Nu OriginsEditor’s Note: Black is capitalized just like Asian, Hispanic, and Arab. It’s a proper noun and not solely describing one’s skin color.
Students of color agree with New York Senator for District 11 John Liu, the standard admissions test should stay.
Liu is a believer in the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). While opponents of this position would say it meant to enroll more Blacks and Hispanics in specialized high schools, the students themselves say the SHSAT is not at fault.
Graduating students at the Bronx High School of Science were vocal about keeping the SHSAT.
Blacks And Hispanics Need To Work Harder
Although Black and Hispanic students represent almost two-thirds of students citywide, only 10 percent are in these elite schools.
But according to some students of color at BHSS, the blame for the lack of Blacks and Hispanics in special schools is a combination of students not working hard and the school system failing.
Stephen Ogunbiyi, a freshman at BHSS, thinks schools should promote their existing SHSAT prep resources because no one at his former middle school knew this opportunity existed.
“I really don’t believe that they should get rid of it,” Ogunbiyi said. “[poorer schools] should create a better system where they can get access to books and stuff.”
“When I was taking the test, I was in the junior program,” Ogunbiyi said. “But I was the only person at my [middle] school who had access to the program. Yeah, no one knew about it.”
Ogunbiyi told Nu Origins visiting students would take advantage of his school’s junior program rather than the students who attend there.
Lillian Perez, a graduating senior at BHSS, told Nu Origins that schools and students both have to strive for excellence.
Bronx High School of Science Graduate Justin Lawrence
“People working in schools, you have to encourage students to do better,” Perez said. “[Students] have to put the effort into themselves.”
Chancellor Richard Carranza, who’s Mexican, has a race-based agenda. Carranza is a transplant from Florida. His plans for inclusion are relying too much on social justice for most fellow politicians’ taste. Detractors call him divisive for pitting different races against each other over racial factors.
He claims his colleagues would prefer him to that he doesn’t mention race issues and fall in line.
de Blasio’s Plan Is Racist?
Mayor Bill de Blasio last year’s plan to diversify specialized high schools didn’t go well with the Asian community, including Liu.
The mayor and chancellor want to eliminate the SHSAT in favor of admitting the top 7 percent of middle schoolers.
While Liu is open to suggestions to diversifying schools, it’s apparent he has no interest in test-free admissions.
He called de Blasio and Carranza’s plan racist because it excludes conversations from the Asian community.
Perhaps de Blasio’s inspiration for scrapping the SHSAT came from his son Dante. Dante, who is biracial, claims the SHSAT is fostering racism at Brooklyn Tech, one of the eight schools requiring the test.
In his Daily News Op-Ed, Dante details how the school doesn’t do enough to accommodate specific needs for Blacks or Hispanics.
