Attending NYC’s elite public schools – Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech – can set students up for future success, but first they have to beat the odds to claim a coveted spot. Each year, nearly 30,000 middle-school students in the city pin all of their hopes on a single test: the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). But issues of racial diversity persist, calling into question the apparent even playing field the SHSAT provides. In a city where blacks and Hispanics make up 70% of the city’s school-aged population, they represent less than 5% at the city’s most elite public high schools. Meanwhile, Asian Americans make up as much as 73%.
"Tested," a new documentary, explores questions of access as it follows a group of students preparing for the test. Here's an excerpt from an article in the Wall Street Journal, entitled, "Inside the Pressure Cooker":
The director, Curtis Chin, followed a dozen eighth-graders from a range of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds as they studied for the single exam that determines admission. His work is titled “Tested.”
“When you watch these kids and you watch these families, you end up rooting for all of them,” he said in an interview before a Midtown screening on Monday for cast and crew. “You want them all to have the best education possible.”
Students vying to get into the “exam” schools, including Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High School and Bronx High School of Science, have long braved intense pressure and tutoring.
Some critics of the admissions process have called for grades and attendance to play a role, in hopes of diversifying schools that are mostly Asian and white. By city data, 5% of students offered seats for this fall at the “exam” high schools are black and 7% are Hispanic. Nearly 70% of city students are black or Hispanic.
Defenders of the current method say it is the most fair, transparent and objective way to admit students and preserve the high schools’ academic excellence.
Mr. Chin said he started the documentary three years ago after he saw a news article about the issue. Growing up just outside Detroit, he went to an elementary school where most students were black and attended a high school where most were white.
“It really stuck with me, the different opportunities that were available to people just because of some basic things, like the color of their skin” and income.
The film will be premiering in New York City on Sunday, November 15 at 11:45am at the prestigious Doc NYC film Festival. (Hillary Clinton will be at the closing night of the festival this year.)
"Tested" World Premiere at DOC NYC
Sunday, Nov. 15th at 11:45am
SVA 333 W. 23rd St., between 8th and 9th
http://www.docnyc.net/...
The film will also be screening with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans on Wednesday, Nov. 18th.