Most New York City public schools offer a “gifted and talented” program for aspiring students. Annual performance tests are offered to identify children who are underperforming in standard disciplines. Those who meet the requirements start in advanced training programs with more demanding curricula, making it easier for them to access better universities. The programs are open to everyone and cost nothing extra, so all families have the opportunity to try to get their children in.
Unfortunately for Gotham’s parents, the results have not met the expectations of the awakened crowd led by the city government. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and the school’s chancellor, Richard Carranza, have repeatedly complained that the testing program is “unfair” because students who finish the program “do not reflect the diversity of the city’s population.” . In other words, there are not enough black and Hispanic students in the advanced programs. So how does the brain trust City Hall to “fix” this problem? Easy as cake. They will eliminate the entrance tests. (CBS New York)
A major change is approaching the “gifted and talented” programs for New York City students.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools chancellor Richard Carranza say the city will begin eliminating the entrance test.
Critics have said the composition of the programs does not reflect the diversity of the city.
The Chancellor led to Twitter to try and paint some lipstick on this pig.
Talented and talented programs serve a small percentage of children, but we know many more @NYCSchools the students are exceptional. We need to move away from the test and develop a system that reimagines academic and enrichment programming for our most exceptional students.
– Chancellor Richard A. Carranza (@DOEChancellor) January 13, 2021
So you will go to “reimagine academic and enrichment programming for our most outstanding students? What does that mean? You really can’t have an advanced training program without having a way to identify students who are really advanced and who could thrive in a more difficult educational environment. Aside from location testing, how do you propose to do this?
Blasio’s mayor has been facing gifted and talented programs for years, but it’s always been a sticky issue for him to try to handle. The problem is that the “lack of racial diversity” he likes to complain about doesn’t break normally. If it was just a case where most of the program places were going to end up for white students, I could just play the race card and step on the programs. Unfortunately for them, that is not the case. Year after year, most of the seats have been for Asian students.
The difference in results is particularly noticeable when looking at scores per capita. Asians make up only 14.1 percent of the city’s population, well behind black, Hispanic, and white residents. And yet its students outperform the rest by a wide margin. Therefore, this greatly deprives Blasio of the opportunity to play the race card. And if it eliminates the testing program, it will cut off one of the city’s minority populations in a massively disproportionate way.
Unfortunately for students who will be most impacted, when Democratic politicians talk about minorities, they almost always forget about Asians. According to their minds, the word “minority” only applies to black and Hispanic residents, although both outnumber Asians in all communities except a few localized ones.
So, if you are going to end the admission testing system, how do you replace it with something that produces the desired demographic result? If it just turns out to be some kind of lottery, why have an advanced curriculum? You will not pick up the most advanced students at random. Also, how fair is it for kids? If a child who fails to score well on the placement tests suddenly finds himself immersed in a significantly more advanced program, he is likely to go into the fight. Then you have to start them back to the regular school curriculum or move the advanced class to the point where they can pass. If you follow this last route, you have eliminated the advantage of having a talented and gifted program.
This is simply more a sign of virtue from the Blasio administration and the racial madness of the colony. All they will do is further erode New York City’s public school system and make it even more difficult for children in college. But obviously, that’s a small price to pay when you try to make it look like you’re really going to fight racism, I guess.