This is primarily relevant to other Stuyvesant graduates (re: the nonsense about removing or supplementing the entrance test), but I thought it was a perfect statement in regards to both this issue and life in general: What made Stuyvesant special, like nothing I’ve experienced since, was the diversity coupled with our acceptance of one another as equals precisely because we all cleared the same hurdle for admission. No one was treated with disdain because of the assumption that the bar was lowered to accommodate them. I graduated in ’86 and the diversity of the school is clearly not what it was when many of us attended, and I think this needs to be addressed, but adding more subjective criteria to the admissions process would change the very thing which made it special. It would become like every other selective institution where minorities and often women are made to feel like they are less qualified, less entitled or just plain less than. Diversity without that acceptance breeds resentment on every side – resentment that you don’t deserve to be here as much as I do – resentment of the assumption that I’m less qualified. And you know what? It sucks! My Stuyvesant experience let me know that something better is possible. The experience of diversity with acceptance has caused us all to show up carrying that possibility into the world and I think it’s important that the next generation of leaders be able to experience the same. -- Lisa H. Jones, Stuy 86
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 23:58:30 +0000
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