Officials: 80 Percent Of Recent NYC High School Graduates Cannot Read

[cobrat]

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There are also a lot of black and white kids who won’t go to Stuy even if they get in because they don’t want to compete with Asian kids they suspect are willing to work a lot harder than they are.

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<p>That attitude is not only off-putting because of assumption about “Asian kids”, it’s also not a great attitude to carry through life. </p>

<p>Many college classmates and post-college friends I know with a similar mentality ended up struggling heavily in undergrad, grad school and/or the workforce because they weren’t willing to push to go the extra mile as needed. </p>

<p>A few ended up being laid off during boom times from household name tech/financial corporations they were extremely lucky to get hired into because when evaluated with their colleagues, that attitude meant they ended up being in the bottom 10% or less in terms of productivity and working well with others. </p>

<p>Sometimes, I term it the “If I must exert any effort to get a B or and A, I’m perfectly content with a C” mentality. And yes, that was a direct quote from several upper-middle/middle-class suburbanite college classmates/post-college friends/acquaintances…including Asian-Americans. </p>

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@zoosermom

even when they have the test scores, because they perceive (rightly or wrongly) that the Asian families (and I do mean families, not kids) are unfriendly and unwelcoming in Stuyvesant and want no part of that.

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<p>I’ve heard similar accounts of rationalizations made for why some families didn’t consider applying to pre-1969 CCNY/CUNY, SHS before the late '80s, or Brandeis because it’s “too Jewish”, Fordham/BC/Manhattan College/Georgetown because it’s “too Catholic”, Berkeley/Oberlin/Antioch because “they’re depraved dens of hedonistic radical lefty activists looking to protest everything”**, etc. </p>

<p>IMHO…the main loss is borne by the small-minded students/families who can’t seem to look beyond the superficial stereotypes or even if true, tune out all that noise for the sake of a good education. </p>

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Stuyvesant is a great school, amazing, really. But there are things about it that make it not the right place for even every hardworking, diligent, motivated, student who attains the required score on the test. I’m sorry if that’s offensive, but it’s true.

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<p>Agree 100%. A reason why when an uncle inquired about it for a younger cousin and we discussed her academic interests, prior educational environment, personality, etc…we both concluded her needs would be better met at a smaller more nurturing Arts & Humanities oriented private day school. </p>

<p>Different strokes for different folks…or something like that. </p>

<ul>
<li>I.e. Campus cultures like Oberlin’s where being heavily competitive academically as opposed to collaborative…especially to the degree at BTech, BxSci, or Stuy would not have been tolerated. In this respect, I went from one extreme to another upon leaving HS to enter college.<br></li>
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<p>** Paraphrased quote taken from several people…including an interviewer who made an issue of it upon reading off the Education section of my resume.</p>