A Flawed System

 

           Spending all 4 years of my high school life in Brooklyn Technical High School were amazing. It was a great experience with lots of learning of course, but also lots of socializing, and opportunities. However, while I was nearing the end of my 4 years at Tech, there was lots of controversy that sparked. It wasn’t about any one person or even the school itself, but about a group of schools. It involved specialized high schools. The problem was the SHSAT. The problem was a lack of diversity.

            In New York City, there are 9 specialized high schools, 8 of which use an admissions test. That’s it, one test called the SHSAT. The SHSAT is an exam with an english, and math section. Lots of the questions aren’t typical questions, and only test prep can genuinely help you do really well. Unfortunately, test prep usually costs hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars, therefore many minority families can’t invest in test prep. It doesn’t matter how well you do in your middle school classes, your attendance, your effort, nothing matters except that one test. That’s a huge problem when it comes to the most prestigious high schools in the city.

            An article was posted on the China Global Television Network website (CGTN). It is titled “Asians in New York protest proposed changes to school admissions to increase diversity.” To begin breaking down this article, we should first realize this is coming from a Chinese run network. Because is it a Chinese run network, it makes sense that they back the current way of admissions when the majority of Asians in specialized high schools and alumni are Chinese. This article was specifically composed because the community of Asians in specialized high schools felt threatened. Their goal is to convince the general public that have little to no knowledge on the topic so they have a larger supporting force.

            Right away, this strikes me as a very bias source of information. They are the community in danger of losing lots of their seats so anything you would read from this would of course be swayed a certain way. The article uses many ways to convince the general public to get a larger following and support on the topic. Throughout the article, they use language like “dumb down” and “lacking fundamental math and reading skills.” This is very smart and powerful language that is used to make it seem as if it would be a very bad thing to change the admissions system. If someone isn’t well informed about the topic, this is a very successful and believable technique. Another technique used in the article is the acknowledgement of the problems the opposition side is talking about which is diversity and minority groups being under represented. The article states, “When we say keep the test, we’re not saying we don’t care about black and Latino kids. We do.” Saying this is a way to persuade readers that they didn’t completely ignore any of the opposition’s arguments.

            Those were just some of the ways the article tried to convince the casual reader on the topic, and truthfully, it’s easy to see how the techniques used could be successful. However, I’m a former student from a specialized high school, and I can see through those techniques. I can say that the SHSAT isn’t enough. There were lots of people in my school that got in because they studied the test and not fundamental skills in math and english. Although it is harsh to admit, there were many kids that didn’t deserve to be in the school, and they were possibly even lucky on the test day.

            There were some problems I had with the article. People supporting the SHSAT kept stressing that K-8 needs to be fixed for the problem to be resolved. In the article, they even claim that changing the SHSAT as the only requirement is a “superficial fix” when it’s really not. The kids that would potentially be admitted would still have to work hard to get in. They wouldn’t be granted a spot because they’re a minority. Another problem I had was that keeping the SHSAT would fester into a class problem. The middle class would have the upper hand, and that’s something the article chose not to mention. Test preps are expensive and the exam is hard to pass without them. Many aren’t privileged to have different tutoring and study programs already established in their communities. These are just some things the article rhetorically chose to leave out.

            Again, I’m a former specialized high school student with an open mind. However, just because I went to the school doesn’t means I agree with the admissions process. I see it as an extremely unfair and flawed system. I’ve met people who have personally said they believe they got lucky on the exam, that they guessed. Now imagine that seat going to a minority student that has amazing grades, but didn’t have access to test prep. That’s how it should be and that’s why I’m arguing this point and analyzing articles based off of this to expose the truth to readers.