Only 12 Out of 803 Students Admitted to Bronx Science for Fall 2019 Are Black

In yet another glaring failure of our education system, new data released by Office of Admission for Specialized High Schools in NYC show that only 12 Black students were accepted to Bronx Science for the upcoming Fall school year.

This accounts for less than 2% of the incoming class which is 58% Asian, 25% White, 11% other, and 5% Latino.

The calls for ending access to these coveted schools by specialized tests is growing more loudly as we can clearly see that our education system is failing the majority of the student body which where 68% of are either Black or Latino in New York City.

To only have such an abysmally low number accepted into these “elite” schools shows that something must be done.

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it best this weekend during an education town hall.

Chalkbeat reports:

Ocasio-Cortez didn’t say whether she supports a city-backed proposal to get rid of the admissions exam for those elite schools in an effort to make them more diverse, but she questioned why all city schools don’t have similarly stellar reputations.

“Why isn’t every public school in New York City a Brooklyn Tech-caliber school?” Ocasio-Cortez asked, receiving loud applause from the audience of at least 150 people. “Every one should be.”

And she’s right. Every school should have a stellar reputation and not just an elite few in the nation’s largest public education system.

The poor state of public school education is one of the reasons my parents sacrificed a lot to put me through Catholic schools instead. An option not afforded to many.

So perhaps it’s not that the tests should end but that education focuses on creating stellar students in stellar environments instead?