The best public high schools in New York City (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech) have one of the most most egalitarian and meritocratic admissions systems in the United States. There is a test for admission, and only the students with the highest scores are admitted. Nothing else matters. This is how it is done in many of the world’s schools, particularly in Asia, but, unfortunately, not in the US, where diversity seen by some as a great value even though one is born into a “diversity class” and cannot achieve or change this status. Every year when the statistics come out for next year’s freshman classes at these high schools, it shows little, if any, increase in the number of students who self-identify as Hispanic and African-American:
Lack of Diversity Persists in Admissions to New York City’s Elite High Schools
In the article, at least, no one is saying the test is biased against certain socially constructed backgrounds. The test itself is the same stringency for all its takers. The only advantage examinees can acquire is to take (and take to heart through hard study) prep classes geared to doing well on the exam. If you don’t study hard, then you don’t do well on the exam. Nothing else is taken into consideration, including legacy admissions that unfairly favor the children of alumni. It is very rare in the US for an institution to maintain such high standards without eventually submitting to political pressure to lower standards to achieve a socially desirable end. It is hoped that the New York State legislature does not water down the exam or entry standards for these meritocratic and superb high schools. This is one time when the dysfunctional nature of Albany legislative politics bodes well for nothing being done, which is the best possible outcome.
mccarthyism.com 