Vogue Dissent

”’If women do something like uptalk or vocal fry, it’s immediately interpreted as insecure, emotional or even stupid,’ said Carmen Fought, a professor of linguistics at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. ‘The truth is this: Young women take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships.’”

Re: The New York Times article about Rudi-Ann Miller’s experience as a black student at Stuyvesant, which in turn, reflects the nature of the specialized high schools and in a larger scope, the disparity of the New York City Department of Education. These opinions are solely mine, and does not reflect ANYBODY’S view except my own. Feel free to disagree, but any attacking comments WILL be flamed. Link is here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/education/black-at-stuyvesant-high-one-girls-experience.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Reading “To Be Black at Stuyvesant High” is just one of several articles over the years that the New York Times has covered regarding the racial disparity between the specialized high schools and the rest of the NYC public high schools. In this case, this article is the first of “A System Divided” series. More often then not, the underlying sentiment is that there is an over-representation of Asians (and whites, but since they’re the majority in America, it’s okay). This article was actually refreshing because it talked about Rudi-Ann’s personal and triumphant experience, of which I congratulate for her accomplishments. However, it also was not immune to this “Asian invasion” sentiment, with Rudi-Ann herself saying “The Asians. They’re everywhere.” I cringed when I read that, but I understand that given her upbringing, and the sheer overwhelming majority of Asian descent when there probably are very few in her home area, I can see how it can be alienating and isolating. I do sympathize with that, and I know how that feels. Yet, how exactly to address the lack of Blacks and Latinos in the specialized high schools?  

To be quite clear, I am a beneficiary of the specialized high schools, and I acknowledge this. If it weren’t for me attending Bronx Science, I sincerely doubt I would be at Cornell. I know I am educationally privileged, and I know I have received the best education because of the support of my family (especially my older sister), teachers, and my own motivation. It allowed me to meet the best group of friends, many of whom were either 1.5 generation immigrants, or second generation children of immigrants (like I am). Despite the overwhelming number of “Asian” and “White” students, one must disaggregate/break down by ethnicity and income, which shows a more comprehensive picture. Furthermore, this entry is a reflection of just my own thoughts, and I am only one person. I am not speaking for all of Asian Americans about my feelings.  

That being said, why are Asian Americans seen as “invading” the specialized high schools? Do I not deserve to attend a school I got into? Don’t you dare invalidate my presence and time at the Bronx High School of Science. It was very much my experience as it is with the others, so don’t even DARE of pitting us against the others. Believe it or not, I did not grow up with my parents rolling in money breezing by with hardly a care. In fact, I got into Bronx Science a year after my parents’ deli shut down due to the 2003-03 recession, and it was a very difficult time, financially and mentally, for all of us. I am not saying this to evoke sympathy— that simply was a fact of life that is now in the past, but has shaped my outlook greatly. 

I can safely say a majority of Asian Americans at Science (and by extension, the specialized high schools) were actually of similar income levels to myself. I was accepted into the Math/Science Institute (MSI, now the Specialized High Schools Institute) from the recommendation of my sixth grade teacher, which helped me not just take the test, but also challenge my workload. This program is mentioned briefly on page 3: 

“The city’s Education Department has been offering [a free] program, with weekend and summer coaching sessions to promising but disadvantaged sixth graders — and, this year only, seventh graders — for more than 20 years. Its original mission was to increase the number of blacks and Latinos, but after a legal challenge in 2007 [when plaintiffs sued the program for discrimination against Asians], income became its main eligibility criteria.” 

Private school never entered my mind and was out of the question; Bronx Science was my ticket to mobilize myself and regain what my parents had lost (both of whom earned advanced degrees in South Korea, only to have the blue collar jobs that have since been immortalized by Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”). My family could not afford Kaplan or Princeton Review sessions. MSI was my saving grace. 

During my time at Science, and as someone who cared about equity, I did notice the lack of black and Latino faces. However, I did not have the tools, nor the words, to articulate my dissonance that there was something more than just taking the exam that was preventing the blacks and Latinos coming into Science. On a more school-specific note, given the administrative tension at Science, many of those “counseled out” (Read: kicked out for cutting/failing grades instead of giving remedial attention or concern) of Bronx Science were mainly Black and Latino, thanks to the hostile administration (including a separate instance where the oh glorious [Principal] Reidy said students “speak Asian” and ergo, needed help in English. Awkward.). This in and of itself goes to show that the solution does not lie in trying to aggressively recruit students just by skin color to the specialized high schools, or blaming another racial group, but rather allocating resouces to all school districts starting an early age with equal distribution and without stereotyping. In Science’s particular case of “counseling out,” a more adept administration would be preferred.

What people don’t seem to understand is that the specialized high schools are educational anomalies and exceptions, not the norms, to mask the inequity and insufficiency of the bureaucracy and apathy against other lower-performing schools in the city. They are also used to maintain the Model Minority Stereotype against Asian Americans. Just look at the history of the specialized high schools— none of the original three (Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and Stuyvesant) were specialized from the beginning. It was formed as a collective by a New York State decree modeled after the “selectivity” of the Boston Latin School system. In other words, prestige was built into the schools AFTER they were established, not at its inception. 

(Analogously, the Ivy League did not receive the “educational elite” reputation off the bat. It originally started off as a football league that somehow inflated and symbolized the Ivy League with “educational prowress” as well. These two examples, of which I have attended both schools (for better or for worse), showcase the human fallacy of making things appear bigger/better/more prestigious then it actually is, and ultimately becomes true thanks to time and turnover. This is not to excuse the schools, but rather give context and emphasize the point I’m making: Prestige and race are social/man-made constructs with consequences that collide and clash terribly in this case.)

