12 SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Stopping the city school brain drain
For decades, the “gift ed and talented”
program has given some of
the sharpest young minds in the
New York City public school system a
chance to challenge themselves, hone
their skills and cultivate their minds
to their fullest potential.
But if a group of education reformers
whispering in the ears of Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza have it their way,
the gift ed and talented program will
soon be a thing of the past.
The School Diversity Advisory
Group recommended last month that
the Department of Education (DOE)
dismiss the program in the name of
equality. They claim that the screening
system in place disproportionately
leaves out students of color, and contributes
to segregation in the nation’s
largest public school district.
But the group’s assertion that the
gift ed and talented program, by itself,
is the cause of segregation is a deeply
fl awed argument. It’s also the same
argument made by those seeking to
eliminate entrance exams for the city’s
specialized high schools, for the very
same reason: a lack of equality and opportunity for all.
EDITORIAL
Make no mistake: there is a troubling
lack of equality and opportunity
in New York City public school education.
A shameful segregation indeed
persists to this day in classrooms
across the most progressive city
in America.
But specialized education programs
or standardized tests are not to blame
for this condition. Decades of failed
education policy in New York City,
rather, have left behind public school
students across the city.
Simply put, this city has not invested
enough in its future. It has not provided
enough resources to public schools
in every corner of every borough to
operate at its optimum level. It has
not provided enough in the way of
after-school educational programs
and free tutoring for students to
achieve high marks and qualify for
specialized schools or the gift ed and
talented program.
To turn things around and truly
open up opportunity for all public
school students, we need to invest in
them. That costs billions of our taxpayer
dollars, of course, and requires
a steady amount of work to ensure that
everything goes according to plan.
In short, it’s hard. It requires work,
patience and diligence. It’s not an easy
remedy. But it just so happens to be the
right one.
Getting rid of programs such as
gift ed and talented risks a tremendous
brain drain in New York. If the city
cannot help its sharpest young minds
reach their full potential, and if the city
cannot help all of its students reach
their full potential, they will wither
away from boredom and neglect.
Likewise, if the city cannot solve its
segregation problem without investing
in better schools, better teachers and
better programs for all its students,
it should expect more of the same,
regardless of reforms made.
Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza
must do the right thing, for once,
and invest in the city’s future, rather
than tear it down.
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ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ROBERT POZARYCKI
Classifi ed Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classifi ed Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
EMILY DAVENPORT
MARK HALLUM
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
MAX PARROTT
BILL PARRY
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STORY:
Ridgewood man fatally shot in the
back just steps away from his home
SUMMARY:
Cops are looking for the gunman
who shot and killed a Ridgewood
man across the street from the victim’s
home on Friday night, police
reported.
REACH:
16,697 people reached (as of 9/3/19)
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