<p>I read this OpEd today and would love CCers’ takes on this. Do you think it’s a problem? No big deal? Can you perceive of any reason this is happening? The gist of the article is that boys are doing better in admissions that are based solely on test scores, while girls are getting the admissions that have to do with class grades. My D received an admission officer to one of the schools in her year and declined it for purely social reasons. Which her father and I considered her absolute right.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about NYC schools, are some in more challenged neighborhoods?
My daughter attended an inner city high school that is a ways away from our own neighborhood, but it is inner city Seattle, not NYC.
Her school also underwent a rebuild ( which was overdue when my mom attended in the 1947) while she was there and the student body was relocated much closer. Which is the main reason I agreed to her choice.
So I would say it is probably multi casual. Girls want something from their high school that is non tangible, cant be measured/tested, perhaps?
Equal is not identical. Are the graduation rates similar?</p>
<p>I would look at the schools boys are applying to and compare the schools.</p>
<p>In our district I cant really keep up with how kids are assigned to schools, but the only " gifted" program in high school is the ability to take more than a couple AP courses or for a full IB program. We don’t have entrance testing except for the scores that are taken from a district achievement test that can qualify students for an accelerated program in elementary or middle school. </p>
<p>Race has always been an issue and at various times there have been special programs to help black and hispanic students gain admission. The whole high school admission process changed a couple of years ago and I wonder if that is what is leading to this question. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with kids making different choices and having gender disparities, but I may be missing something.</p>
<p>Many of the NYC special high schools (Bronx science, Stuyvesant, etc.) are STEM based and so would naturally attract more boys than girls. Even in the 70’s when I lived in Brooklyn this was the case (although the system has changed and there are many more special schools now). Girls could get into Hunter HS back then - which was all girls at the time.</p>
<p>One of the problems with reliance on GPA is that grading standards vary widely throughout the NYC public schools. </p>
<p>Moreover, it could be influenced by non-academic factors such as teacher favoritism, ability to conform to teachers’ non-academic expectations(i.e. aesthetics of glitter-laden book report for academic classes), academic capability of critical mass of students(LCD syndrome & grade inflation), not disagreeing with/arguing with teacher on salient academic points(a.k.a. Teacher is always right and no dissenters allowed), etc. </p>
<p>Many reports have said that due to socialization, girls tend to be much better in those areas than boys who are often socialized to be competitive and to even challenge authority to some extent. Not too surprisingly, this socialization probably has a strong influence on grading patterns from K-8 and even in many high schools. </p>
<p>The above factors are some of the ones supporters cited as reasons for maintaining the SHSAT. </p>
<p>If anything, some have gone so far as to say the real issue being exposed in the SHSAT controversy is the further dilution of academic standards in most NYC K-8 public schools since the late '90s and the test is really being punished for the crime of exposing this reduction of academic standards. Many of those espousing this theory aren’t only alums, but also many old Stuy teachers who recently retired or are still teaching there. </p>
<p>There’s also many older Stuy alums and teachers are aware of what happened to CCNY/CUNY when they went from rigorously competitive selection model to allowing anyone with a NYC high school diploma to attend from 1969 till the late '90s. They fear the same rapid decline into abysmal academic mediocrity may happen to the SHS if the loopy educational activists and politicians…some of whom were involved with the CUNY case end up having their way. </p>
<p>It also doesn’t help that TJSST’s recent attempts to move to more holistic admissions not only failed to secure the goal of increased diversity, but also resulted in 1/3 of the students admitted under new standards to be so academic deficient they’ve been placed in remediation. </p>
<p>IMO, the real problem lies with the further deterioration and neglect of NYC’s K-8 academic standards. Something which is disturbing to me as even back when I was a child/adolescent in the '80s and early '90s, standards at most NYC K-8 schools weren’t that great to begin with.</p>
<p>I would posit that tests measure narrow skills - Vocabulary, math, science, and maybe a few other things. Grades require you to be good all around. I could see how boys could be really good test takers, but not as well in overall grades.</p>
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<p>Somewhat close to “relationship skills” - writing essays and interviews. Girls are naturally better than boys at that.</p>
<p>You’re assuming grades in NYC K-8 schools are actually good measures of being good all-around academically. </p>
<p>That’s not always the case as some K-8 schools have widely variable academic standards and there’s a non-academic bias factor due to some of the reasons I mentioned in my previous posting. </p>
<p>Getting straight As in many middle schools…especially those on the average/mediocre side is likely to mean such students aren’t likely to survive the rigors and the workload of a SHS curriculum unless the DOE mandates the curriculum be watered down a la teaching to the LCD which has been common in most NYC and many other American public schools with disappointing educational outcomes. </p>
<p>This is underscored by the fact that since CUNY has raised their academic standards over the last decade, many HS graduates with high HS GPAs from average/mediocre NYC public high schools are so academically unprepared based on low SAT scores or CUNY’s own placement assessments that they have to go to a 2-year CUNY ccollege to take and pass their mandated remedial courses before being allowed to take regular college courses. </p>
<p>The Village Voice had an article about how many NYC high school graduates with otherwise seemingly good/excellent grades ended up placed in community college remedial programs due to the abysmal academic standards of their public high schools.</p>
<p>This is a very complicated question as a large part of the phenomenon as another commentator noted is the fact that SHS like BxScience, Stuy, or Btech are STEM-centered high schools with a heavy dose of academic/STEM one upsmanship involved as a part of their campus cultures. </p>
<p>This is an issue similar to ones heavily engineering/STEM centered colleges like MIT, Caltech, or CMU have had to deal with regarding their M:F ratio tilting more towards the male side. It’s also an issue hardcore techie communities like the Linux community…especially in its infancy in the '90s had to deal with as illustrated by their harsh disparaging treatment of newbie linux users. </p>
<p>On the flipside, Montessori or other private schools which emphasize nurturing of individuals, collaboration, and discourage “too much competition”* seem to be much more preferred by those who reject the highly competitive academic cultures of the SHS. Incidentally, this was the reason a younger relative opted for a private school over Stuy and contrarily, why some of my Stuy classmates left Hunter High or other similar types of private schools. </p>
<p>In any event, it’s very interesting that the Vals at Stuy from my year and a few years after were all women who slugged their way to the very top of a very highly competitive sink-or-swim type academic environment. My figurative hat’s off to them…especially considering I graduated somewhere in the bottom half of my HS graduating class.</p>
<ul>
<li>Ironically, my undergrad LAC’s academic culture was this…a stark contrast to my HS experience.</li>
</ul>
