The Dilemma of Diversity

Black students make up approximately a quarter of NYC students but only represent a fraction of a percent of Stuyvesant’s student body. Hispanics are similarly underrepresented in the status quo, making up a paltry two percent of Stuyvesant’s student body despite representing half of the overall NYC student body.

The negative effects racial filtering has on Blacks and Hispanics are clear: schools dominated by Whites and Asians have graduation rates a full ten percent higher than those dominated by Blacks and Hispanics, demonstrating a startling achievement gap. The detriment to Whites and Asians is less obvious, with Whites and Asians often viewing affirmative action programs as harming academic achievement. However, greater racial integration in NYC schools would benefit every student by increasing cultural and racial awareness necessary in modern workplaces.

For the first time since the founding of America, a majority of its K-12 public school students are minorities. The effects of this demographic shift will be lasting, meaning that both the workforce and overall U.S. population will no longer be dominated by Whites. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important that students are exposed to and develop healthy attitudes towards other races to facilitate their working and living together. In one survey of hundreds of major corporations, 96 percent of the surveyed businesses stated that being “comfortable working with colleagues, customers, and/or clients from diverse cultural backgrounds” was necessary for a job.

Racial integration offers the antidote to racism and poor cultural understanding that can fester in schools without diversity. In a study of students in Louisville, Kentucky, over 83 percent of Black graduates believed that their racially integrated schools were necessary for later success, and 77 percent of their White counterparts agreed. Stuyvesant is currently the polar opposite of diverse, potentially hurting Stuyvesant students in the eyes of employers looking for racial acceptance.

For critics of Stuyvesant’s low racial diversity, its admissions process is a lightning rod for criticism, and understandably so. Only one test, the SHSAT, is used to determine the fate of each and every applicant, not taking into consideration a myriad of factors such as grades, achievements, and economic struggles which activists believe might help the cases of minority students who cannot afford test preparation. While these suggested answers are easy ones, they are not the correct ones. A study published by NYU’s Research Alliance for New York City Schools suggests that the current admissions criteria are not the root cause of unequal racial representation in specialized high schools such as Stuyvesant.

In fact, the study found that taking into account criteria such as grades and attendance would have a minimal or even negative effect on racial diversity. And while Blacks and Hispanics of equal academic achievement to their White and Asian counterparts were found to be around seven percent less likely to receive admission offers, only the policy of admitting the top performers of each New York City middle school into Stuyvesant was found to have a significant impact in increasing racial inclusivity. However, such a policy would lower Stuyvesant’s overall level of academic achievement because students in highly competitive middle schools would lose out to similarly performing students in less competitive schools. The minimal effect of most so-called reforms to Stuyvesant’s admission policy indicate that the issue is not with admissions, but rather with a deeper flaw in the NYC school system.

This systemic issue quickly reveals itself when comparing test data with racial demographics. On both the 2016 eighth grade English and math state tests, underrepresented minority groups scored an average of almost 30 percentage points lower than Whites and Asians. This gap starts early—Blacks and Hispanics in third grade already receive lower scores on their state tests than Whites and Asians. Stuyvesant’s woefully skewed racial demographics reveal themselves to be not a flaw with admissions, but a reflection of broader social and economic issues that have left Blacks and Hispanics lagging behind their peers.

Racial disparities begin in elementary school, with The New York Times reporting that 53 percent of schools are at least 80 percent Black or Hispanic. With Black and Hispanic-dominated neighborhoods tending to be poorer, zoned schools within them tend to be less funded as well. This de facto segregation continues in middle school, where the rate of heavily black and hispanic schools increases to 61 percent. And as a study by the Center for New York Affairs found, the top 45 middle schools in New York City accounted for 60 percent of specialized high school students; the vast majority of these schools were dominated by Whites and Asians.

However, socioeconomic discrepancies are not enough to explain the wide racial disparities exhibited by our school system. Percentage-wise, more Asian families are considered under the poverty level than Blacks or Hispanic ones; nonetheless, they dominate specialized high schools, possibly due to greater emphasis on education. The exact reasons why Black and Hispanic students lag behind their White and Asian peers so heavily are still unclear, although the historic segregation, discrimination and police brutality faced mostly by Blacks and Hispanics likely plays a major role. However, until the underlying racial gap is bridged, Stuyvesant will remain impoverished of diversity.

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution for bringing equality to a school system that has seen segregation in one form or another for decades. As Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, “We cannot change the basic reality of housing in New York City.” However, the first step to solving this gross injustice that harms both disadvantaged and specialized high school students is to recognize its existence rather than obscure it by blaming specialized high schools’ admissions process.

The second is to increase community outreach within disadvantaged communities and inform parents of the value of getting involved in their children’s education. Currently, disadvantaged school districts often lack resources like counselors that inform parents and students of opportunities such as the SHSAT and supplementary test preparation programs like SHSI. Only by increasing awareness of these programs can disadvantaged students hope to get into desegregated schools that offer escape from an endless cycle of poverty. We can no longer tolerate a system that leaves the majority of our students behind.