Legislators are considering changing the standards of the SHSAT exam, which is the only way to get into Brooklyn Tech, one of the eight elite schools in the city.
A group of legislators has been pushing Albany to increase diversity among the specialized high schools in New York City. On paper, it seems like a great idea for future applicants.
However, to achieve this, the legislators want to change how students are accepted to these prestigious and competitive schools.
“I don’t want them changing the test that gets to Stuy or Tech,” said Kevin Lin, a student that attends Brooklyn Tech.
In their proposal, legislators explained how instead of a single score in the Specialized High School Test (SHSAT) being the determining factor of whether students are accepted or not, there should be multiple factors taken into account. These factors include classroom grades, attendance, and scores from state exams.
This concept seems to make sense because it could broaden the ethnic and racial makeup of the elite schools.
After all, Asians compose about 54% of all students in the eight specialized high schools with whites second at around 30% of the student body. But in New York, Blacks and Hispanics are the two dominant races, combining for 70% of the students attending public schools in the five boroughs.
That’s a stark difference compared to the same races in the students attending these elite schools as blacks and Hispanics were offered seats at a measly 5% and 7%, respectively.
But, if the proposal does go into effect, the special in specialized high school will be nonexistent since anyone could be accepted.
“If people want to get into a specialized high school, they should work for it and the admission test demonstrates if you have the mentality to do so,” said Brandon Chang, a student that attends Stuyvesant.
Also, classroom grades can be biased sometimes because some teachers pick “favorites,” that is they prefer one student to the other. As a result, the “favorite” gets a better grade than the other person.
“The SHSAT is a standardized test that acts like a barrier between the students who have the brainpower to get in and the students who just have high grades from their teachers,” Kevin Lin continued.
Instead of weakening the standards, legislators should find other ways to broaden the racial distribution while maintaining the same high level of excellence.
According to Brooklyn Tech’s school newspaper, The Survey, the alumni suggests increasing expectations and toughening the middle school curriculum in order for middle school students to be able to transition well to high school. They also stressed tutoring as an opportunity for students to keep up and be on the same page.
When the city’s middle schools undergo a makeover and expectations are raised, the number of Blacks or Hispanics in some of the best middle schools should increase. As a result, there would be a better distribution among the races in the city.
According to a news source called ibTimes, many students including Blacks and Latinos weren’t even aware about these testing procedures.
Because of this, a good idea is that all eighth graders should be able to register online automatically in the admission process. Then, they should include an opt-out button for students who don’t want to attend these schools. That way, students are more informed on these competitive schools.
All in all, the SHSAT exam is the only fair way to get accepted because every accepted student has to earn his or her spot in one of the eight elite schools.