stuy ’09

    The video was joke. It was sent privately to their black female friend, who found it funny so she posted it on her own Facebook. Then, a former Stuyvesant student (not a grad, she dropped out) saw it and posted it on YouTube to draw attention to the video.

    This is why it has been disseminated to so many people, almost all of them who the makers never intended to see it. It was not a case of cyber bullying. It was also not a case of “cyber terrorism”, which is probably the worst phrase you could use. If you want to see something considered terrorism, go to Stuyvesant then walk 4 blocks south. That’s where you’ll find Ground Zero.

    Blowing this satirical joke out of proportion does nothing to draw to the underlying reasons that this school has low percentages of black and Hispanic students. The real issues are deeply rooted into our society and educational system. These four students have done nothing to perpetrate the real issues, and are simply joking with their friend. At Stuy I was friends with many types of people, and it was acceptable for anyone to make fun of anyone’s race. Normally blacks are not derided if they make fun of whites or Asians, and Hispanics are typically okay to make fun of blacks. Stuyvesant students all make fun of each other, which indicates a level of comfort that is probably not present in communities with different racial dynamics.

    Therefore, the reason black students would be likely to feel uncomfortable about racial joking (and I do believe some do) is that there are simply not many other blacks around. So please, don’t go blaming Stuyvesant for having a negative racial environment because it is simply not their fault that the school has so few black and Hispanic students.

  • Mustafa

    Oh come now, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt but even if it was only meant as a private joke, you have to admit that it was a stupid idea and your classmates used really poor judgment.

    Aren’t Stuy students supposed to be some of the brightest in the city? If you want that rep then model that behavior.

  • Stuy ’09

    Obviously it wasn’t the most intelligent thing to do, but look at what happened to them! They got suspended and are now being called bullies and terrorists in the media!

    And Stuyvesant students are in fact the brightest in the city. That’s why my graduating class got 27 kids into Harvard, over 50 into Cornell, and over 100 into NYU. We had an average SAT score of 2100 because we were the brightest.

    Don’t say that all of a sudden Stuyvesant is a school full of idiots because of one lapse in judgment by 4 students in a school of 3200. If you picked an NYC school at random, they would be so many things done each day that are so much worse than what these students did.

  • Mustafa

    I never said Stuy was full of idiots, it would be wrong to generalize based on this instance or even arson man a few years back.

    But, along with your quick assertion that you are indeed the brightest, remember with great power comes great responsibility. I didn’t learn that at Stuy, or any other school for that matter, I learned that from Spider-man 30 years ago.

    There’s something to be said here about a full rounded education, namely core values and common sense in the digital age vs. Tweed’s tendency to mandate teaching towards standardized exams. Your colleagues might have scored high enough on an exam to get into their most desired Ivy however common sense, foresight, and lack of sensitivity was clearly thrown out the window here.

    I’m not trying to pick on you, so don’t take what I’ve written personal. Society tends to make excuses and it’s far too common for people to sidestep responsibility. All I’m saying is that if people want acknowledgment and respect for what they’ve done right then they should also be prepared to apologize when they make a mistake.

  • Ccpi9

    It’s a total lie. Out of all the nyc public schools, one would probably find the least amount of racism in Stuy. Just b/c of a stupid video, some very ignorant people just had to blow it out of proportion. I go to Stuy, and I can tell you that the Black people are not racially mistreated. It’s just that they have so few of them at Stuy that they hang out in their own group or something. I only see up to 5 black people max when I walk in the hallway each day. (I think there’s around 15 in the whole school, or is it 30? idk) An it’s stupid how they try to make it seem like the SHSAT is designed to discriminate against minorities. Everyone gets the misconception that all Stuy kids are rich. I spent only around $400 for an after school prep program in my middle school that offered 12 sessions. And I made it. Instead of wasting your money on clothes / iphones / ipod touches, etc, it could’ve been spent wisely. If you’re not smart enough for it and don’t feel like making an effort, of course you are not going to get in. Blaming the tuition fee and department of ed is just plain self denial.

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