As a result of preparing for and attending a highly-selective New York City public high school, I can reflect and say that the process to get in seemed more about learning how to take the SHSAT as opposed to learning pure subject material. I agree that specialized high schools should have some selective measure of admitting students, for it they do not, then what would make the school special or elite rather? Floyd M. Hammack describes two different ways in which “rules for access to highly valued public educational credentials have developed,” in his article Paths to Legislation or Litigation for Educational Privilege: New York and San Fransisco Compared (Hammack, 372). I agree with Hammack when he writes that “all educational credentials have not been created equal, nor do all citizens have equal access to educational opportunities” (Hammack, 372). This is also a topic that we have discussed quite a few times in class, specifically pointing out that children living in less privileged area with less income and less access to educational opportunity fall victims to these selection processes.
Before entering this class, I had no idea how seriously admission reforms were taken. This article more so opens my eyes by discussing the steps that New York and San Fransisco public high schools have taken to get to where they are today. I did not know that there was this much racism involved with exclusive schools. I did not know that “hiring ‘appropriate’ teachers” based on race was a thing (Hammack, 379). I was also unaware of the situation in Lowell High school where the Chinese American parents argued that it was unfair that their children have to score higher than any other racial group in order to be admitted. This specific case is interesting to me because it is something I have wondered about. In schools like Stuyvesant, that are predominantly asian, how does the method of admissions account for who it accepts? I have heard of admissions that require different scorings for race, and although one would think it is more fair for the races/ethnic groups that don’t have as many opportunity, it is also unfair to hold the races who do have opportunities to much higher standards.
Hammack’s comparative history of exclusive public high schools in New York and San Fransisco has deepened my view and understanding of how truly difficult it is to come up with an admissions process that guarantees fair entry to each and every ethnic group. I think that not considering race while admitting students was a good step for Judge Orrick to rule in San Fransisco; however, this rule also makes it more difficult to racially balance a school, because if some ethnic groups have less opportunities then they are less likely to do well and be admitted and then the school will mostly be filled of the ethnic group that has more opportunities and dominates the entrance exam (or whatever form of admittance is required). Today Lowell High school just requires grade point averages from seventh grade; meanwhile, New York specialized high schools require just an SHSAT score. Is there a way to get underrepresented and overrepresented ethnic groups to balance out? Perhaps different approaches to changing methods of admittance are not enough and we need to think more outside the box.
Hi Asimina,
Thanks for your response. Like you, I am also very interested in the high school admission policy in San Francisco according to the article by Hammack. The specialized high school admission process in San Francisco represents a trade-off between equality and diversity. “Equality” means that the scores to get into specialized schools should be the same to all races; “diversity” means that every racial population should have an equal representation in specialized high schools. In this case, it is impossible to satisfy everybody. The same thing happened to a lot of cities other than San Francisco. The busing policy we discussed during previous classes is also very controversial because some people thought it had positive outcomes while others thought it only made desegregation worse. Trade-off also exists in Kafka’s piece. While our group discussed whether smaller specialized schools are better than larger schools, some group members mentioned that although small-school system means more resources and attention to each student, it can increase the cost of education significantly. Some of the group members also mentioned that they came from a big specialized high school with over 5,000 students, but they were always given enough resources and attention. Therefore, it is very difficult to be entirely certain about whether the smaller-school system will be efficient enough to outpace its underlying costs.
What I’ve realized from all the readings we’ve done so far is that most of the times the government came out with so many policies, but the outcomes of the policies were entirely different from what we expected. Designing and executing a new policy are not different than operating an unprecedented surgery. It can save people’s lives but at the same time, it can also ruin their lives.
Thanks for these posts. I’m glad that these readings are getting you to weigh different goals and values. Another way to think about this is, do we genuinely think that there are only a few Black and Latino students across the city who could do well at the specialized high schools? And if the answer is no, then is there a way to find and admit a diverse population of high achieving students to these schools?