Legacy Media and New York City High School Admissions
A disproportionately small number of Black and Hispanic students received admission offers to New York City’s elite public high schools for the upcoming academic year, continuing a pattern of racial and ethnic gaps that has existed for years despite promises by elected officials to address the divide.
About 62 percent of the students in the city’s public schools are Black or Hispanic. But at its eight most prestigious high schools, about 10 percent of the students in the incoming freshman class are expected to be Black or Hispanic, roughly the same as last year. About 80 percent of the seats went to Asian and white students.
At Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, often considered the most selective of the city’s specialized high schools, three of the 777 offers were made to Black students, and 21 were for Hispanic students, together representing a nearly one-third decline from the previous freshman class. One Black student was admitted to Staten Island Technical High School.
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“About 19 percent of all public school students are Asian, but they received 57 percent of the offers for the specialized schools for the fall.”
In other words, white kids make up 19 percent of the NYC schools – and 23 percent of the students at the best schools. They’re barely overrepresented.
This is not about racism, it’s the opposite, it’s about Asian kids outcompeting everyone else on a one-shot exam that requires intelligence, preparation, and, ideally, parental support. The Times ITSELF admits the truth, calling the test:
“a grueling assessment of students’ mastery of math and English that rewards multistep problem-solving skills and time management.”
