Stuyvesant's Case

The building near Ground Zero

Stuyvesant students at dismissal

STUYVESANT'S OPEN HOUSE for incoming students was held last week, and because Mom was in Albany doing field work, I had to take an early day from work to accompany Sara to the event.  We did not drive, because I wanted to show her how to take the M subway from nearby Ridgewood and navigate the circuitous underground transfer to the 1, 2 or 3 train at the 14th Street station, and to make mental notes of signs and structures inside the labyrinth for her to use as guides when transferring. It was a challenge, considering that it was rush hour and we had not taken the subway for quite sometime, but the excited kid swore that she got everything in her head, although I knew that this exercise had to be done many times more in the summer. Up on Chambers Street, we encountered a line of students and parents that extended from the Stuyvesant bridge over West Street all the way to the gate of Borough of Manhattan Community College, an avenue block east. And seeing the faces of the students that were coming our way after dismissal, I saw for myself what I had been hearing all along: that Stuyvesant is overwhelmingly Asian.

Recent media reports say that Asian-Americans account for almost three-fourths of the enrollment at Stuyvesant High School, one of the city's eight specialized, elite public high schools that strictly use test scores as basis for admission. "Each November, over 28,000 eight and ninth graders take the two-and-a-half hour Specialized High Schools Admission Test, and roughly 800 students, or 2.8% of applicants, are accepted to Stuyvesant each year," Wikipedia says. Of this small number of successful applicants, over 70% are Asian, Sara happily being one of them this year. But getting into Stuyvesant is not an easy job. Sara had to give up many weekends for months to take SHSAT test preparation classes at Kweller Prep, doing writing assignments and practice tests on top of her regular I.S. 73 homework for many days. We spent close to $5K of our savings on sessions that began as early as the fall of 2014 and ended in an intensive one-week after school session days before the October 2015 test.

There is reason why any forward-thinking NYC midschooler would like to fight for space in this public high school. It is considered one of the best in the nation (along with Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech in the city). It has produced four Nobel laureates and notable alumni like Attorney General Eric Holder and Presidential Advisor David Axelrod. In 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that Stuyvesant sent 67, or 9.9% of its 674 seniors to eight selective colleges: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams College, Pomona College, Swarthmore College, U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins. In its 2010 progress report, the NYC Department of Education assigned it the highest possible grade of "A."

But there is a problem here, at least according to people like Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, who have called for a revamp of admission policies and procedures of NYC's specialized high schools. Asians represent less than 14% of the city's entire public school student body, which means that they are disproportionately represented at Stuyvesant by about five times. Four decades ago, Asians were only 6% of Stuyvesant's student body. On the other hand, whites, including Jewish students whose numbers made them a prominent group at the school during the 1970s when they comprised 79% of the student body, now represent less than a quarter of it. And last year, only 5% of students accepted at Stuyvesant were black and 7% were Hispanic.                                                                                                                                                               
"We must do more to reflect the diversity of our city in our top-tier schools," Farina told the Daily News. "We will be looking at ways to address the gap that has left so many of our black and Latino students out of specialized high schools." Mayor de Blasio echoed this at a news conference: "these schools are the jewels in the crown for our public school system. This is a city blessed with such a diversity. Our schools, especially our particularly exceptional schools, need to reflect that diversity." His biracial son Dante having attended Brooklyn Tech, de Blasio has vowed to change the admission procedures, but any proposal he makes is subject to approval by the state legislature in Albany, which made the single-test admission requirement law in 1971.

Academics are deeply divided on whether testing should be the sole basis of admission to elite high schools, and the debate is intense. Critics blame the low representation of blacks and Hispanics at Stuyvesant and other specialized high schools on their lack of access to test preparation academies and tutoring classes; many, according to them, are not even aware of the testing procedures and preparation, and many more cannot afford the cost. Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine says that admission testing is unfair to economically disadvantaged blacks and Hispanics. "Access to unequal resources will result in unequal outcomes," she says. "Until we can provide adequate resources for all New York City children to prepare for admission tests, we will continue to see racial disparities in admissions to schools like Stuyvesant." But Reginald Richardson, a high school principal, said that the root problem is not the testing; it is the poor quality of education in the elementary and middle schools which do not make black and Hispanic students competitive when it comes to specialized high school admissions tests.

I favor the argument made by Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College sociology professor and author of Seeing Cities Change: Local Culture and Class. "If Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina want to change admission policies at elite high schools, it would defeat the schools' very purpose. It would be better to improve the local schools and the life conditions of those who are disadvantaged. They could also make sure that all schools provide the best education possible for all students. But this is not likely, because it means paying higher taxes to help other peoples' children. New York City and Americans in general are no longer as generous when it comes to helping those in need, especially as the composition of those in need have become less "European."

And I completely agree with the blunt, from-the-gut point made by Guofang Li, associate professor of second language and literacy education at Michigan State University, who does not believe admission-by-testing is unfair to anyone, and says that applying affirmative action-type policies to public school admissions would be disastrous: "In a culture where Asians are still a minority group--and often marginalized in society--tests are actually providing a good pathway for Asians to get opportunities like attending a good school with good resources, which can help them get into a better university and better employment in the future. Stuyvesant is diverse, just with different racial ratios. Normally, most schools in suburban areas are 75% white and 25% other ethnic groups, while urban schools may have a 75% black or Hispanic population and 25% other ethnic groups." She notes that such school racial compositions are accepted by most people as "diverse," but when Asians form the dominant ethnic group (as in Stuyvesant), suddenly questions and complaints arise. "I do think people have a perception of what a diverse school has to be, but if Asians are in good schools, they have a problem with it."

Also read Kristin Iversen's "Only Ten Black Students Were Offered A Spot At Stuyvesant High School This Year, But Is This Really A Problem?"   Thanks to Palash Ghosh for the quotes.

In the end, we went home tired but assured of how great the school and its programs were, demographics aside:
 

Waters Of March

WHEN FROST WAKES UP, yawns, and stretches into trickles that will feed mighty streams, there also emerge other beginnings that will turn into accomplishments by the end of the year. First, it is great to discover that my cold hardy needle palm Rhapidophyllum hystrix had survived its first winter, including blizzard Jonas with its wind chill factor of fifteen degrees below zero. Contrary to the sound of its name, it is a very slow growing shrub, and it makes me wonder how much taller it will be this time next year. Next, my yearly uniform allowance finally appeared in my customs account, and I ordered a couple of pairs of running shoes to use in the warm months to come. Finally, Sara got a letter of acceptance into Stuyvesant, that elite specialized New York City public high school ranked as one of the nation's best. Her everyday commute from Maspeth to Manhattan next schoolyear will be a challenge, but fall is a long way away and I'm sure we will figure something out. Townsend Harris as a second choice ain't too bad either. Ah, the surprises of spring!