The new affirmative action system would completely do away with requiring that students actually have strong academics in order to attend the Big Apple's most prestigious schools, which in effect would result in more black and Hispanic students being admitted at the expense of Asian and white students.
It's a blatantly discriminatory policy that's causing considerable outrage among Asian groups in particular, but also among marginalized whites. Several of the schools that would be affected have large populations of whites and Asians, as well as alumni legacies made up of the same two demographics.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're saying these schools are too Asian, so there must be something wrong," stated Soo Kim, president of Stuyvesant High School's Alumni Association, one of the schools in question. "Am I the only one who looks at that and says, 'I don't understand how that's even legal.'"
Stuyvesant is one of New York City's top eight most prestigious schools, and has long utilized a written test entrance exam to qualify new students. Its demographic makeup is currently about 72.9 percent Asian-American, 2.8 percent Latino, and 0.69 percent black.
Others like the Bronx School of Science have similar demographic makeups that, for all intents and purposes, do not resemble the demographic makeups of their local communities. But that's because these schools accept only the top students, irrespective of their racial background.
It's something that Leftist Elizabeth Harris from The New York Times (NYT) whined about in a recent article, accusing New York City of having "one of the most segregated schools systems in the country." She also lambasted Mayor de Blasio for being "all but silent on the issue" until now.
Mayor de Blasio was "reluctant even to use the word 'segregation,'" Harris bemoaned, procuring demographic statistics that she later had to correct for being false. Still, the updated ones clearly show that Asians are by far the most represented ethnic demographic in New York City's top schools, even when they don't necessarily make up the predominant demographic in the local community.
"We must be sure that the very best high schools are open to ... every kind of New Yorker," Mayor de Blasio commented about the new changes, which came about in response to Harris' complaints. He added that the student bodies at elite public schools "need to look like New York City."
Talk about privilege: Blacks and Hispanics don't even have to do anything anymore to be automatically admitted to elite schools
In other words, students who actually perform at the tops of their classes, regardless of race or ethnicity, will have to take a back seat to blacks and Hispanics who will gain admission simply because of the color of their skin. It'll basically creating the demographic breakdowns desired by Leftists in order to achieve "equality," in turn transforming these formerly elite schools into non-elite schools.
"The test is the most unbiased way to get into a school," reiterated Councilman Peter Koo in a direct statement to the mayor defending the old way of doing things.
"It doesn't require a resume. It doesn't even require connections. The mayor's son just graduated from Brooklyn Tech and got into Yale. Now he wants to stop this and build a barrier to Asian-Americans – especially our children."
When asked whether or not he believes Mayor de Blasio is actually racist against Asians (and whites), Kenneth Chiu, chairman of the New York City Asian-American Democratic Club said he's "not sure," but is convinced that "this policy is certainly discriminatory."
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