Asian-American New Yorkers Rally in Opposition to Reform of Elite Specialized High Schools

Mayor Bill de Blasio triggered an outcry from New York City's Asian-American community when he unveiled a proposal to change the admissions policy for the city's elite specialized high schools, which the mayor said did not offer an “equal chance” to black and Latino students.

Two-thirds of students admitted to the specialized high schools are Asian, even though two-thirds of New York City public school students are black and Latino. It's a dynamic which de Blasio says betrays an unfair advantage for those who are aware of test prep programs and willing to pay for them.

But to many in the city's Asian-American community, the test represents a fair system which offers admission to the most qualified students, regardless of their race.

“There is no doubt a faction of the Asian-American community who have a record of outperforming all other groups including whites,” said Wesley Yang, author of the forthcoming book, The Souls of Yellow Folk. “so there is a natural interest in that group to have a strict meritocracy because they're going to do better at it.”

The mayor’s proposal to make offers of admission to the specialized high schools to the best students at middle schools across the city would put upend the well-trodden path that so many Asian-American students have taken to enter the city's most elite educational institutions. Many Asian parents are concerned with questions left unanswered in the proposal.

“What does it mean for the new people coming in from highly-achieving middle schools?" asked Mandy Wong, the mother of two students who landed spots in specialized high schools.

She has joined a series of demonstrations at City Hall to express frustration over a plan that would dramatically impact Asian-Americans — without their input.

“To exclude impacted communities from such discussions, or to pit them against one another, is not leadership.” said Congresswoman Grace Meng, a Stuyvesant alum, who added, it’s “disrespectful and wrong.”  

Another demonstration against the proposal is scheduled to take place at a Community Education Council meeting tonight outside of M.S. 74, a school that sent nearly 100 students to specialized high schools last year.

Like many in the Asian-American community, event organizer Angela Hu said she’s never been engaged on any other civic issue. “But from now on, it’ll be different,” she said. “This has really triggered people’s anger.”

Hu wasn’t registered to vote before, but she is now — and she's working to register others. If elected officials aren’t listening to their Asian-American constituents, she said, they are now making sure their voices are heard.