The first claim by these ignorant corrupt pols is that "current department policies block black and Hispanic kids from the city’s top schools". That is pure baloney. The policies to which these clowns refer are those requiring a satisfactory score on stiff entry exams to gain admittance to the elite scholarly schools where students are very serious about their studies. Get a good enough score, and you can attend, race or ethnicity of no importance. So Mr. Adams' claim that it's the kids' ZIP CODES keeping them down on the farm is a big fat LIE. Oh, but what if you are practically illiterate and the only thing you're really adept at is playing around with your cell phone in class? Then I guess you would not pass those exams AND you would not be able to keep up with the high level of work demanded in these high schools. That's racist? No, that's logic. The kids they're trying to force down the throat of these scholarly schools could not possibly keep up with the work, so therefore they would be bored and frustrated, and act out in class so that NO ONE could learn anything.
The article states that "Many Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods have no gifted programs at all". What they're leaving out here is which neighborhoods. In schools located in low income neighborhoods, the students are really struggling to read basic texts, have very poor math skills, and cannot write a cognitive term paper. Why then, in a system starved for classroom money, would such a school offer gifted programs? For the 3 students who might benefit? I am absolutely telling the truth here, describing what it's really like in these schools.
Oh, and in a city already living beyond its means, the city should provide "free test prep" to students who need it and free transportation for kids to attend gifted programs outside their neighborhood. Again, this would benefit very few students. And, isn't it the responsibility of the PARENTS to provide this for their children? Oh, but the NYC public schools, by their own admission, even have to provide breakfast, lunch, and meals during the summer to the students, since their parents can't be bothered to do so. Ditto having free medical clinics right within the school AND free babysitting in the school's basement for the children of the students.
By trying to force something which should not happen to occur, the end result will be to ruin the educational opportunities of the truly motivated students in the elite schools by filling their schools with disruptive students who have no business there and who cannot function in such a rarified setting. What happened to the rights of those hard working motivated students? Instead of encouraging such truly gifted young minds by providing them a quiet and orderly environment in which to learn, with highly qualified teachers (many holding doctorates), the idiot politicians are putting race ahead of everything else. A precious thing---learning and creating on a high level, with extraordinary results--will be yet another thing of the past in NYC. The Commie agenda, mediocrity uber alles, will be forced on these promising young minds, which makes me sick to my stomach.
“the city needs to test all 4-year-olds for gifted and talented programs”
Seriously?
Many ‘gifted’ kids, especially boys, are deemed “ADHD” at the age of four. Many ‘bright’ four year old kids are merely good psychologists and can see which of their behaviors bring special approval from parents & teachers.
Give all kids about six years or so under the tutelage of GOOD teachers, then test. And fire all the administrators who prevent good teachers from maintaining the classroom discipline necessary for teaching.
They will wreck NYC’s special high schools by the time they’re through. I’m surprised the idea of having a few “elite” schools for the best students lasted this long.
http://nypost.com/2016/09/17/the-fine-nine-the-citys-elite-high-schools/
Translation: Lower the standards.
“Your zip code determines your ability to get into gifted and talented classes...” Really?
I knew that couldn’t be true, even before I read your comment.
In fact, school districts, teachers and even private citizens will bend over backwards to help and cultivate a minority gifted student - if they are able to find one
Bell Curve!
I’d recommend talking to Sharpton, Moore, and hollywood about raising money for private schools. You can put it anywhere you want and allow entry to anyone you want without the NYC bureaucracy.
That is, if the residents and the liberal elites actually care about education rather than just making noise.
I imagine some of the residents and liberal elite do care and have legitimate arguments. There are opportunities if they stop depending on government for solutions and stop following “community organizers” who are not interested in solving problems as much as getting attention, money for themselves.
The "added gifted classes... use teacher referrals rather than tests to determine admissions."
In basketball, you can’t coach height. And, in education, you can’t teach IQ.
It's fair to ask how best to serve your hypothetical three high quality students whose futures will be blighted if they are trapped in terrible neighborhood schools. Their difficulty is likely compounded, of course, by the high probability that there is no dad around to help. In theory, NYC's options should be better than most because kids above a certain age can hop on the subway. So the issue becomes how to salvage as many promising kids as possible in the early grades, before the age at which they become mobile.
Full school choice would help, although I'd not be surprised if the really crummy neighborhoods don't have high performing private schools either. There really is no substitute for ability grouping and tracking within schools that maintain effective discipline from the start, which ultimately implies a willingness to expel chronic bad actors. Once that is done, we can see if there's critical mass for a gifted and talented program.
Wait a minute. They don’t have Affirmative Action? Libtards hypocrites.
Q: Say there is a student of color who meets the criteria, but doesn’t have a gifted school in his/her neighborhood. Does the city bus the qualifying student of color to the nearest gifted school? If not, WTH not? It’s a much more cost effective alternative than opening a new school for a handful of kids. Or opening your gifted school to illiterates.
Something along these lines is happening in my neck of the woods. The rule to get into an honors class was simple. Just have a B grade or better in the previous class (honors class or not).
So to get into, say, Honors Algebra 2, you had to have had at least a B in Algebra 1. Straightforward and fair, yes?
Evidently not. There were complaints that our honors classes weren’t diverse enough. So administration simply removed the B or better requirement. Come one, come all.
I’m sure you can predict the results. The honors teachers had to slow things down, as you cannot fail 1/3 of the class and still keep your job. Our honors classes are now no better than the mainstream classes.
No they want the top schools dumbed down so their slug like constituents can sneak in and the teachers are forced to pass them.
Well, if the kids performed at the gifted level, they would probably be in.
They can earn it, just like the white kids have to.
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You generally can’t tell at 4 if a child is gifted or not.
My older daughter certainly is and you could tell, just talking to her.
My younger daughter, turns out, is just as gifted but she was what you would call a *late bloomer*.
She STRUGGLED with schoolwork, especially reading and spelling. She was somewhat dyslexic as a child but I am convinced that it was more because she didn’t realize that it was important what direction her letters, words, and sentences went it. She once wrote a letter to her grandma that was in perfect mirror image. If you held it up in the mirror, it was flawless, but every bit of it was written *backwards*.
I have no doubt she would have been labeled as *resource* in elementary school and would have had the stigma of that albatross on her the rest of her life. Homeschooling for her was the best thing that could have happened to her.
By the time she went into high school at the local high school, she soared to the top of the class and stayed there. Graduated with honors and is now working on her PhD in science.
Instead of erroneously directing their attention at the specialized schools in Manhattan (they are not “exclusive by ‘neighborhood’ “, there is one or more in each of the five boroughs of New York City), the pols should direct their attention to allowing New York City students to escape the failing “neighborhood schools”, allowing all K-6 & grade 7,8,9 students to transfer to schools that will better prepare them for entrance to the specialized high schools.
As for transportation, the public transit system in NYC is huge and students can obtain either full fare or half fare (depending on whether or not they are actually within walking distance of their school) MTA cards; so there is not need for additional special transportation provisions for “minority” gifted kids.