Raise the bridge,
don’t lower the tide
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 22-28, 2022 14
EDITORIALS
Unlike the former mayor’s plan, Adams’ G&T expansion raises the bridge while keeping the tide level so more students may
pass underneath, at their own speed. Photo by Dean Moses
OTHER VOICES
As Grand Knight of St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus
in Douglaston, I would like to praise and
to applaud the bravery of the MTA workers who
rushed passengers to safety after a gunman had
opened fire on a subway N train in Brooklyn.
Train operator David Artis did what had to be done for
his passengers on his train.
Additionally, other MTA workers went above and
beyond to help passengers get to safety during those moments
of terror.
Mayor Eric Adams honored the MTA heroes with
proclamations for their bravery, as they should have
been. These men and women were rightly honored for
stepping up to the plate to help the many that were hurting
and needed to get to safety.
In my book, these MTA workers are truly good Samaritans
who gave no regard for their own safety, but did so
for the safety of others.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Bellerose
Approximately 1,100 children across the five
boroughs will be added to the city Department
of Education’s Gifted and Talented (G&T) Program
this September, according to Mayor Eric
Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks.
The additional seats will be allocated to 100 kindergarteners
and 1,000 third-graders in every single school
district in the city.
It’s an unprecedented move that comes at a time when
many education advocates have suggested the G&T Program
serves as a form of intellectual segregation in the
city.
As the city describes it, the G&T Program “offers accelerated
instruction to eligible elementary school students
in New York City.”
Students entering the third grade are invited to apply
for G&T if their second-grade marks are in the top 10% at
their school.
Tragically, through the decades, G&T seats were not
made as easily available in less affluent parts of the city.
That contributed to an ever-present educational gap
among low-income students whose parents are more than
likely unable to afford tutoring and other services to advance
their children’s education.
But the move to expand G&T should not be seen as continuing
bad policies of the past. In offering 1,100 seats in
every school district in the city, the Adams administration
is taking a major step forward in advancing educational
opportunities to all young New Yorkers, regardless
of background.
It also put an end to the half-baked “Brilliant NYC”
plan that former Mayor Bill de Blasio pitched in his last
few weeks in office.
Brilliant NYC would have made accelerated instruction
available in regular classrooms, though that plan
could have led to all sorts of confusion among the students
themselves.
Unlike the former mayor’s plan, which would have
lowered the educational river to let all student ships
pass under the bridge of success, Adams’ G&T expansion
raises the bridge while keeping the tide level so more students
may pass underneath, at their own speed.
If we’re going to close the education gap in New York
City, we need to make more services and more programs
like G&T available to more students — not take such services
and programs away.
PUBLISHER
Brian Rice
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Zach Gewelb
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