City’s Disservice To Children
It seems lawmakers in this city are doing everything in their power to undermine the public school system and reduce the quality of education its students receive.
First, a movement is afoot to change the admissions process for the city’s elite high schools such as Stuyvesant Tech in Manhattan, Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science. Mayor Bill de Blasio and others in government indicated their desire for these schools to changes their selection policies, which weigh heavily on students’ performance on the Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT).
They claim reliance on test performance alone is reducing student body diversity in each school, and that multiple criteria should be considered in order to level the playing field. Supporters of the status quo, however, argue that the lack of diversity in these schools is troubling, but reducing the standards is not the appropriate answer to address disparity.
Last week, Mayor de Blasio also expressed a desire to overturn the Department of Education’s (DOE) prohibition of cell phones on public school grounds. He reportedly called it a “safety issue,” adding that the phones-many of which are equipped with tracking applications-allow parents to keep tabs of where their kids are during the day.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, de Blasio’s predecessor, banned cell phones from public schools during his tenure, claiming the devices proved distractive to students. It also opened the door for students to secretly use the devices and cheat on tests and exams.
Finally, The New York Times reported on Monday, Sept. 29, that de Blasio is gearing up to revise the DOE Discipline Code as “part of a larger initiative to examine school safety, discipline, suspensions and arrests.” Critics claim the current code-also implemented during the Bloomberg administration-includes “zero tolerance” policies that, while successful in dropping school crime, left students and teachers feeling under “siege,” as one former principal described.
The zero tolerance policy included installing metal detectors at entrance ways and assigning police officers to the city’s most troubled schools. Crime dropped, but student suspensions spiked for infractions such as drug use, cheating, pushing past a student or defying a faculty member’s commands.
“While the de Blasio administration has not revealed its specific changes to the discipline code, it is examining the threshold for suspensions,” The New York Times report noted, “and is likely to call for increased use of so-called restorative practices, like conflict resolution that involve bringing both sides together to discuss an incident rather than just meting out punishment.”
Yeah, that’ll work just fine.
When it comes to education, de Blasio and company appear to have this naïve belief that every New York City classroom would be perfect if only the DOE dialed back its standards and authority a few notches. There are some students who can succeed regardless of the environment, but the reality is that the majority of students need high standards and firm authority to learn, grow and develop into men and women.
The city does a tremendous disservice to itself and its youth by watering down its educational standards. Schools shouldn’t be police states, but teachers and administrators should have the support of lawmakers and supervisors in helping their students learn in a safe environment. That means providing proper security and a modern curriculum that makes all students ready for higher education.
Let the educators educate, let the students learn-and keep the city’s politicians and bureaucrats out of their way!
