This weekend and next thousands of students will take the specialized test (SHSAT) to qualify for Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science and the other NYC specialized public high schools. In 2004, Teen Spirit took the SHSAT test and the following is Smartmom’s account of that experience from her old blog Third Street.
The SHSAT is a timed multiple-choice test with two sections, verbal and math taken by 8th and 9th graders. It must be completed in a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes. In the first section, students demonstrate their verbal reasoning and reading comprehension. In the second section, students demonstrate their math skills by answering questions that require knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, probability, statistics, and geometry.
Written October 25, 2004:
Today Teen Spirit endured one of the great (or maybe not so great) rites of passage of a New York City childhood. He joined thousands of other N.Y.C teenagers at Stuyvesant High School to take the entrance exam for the specialized public high schools.
Needless to say, Smartmom and Hepcat were pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. They hate the idea of a standardized test defining one’s future and are pretty sure that Stuy, Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science aren’t the right kinds of schools for Teen Spirt. In some deep way, the whole idea of it repelled them and made them feel caught in a really nasty and de-humanizing machine.
Yet, something propelled them to do it, to send their young boy into the fire, so to speak, to participate in this mass ritual of scholastic validation and opportunity. Perhaps they’ve been driven mad by the anxiety of the last few weeks of relentless high school open houses, tours and fairs, Maybe they’ve lost all perspective and were just desperate enough to try their luck at this crap shoot. Like Best & Oldest told her daughter: “You can either take the test or buy a lottery ticket, it’s your choice.”
In a certain way, the specialized high school entrance exam is one of those defining moments in this city’s so-called meritocracy. It’s that big chance, no matter who you are or where you are from, to get the proverbial foot in the door. Every kid in New York has the “opportunity” to take this blind test which basically measures one’s ability to excel on a multiple choice exam. That’s it. For kids who are “on-the-ball” academically, it’s a chance to spit out what they know.
But is it really all that democratic? The New York City school system, which is in the throes of reorganization once again, is pretty horrendous. Kids are struggling all over the five boroughs to get the kind of education they deserve. What of those kids who have never been given the chance to thrive academically because of the way this city and this country’s school system has failed them — are they taking the Stuyvesant test?
For that matter, navigating one’s way through the high school entrance process requires a good deal of savvy and equal amounts of smarts. Parents really need to have the time and the wherewithal to dive in and figure it out. For someone who doesn’t speak English or is holding down two jobs, it’s gotta be really tough to try to help your kid get ahead.
And getting ahead is what getting into Stuy (and the other specialized schools) is all about. It’s all about a test score on that bubble test. They don’t look at grades, they don’t look at recommendations or portfolios, they don’t interview, or care about family connections, or the fact that your parents don’t speak English and that you’re the first one in your family to finish middle school.
Nope, it’s all about a number. A hard and fast number that decides who will be chosen to fill the coveted seats at Stuyvesant and the other special schools.
Sad to say, many are scarred by this process. Not getting into Stuy can be one of those burning childhood wounds that some New York kids never get over. Best & Oldest, age 46, is still smarting over the fact that she didn’t get into Bronx Science and is totally appalled by the kids in her eighth grade class, who did. It didn’t make any sense — she was way, way smarter than any of them. Likewise, Smartmom is often surprised by the adults who tell her they went to Stuy. In this way she knows that going to Stuy is no predictor of future success, wealth or happiness. And it certainly doesn’t make you an interesting person! That said, it seems to have a symbolic value and is just one of the many ways that New York City parents transfer their own anxiety and aspirations onto their offspring.
Teenagers of every stripe assembled today, one of many testing days, on Chambers Street, waiting to enter the building. It was a colorful parade of faces from New York’s economic and ethnic melting pot. To say black and white, rich and poor doesn’t even begin to describe the diverse cauldron that is contemporary New York City. We are Chinese, South American, Latin American, Puerto Rican, Mexican, African, African-American, Japanese, Viet Namese, Cambodian, Russian and more.
Continue reading High School Tour Confidential: The Test →
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