WHAT YOU’RE NOT GONNA DO [VOX]
This weekend, I’ve spent the majority of my Internet time swatting detractors of my latest piece on Vox about the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Here, an excerpt:
Essentially, these schools enshrined into law the right to ignore school performance, grades, interviews, standardized state exams, or any other qualification in favor of a test that rarely aligns with the standards they learn in school, tacitly keeping these schools out of reach for under-resourced students and schools. The specialized high schools continue to exemplify why New York City has the most segregated school system in the country.
As I sifted through the books in my collection and the articles I had laid out in my browser, I stopped and asked if it was all worth it. The last time I stated my opinion on the SHSAT, eugenists plowed through my pieces with conjecture and made-up statistics. It’s been years. The voters voted for sweeping change. The same issues persist.
Except now there’s people who decided to look up my school and point out that our schools has “no 4s” and don’t generate the type of kids that would necessarily apply for the SHSAT. Said another way, this SHSAT-passing private-public school graduate went to teach at a school in need.
Right.
None of these qualifiers undermine my argument as a “winner” of these tests but it’s worth restating the dedication it takes to do the classroom work in a neighborhood with less resources in a school CONTINUE READING: What You're Not Gonna Do [Vox] | The Jose Vilson
