WHAT
YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York
You should know that our Black and
Hispanic children have little or no opportunity to be accepted and enrolled in
the best public high schools in the City of New York.
According to an article written by Carl
Campanile, “DROP IN BLACK, LATINO KIDS AT BEST SCHOOLS,” that appeared in the March
5, 2016 edition of the New York Post, Asian and White students in
New York City’s public school system are being treated better and given greater
chances than our Black and Hispanic students to attend our best high schools.
You should already know that throughout
the City of New York, there are schools called Specialized High Schools. Among
them are: Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech, Staten
Island Tech, High School of Math at City College, HS of American Studies at
Lehman College, Queens HS for Science at York College, and Brooklyn Latin
School.
Those “Ivy League” Public High Schools
are packed with Asian and White students with a minimal quota of Black and
Hispanic students.
Mr. Campanile wrote: “Blacks (27
percent) and Hispanics (40 percent) combined account for more than two-thirds
of city public-school students, but only 8.9 percent of those kids are admitted
to the top high schools … The dearth of minorities in each magnet school was
startling.”
It is so unfair and irresponsible for
any of our leaders to fight against Charter Schools and further deny the
excellent educational opportunities that Black and Hispanic children receive in
New York City’s Charter Schools.
When you compare the enrollment of Black
and Hispanic children in New York City’s Charter Schools to New York’s “Ivy
League” Public High Schools, those figures are an embarrassing contrast to each
other.
You can see that about 90% of the Charter School students are
Black and Hispanic, and less than 10% of the “Ivy League” Public High Schools
are Black and Hispanic.
According to the NY Post, the NYC
Department of Education sources show the following acceptance rates for New
York’s “Ivy League” High Schools:
Out of the 8,062 Asian test
takers, 2,741 (34%) were accepted.
Out of the 4,729 White test
takers, 1,386 (29.3%) were accepted.
Out of the 6,070 Hispanic test
takers, 320 (5.3%) were accepted.
Out of the 5,914 Black test
takers, 210 (3.6%) were accepted.
As you can see, it is nearly impossible
for Black and Hispanic students to get accepted into these “Ivy League” Public
High Schools. But we all know that more than 90% of Black and Hispanic
children enrolled as students in our Charter Schools are given educational
opportunities to succeed and compete in college and in the world.
My suggestion to my Black and Hispanic
colleagues in government who fight against Charter Schools is to take a close
look at these statistics and realize how detrimental their actions really are.
They should stop opposing the quality
educational opportunities that Charter Schools provide for our Black and
Hispanic children and instead, concentrate their energies and efforts to make
sure that the "Ivy League" Public High Schools give Black and
Hispanic children the same opportunities that they give others.
I am Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz, and
this is what you should know.
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