Stereotypes originate from a source of truth, but once the generalizations start coming up as fact, it becomes problematic because they mask the internal inequalities within the Asian American population, of which there are many, and in fact, constitute 95% of the school system. Asian Americans in the specialized high schools (of which they are already a small pool of schools) only make up 5% of the total Asian American population in all of New York City. How’s that for “model minority?” Answer: Not much at all. These statistics are from the Coalition of Asian Children and Families, who published a PDF titled, “We’re Not Even Allowed to Ask For Help,” focusing on the remaining 95% of Asian Americans who actually must deal with the same educational shafting that blacks and Latinos do (The PDF can be found here: http://www.cacf.org/).

What makes the stereotypes worse is when the same victims internalize it to the point THEY believe it, such as when the Asian American student proclaims superiority over blacks, or when Rudi’s uncle said “Blacks aren’t good at math,” both of which truly frightened and saddened me after reading it. These comments are a reflection of the divide and conquer tactic used to pit people of color against each other starting from the 1960’s (and was used strongly during Reagan’s time).

(I must also note that the CACF press release documented this at a conference the same day as the New York Times article. Guess which one got more hits.)

You want to know what makes a student successful, regardless of race, that everyone seems to think it correlates with “being Asian?” Parental support, motivation, parental involvement, an emphasis on getting a good education. That is not an “Asian” thing; that is a “good parent” thing that transcends race, yet somehow gets lumped together in the process. I’m not sure how many times folks have to beat this on other people’s heads, but you know what? Stupidity transcends race, too. 

On a more general note, the Dept. of Education, and its predecessor, the Board of Education, have not been very kind to failing schools, which have also tended to cluster in minority areas (and yes, I am including Asian Americans in this category, because most in the city are of the lower income bracket, despite what everyone seemingly thinks). Instead of trying to help what they can, they have tried to implement “charter schools,” pumping in more money and rewarding smaller schools while closing down larger schools without really putting much effort in helping remedy large school urban issues. Instead, they punish them by closing them down and use the specialized high schools as fodder. Meanwhile, they chastise the latter for not being diverse enough. A commentator, Kenneth, hit the nail on the head with his insightful thoughts, which can be read in its original form in the Comments section of the article: 

“As a Stuy graduate (and incidentally, Asian) it bothered me that there was a lack of diversity at the school. I don’t believe it’s the school’s fault, or that the test is biased — when ACORN protested at the school during my tenure, I’m certain the student body as a whole was adamant they had no idea what they were in fact protesting. 

I don’t doubt however that there are broader, systemic issues at work here. To the extent that our primary and middle schools in the city are of disturbingly uneven quality, and often divided into de facto racially segregated districts, is a problem that requires larger societal remedies. It’s shameful to read that professionals are telling their students that “[Stuyvesant] isn’t for our kids.” It’s frightening to read that “black people can’t do math.” I don’t have solutions for changing these attitudes, but any punative solution that treats Stuyvesant [and the rest of the specialized high schools—my own addition] as the source, as opposed to merely a symptom, of the enormous disparity in the student class is short-sighted and will do all its students a disservice.

Bridging this gap is going to be hard, and anyone looking to fix it should start at any school that tells its students that they’re not good enough for Stuyvesant, or doesn’t try to disabuse an attitude that dismisses entire peoples as unable to perform academically. Those failings start years before they even consider HS. Just don’t brute force the admissions, because you’ll just turn reduce Stuy to the LCD of its constituent parts.”

I admit, it has been interesting to see non-New York City/Cornell students and staff coming from outside of New York posting the article on their walls and commenting on it. I also admit that it makes me feel a little possessive, because I actually have the personal experience on it, and I am very protective of it. On the other hand, outsider discourse is important, because they provide input I may not have thought before. Yet, I must warn everyone that you may try to put all the “intellectual” and “theoretical” talk all you want, but don’t try to “out-scholar” me on what it’s like to attend a specialized high school because blabbing about it versus living through it are two completely different things. I will put you in your damn place if you do otherwise. 

In the end, I am proud of my unique high school experience, but do note the progress that needs to be made throughout the school system. Despite the administrative hellhole at Science (which is another topic in and of itself for another day); the specialized high schools conveniently being used as “crown jewels” for the NYC school system thanks to AP exams, Regents scores, and other metrics when other schools are left untreated; while Asian Americans are deemed “invasive;” with the same group being co-opted into the model minority stereotype; and ignoring those left behind in the school system, I wouldn’t take any of it back because it made me the person I am today. I am proud to be an Asian American. I am proud to be a Korean American. I am proud to be an activist. I am proud to be an advocate.

For everyone else: the New York Times article was just a tiny sliver of the public school system in the five boroughs.

Welcome to (The Miseducation of) New York City, motherfuckers. 

After the Civil War, you pretty much got shot for having one.

Probably because it’s the symbol of a failed rebellion against the federal government, and the Stars and Bars was a fucking battle flag. It had no political symbolism. It was a battle flag. It meant the person carrying it was going to shoot at you.

It was gone for a long time, and guess when it came back. It came back at the start of what we call the ‘Civil Rights Era’, as a counter to the Civil Rights Movement. The flag said, ‘the person carrying this, and the organization behind this person will fight to keep non-white people from standing as equals with us’.

That’s what it means today. That’s all it means today. That’s what brought it back. It has nothing to do even with the Confederacy. The modern heritage of the Confederate battle flag is, literally, I stand and fight against equal rights for people who are not white.

“In a significant decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week ruled that the right to abort a pregnancy in a marriage rests with the wife and not husband.”

YES.