SHSAT Stories

As a parent, I obviously want my kids to get the best education possible. 

In NYC, we have lots of great schools but, when it comes to the public school system, it's a very mixed bag.

Some schools are amazing, better than any private ones, while others are little more than participants in the "school-to-prison-pipeline". Race, class, politics, funding formulas, geography, and so many other factors play into this horribly inequitable, separate but unequal, modern day apartheid educational system we have both in NYC and around the country.

Educational inequality and the myriad controversies of how to end it is one of the great issues of our time.

Because of this system, one escape hatch for families who live in bad school districts is for their kids to take the SHSAT, the entrance exam to the city's prestigious magnet schools like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and others. This one test can determine if a kid gets into one of these schools, gets a great education, and is able to get into college while others, who don't, are stuck at lousy schools with environments not conducive to learning and end up with dead-end lives.

These stories from the New York Times chronicle the lives of kids who did (and in some cases) did not get into these schools after they took the SHSAT. All agree, however, that this test is life-changing, and that it's a LOT of pressure to put on a young person. 

Now that Mayor DeBlasio and others want to change the requirements for getting into these schools, which would phase out the SHSAT, debate is ranging between those people who feel their families benefit from the test and those that don't. Obviously, race and culture are clashing and, however it ends, it will have big repercussions on the future of our city.