Asians have protested a proposed bill that would lower education standards in favour of diversity in New York.
According to CGTN, Asians in New York have protested against New York’s mayor who wants to more representation of other ethnicities instead of Asian Americans.
In June, Grace Meng slammed Mayor de Blasio’s plan to scrap admissions tests in New York’s eight prestigious public high schools.
“The mayor’s decision to distract from the harsh realities of the New York City school system by proposing these changes is not only wrong, it is shortsighted,” Meng said at the time.
Over 60% of students in the eight specialised high schools are Asian. Black and Latino students account for 70% of those in public school systems but under 10% are represented in specialised high schools.
Protesters gathered in front of New York’s City Hall to voice their opposition against De Blasio’s proposal.
“We think it’s a superficial fix to a deep problem. It’s sort of like putting a ‘Band-Aid,’ because you’ve got cancer. It doesn’t fix anything,” said Chris Kwok, National Representative of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York
“Their parents decided to put their money towards that test. It’s not rich people that are taking these courses,” Kwok added. “These are poor, working class immigrants that are directing their resources towards enrichment.”
By eradicating admissions tests, the Department of Education is expecting 44% of the offers to go to blacks and Latinos.
According to the proposal, admissions will be based on school performance and state-wide exams scores. A percentage of seats will be allocated at all of the city’s middle schools to the top performing students.
The Department of Education said getting rid of the tests is expected to make 44 percent of the offers go to blacks and Latinos.
Those opposing the proposal fear the standard of the schools will suffer.
“Dumbing down the standards is not going to help our kids. We need to reward our kids that work hard and help more kids have access to the test and we’re just not doing that,” said Julie Killian, candidate for Lieutenant Governor of NY state.
“When you have students with high enough grades to pass the state test, only then will the students be able to do well in these specialized high schools,” said Phil Wong, Supporter of SHSAT.
“When we say keep the test, we’re not saying we don’t care about black and Latino kids. We do. That’s a real issue. The racial inequality that’s there in the school is there. You cannot deny that. That’s a fact,” said Kwok.
