Call to Desegregate New York City Specialized High Schools Met with Opposition from Asian-American Community.

 

On Tuesday, June 3, 2018, protests from the Asian Community began. They are protesting a proposal for implementation set to begin in 2019 by New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. This proposal calls for New York City to scrap its current testing practice of a specialized test for entry into some of New York City’s Elite High Schools to diversify the student body with more black and Latino children. Right now, the elite high schools are largely encompassed by Asian students. The mayor is focused on the fact that out of 5,000 students admitted into these elite schools, only 172 students were black, and 298 were Latino. Some students just missed the cut offline regarding the scoring of such tests. The mayor feels that those students who narrowly missed the acceptance score should still have a chance to attend the elite schools. Due to this, the mayor reasoned and emphatically stated that “The test has to go.”

 

Protesting Asians have labeled their proposal racist and chanted, “Keep the Test! Keep the Test.” Some even held up signs which read “Keep the SHSAT” and “I Have A dream.” Which is a little ironic since it is a quote made famous by Martin Luther King Jr., A black civil rights activist, yet the test is designed to keep black students out of obtaining a seat at the same school the parents are fighting to keep them out. An alumnus of Bronx Science High School, an elite school in New York City that would be affected by this testing change, is Manhattan Councilman Ben Kallos. He is adamantly against de Blasio’s proposed plan. He is quoted as saying, “The fact that fewer black and Hispanic kids [are] getting into these schools is not the failure of the schools,” Kallos argued. “It’s the failure of the public education system that has been failing them since day one.” Undoubtedly everyone will be affected by this change.