Stuyvesant High School student body
The student body of Stuyvesant High School represents a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and an unusual demographic profile. Admissions have historically been and are currently need- and color-blind, with the sole criterion being a passing score on the Specialized Science High School Admissions Test (SSHSAT).
Jeffrey Hart writes for the Dartmouth Review, "When I went to Stuyvesant, it was about 85 percent Jewish. Today it is about half Asian."
New York City Department of Education statistics reveal that as of 2005, the student body was approximately 51 percent Asian and 38 percent Caucasian, with Blacks and Hispanics each constituting roughly three percent of the population. [1] Russian and Indian students are well-represented, and Jews continue to maintain a strong presence. About 30% of the incoming freshman class are immigrants to the United States, while 20% are first-generation Americans. [2] As of 2003, the most common countries of origin of immigrant students were China, Russia, and India. [3] (See also Demographics of New York City)
According to one teacher, "Stuyvesant used to be all Jews. Now it's all Asians", while Yun Hee Kim '01 called it an "Asian-dominated" school. When asked at a college information session whether Asians could claim minority status on college applications, college advisor Carol Katz answered, "Look to your right, look to your left. Asians are not a minority."
The school's off-center demographic profile and relative paucity of Black and Hispanic students have often been a source of consternation for city administrators. John Lindsay, mayor of New York City from 1966–1973, argued that the test was culturally biased against Black and Hispanic students and sought to implement an affirmative action program. At the protest of parents, however, the plan was scrapped and led to the passage of Article 12, stating that admissions would continue to be by standardized exam only. Despite this, however, a small number of students determined to be economically disadvantaged and who come within a few points of the cut-off score may be given an extra chance to pass the test. [4]
In 1996 community activist group ACORN published a report called "Secret Apartheid", calling the SSHSAT "permanently suspect" and a "product of an institutional racism", claiming that Black and Hispanic students did not have access to proper test preparation materials. [5]. Along with Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew, they began an initiative for more diversity in NY's gifted and specialized schools, in particular demanding that since only a few districts send the majority of Stuyvesant's and Bronx Sciences's students, that the SSHSAT be suspended altogether "until the Board of Education can show that the students of each middle school in the system have had access to curricula and instruction that would prepare them for this test regardless of their color or economic status". Jesse Shapiro, Stuyvesant valedictorian, and Micah C. Lasher, then a sophomore, published several editorials in response, and the outcome was averted. [6] [7]
In the early 2000s, Lingwu Kong '01 published several articles in The Spectator, the school's paper, bemoaning an apparent lack of interaction between the different ethnic groups at Stuyvesant, while a junior echoed his claim, saying "Each group owns a location. On the 6th floor is the Asian clique. The 5th floor is Blacks and Hispanics. Whites hang out on the 2nd and 4th floors and outside at the wall." [8] Most students prefer to socialize within their own ethnic groups, and like many ethnically diverse colleges and universities in the U.S., Stuyvesant has developed into a "salad bowl" — with different sections of the Stuyvesant building being implicitly reserved for members of particular ethnic groups.
Some students don't mind the geographic racial breakup of the school, according to stuycom.net. The site, which offers a student's point of view of the school, says there is significant racial interaction despite the location of the groups' lockers. The site insists all of the aforementioned areas have multiple individuals of different races residing in those areas that discredit the seemingly territorial connotations the "designations" imply.
As it is a public school, Stuy students attend tuition-free. Although poor students abound, the dominant social group is upper-middle class, split largely between the White Manhattanites, the Brooklynite Jews, and Asians from Queens. Stuyvesant is like most high schools in that many pay attention to fashion; perennial favorites for girls include flares, either denim or nylon, while the "guys'" preferences are as fickle as New York City's transit system, ranging from JnCos during the mid-1990s to smaller jeans and North Face jackets in the later 1990s. Beat up sneakers à la Moby and brightly colored clothing are popular among Stuy's Manhattan "raver" contingent, while a few clad themselves in destitutely black gothic apparel. Blatantly lascivious clothing such as fishnet stockings and thigh-high boots are not uncommon. Stuyvesant has no dress code, although one administrator remarks, the only requirement is that "you keep your private parts private". Nevertheless, Stuy's hordes of calculator geeks and more serious students tend to pay less attention to fashion.
External links
- "Destroying Excellence" Opinion by Jeffrey Hart, Dartmouth Review, on attempts to suspend the SSHSAT
- Race @ Stuy, editorial
- "White Students' League Denied By Administration"
- Stuyvesant High School official website