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February 17, 2010
NO IMPROVEMENT FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND HISPANICS UNDER THE DOE
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
There is a scandal brewing about Toyota and its reputation and we have to find out what is really going on at the DOE. We have a competitive system and some minorities can compete effectively because of the huge outlay of resources provided by their families and the strong background that they brought into this country from abroad. The cut-off into the elite high schools hurts the chances of African-Americans and Hispanics. The answer should be to expand the programs. I met a young man selling travel in the Dominican Republic eight years ago. That young man was Haitian and he placed 101 on a list of 100 students selected for the medical programs in Haiti. Maybe his life was recently saved by not being in Haiti, but what about his dream of being a doctor? African-Americans and Hispanics have seen their opportunities limited both by GED access and high school selection to the elite three schools. If we had not had this immigration to New York, clearly more African-Americans and Hispanics would have had more opportunities in Stuyvesant and the other elite schools. Have the charter schools boosted the limited opportunities of these students? This question goes unanswered, especially for African-American and Hispanic students. Where are the numbers?
Unfortunately people in power make decisions based on limited knowledge and faulty information. Florida decided to give, what they call, a high school diploma to GED graduates who earned a minimum score overall and a 45 on each part of the test (their minimum passing score). New York only gave a GED to all of the those who achieved those scores and much higher scores. Offsite Educational Services was allowing students in GED programs to graduate with people who passed the GED test, people who never actually passed the test. The people of New York deserve more expanded programs, but the DOE is just giving us the same...same...same...with slight changes. Yes the 19 schools slated for closing should have expanded vocational training programs and stay open.
Hispanics in New York City's schools 40 percent
African-Americans in New York City's schools 31 percent
White's in New York City's schools 15 percent
Asians in New York City's schools 14 percent
Asians went from
African-Americans were 23 percent of the test takers
Hispanics were 20 percent of the test takers
Whites were 15 percent of the test takers
Asians were 14 percent of the test takers
Conclusion: African-Americans and Hispanics continue to lag behind whites and Asians in gaining access to the elite schools in New York City. There were warnings in 2006 and things have not gotten better and the numbers declined this year. Asian student went from 1,945 admissions in one year to 2,400. The New York Times made it clear that the Department of Education has done a significant outreach (by interviewing the chancellor), but the schools are not getting the job done and apparently even Chancellor Klein feels that “The story is the number of Asian students who are coming to the city, taking this test and passing it at a very high rate,” he continued. “I think it reflects a real commitment and a real ethic in terms of preparing.” Does that mean that all or most of the efforts of the Department of Education have been wasted or the DOE has not achieved its goals for African-Americans and Hispanics? Of course if opportunities are expanded (let us say by twenty percent) and African-Americans and Hispanics do not or cannot take advantage of them, this would indicate an even greater failure for the DOE.
MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
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Profesor Martin Danenberg February 17, 2010 02:47 PM