On the eve of Election Day on September 13, hundreds of Chinese braved the rain to hold a rally in Forlì Square in lower Manhattan on the 9th to protest the cancellation of the special high school entrance examination. The Chinese believe that students should be admitted on the basis of grades rather than skin color, and that it is not advisable to enroll students according to head quotas.
Hundreds of Chinese braved the rain on the 9th to hold a rally in Forlì Square in lower Manhattan to protest the cancellation of the special high school entrance examination. (Photo by Tu Junlin Jing)
This time it was a demonstration spontaneously organized by the Chinese, and the atmosphere was very warm, many parents brought their children to the rally, the children wore raincoats, held up slogans, stood in the wind and rain for more than an hour, and followed the adults chanting slogans. Many of the participants have children who are preparing for high school or are in high school, and they stand up for their own interests and bravely express their hearts.
The rally was initiated by the Asian American Defense Alliance and the Homology Society, supported by the Education Alliance, the Residents' Alliance of Queens and Brooklyn, and the parents of Steyvesant High School.
State Senator Gordon, State Representative Colton, and City Councilman Yaming Gu opposed Mayor De Blasio's proposal to cancel the special high school entrance exam at the rally, arguing that the quality of education should be improved in the lower grades to solve the fundamental problem. Gordon and Colton also pledged to block passage in the state legislature. Chen Shanzhuang, chairman of the Asian People's Rights Defense Alliance, and Chen Huihua, chairman of the Homology Association, called on the Chinese to come out and vote to express the demands of the Chinese.
The Chinese put children's education first
Many Chinese parents have a common view: Chinese people devote all their financial and material resources to their children's education, and their children are also very diligent in studying, and they can enter good schools to win, not that the family has money or the children are naturally smart.
Parent Chen Weiqing said: "Our children study hard, we parents give resources to their children, they can not eat or wear, put their children's education first, this is our fault." Everyone's opportunities are equal, not that our children are naturally smart, but that they work hard. ”
Chen Weiqing's daughter has just entered Stuyvesant for 9th grade. She pointed out that education is the most important thing for the Chinese, and if this bottom line is touched, the Chinese will come out to fight.
Admissions are based on grades, not skin color
Chinese parents believe that the current entrance examination for special high schools is fair and should not be abolished.
Linda Chen, another Steyvesant high school parent, said the test was fair and that Asian children had worked so hard to get into good schools. The test was fair to all ethnic groups, and others didn't get in because they didn't work so hard.
Chen Linda believes that it would be unfair to allocate the 20% quota to African-Americans and Hispanics. Students with low grades can't keep up even if they go in, and only by starting from primary and secondary schools can they really help them. "I also want the distribution of all races to be balanced, but the mayor's proposal doesn't solve the problem, and the hard rules are not good for children and the school atmosphere," she said. ”
The Chinese value good school style
May Li, who lives in Brooklyn, brings her children to the rally. She said, "After entering a special high school, it is more likely to enter a good university, and the school atmosphere is good, children at this age are easy to learn bad, in a good school, they are together with good students, it is not easy to learn bad." ”
Li Mei, who has two children in the 5th and 6th grades, believes that if the exam is abolished, the chances of children entering special high schools are small.
Chen Weiqing pointed out that many special high school students come from low-income Chinese families, they are not rich, but parents put all their resources into their children's education.
As a former Chinese student, she was also attracted by the eclectic atmosphere of New York, but if the exams were cancelled and private schools were too expensive, she thought the Chinese would move out of New York, Long Island or New Jersey.
White parents point out the ills of the education system
The rally was attended by a handful of white parents, and Three children from Isabella Goldwints, who live in Manhattan, attended Stuyvesant High School, two of whom have graduated. She pointed out that special high schools are not diverse, but actually reflect the entire education system in New York, "the exam is like a mirror, the mirror looks at your problems, you can't break the mirror, but you should solve the problem." ”
She believes that New York education is an institutional problem, from kindergarten to 8th grade, children are not well educated; if the problem is solved, it is to provide special tuition programs in each school district's junior high school, such as math tuition, to help children improve their grades and prepare for good high school.