CACF Statement on Senate Committee Community Forum on Diversity
New York, NY —Last night’s Queens community forum held by the NYS Senate Committee on NYC Education was supposed to create a space for community engagement and discussion on school diversity and the specialized high schools in NYC. However, the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) was deeply disappointed and saddened by the divisive language and the fear-driven rhetoric against other communities of color in arguing to keep the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) as the sole criteria for admission. We are also disappointed in the persistent lack of inclusion in this debate of the voices of those in the Asian Pacific American (APA) community pushing for educational equity and educational reform.
Perpetuating ‘positive’ stereotypes about Asian American students and falling prey to the model minority myth not only hides the wide range of issues we face in the education system (lack of language access, cultural competency, xenophobia etc), but also serves to blind us to how we are being used to further marginalize communities of color. We, including the APA community, need constructive and inclusive dialogue and solutions to create integrated learning communities and we should not be satisfied with the status quo.
At the Senate Forum last night, the perspectives of APA community members were again dominated by those who want to keep the single test. The community needs to stop seeing reform to the specialized high school admissions policy as a zero sum game. We ALL lose if we continue down the path we are on, placing such high stakes on a single test. It hurts ALL of our children because we define their ability by a single score - one imperfect measure with a cut-off score that fluctuates year to year. And we ALL lose out on the best education possible with an inequitable education system.
CACF is calling all communities to fight collectively for educational equity. We need diverse and inclusive school environments; investments in schools and new schools across the City, especially targeting those schools and communities who are still impacted by historic under-investments; and creating opportunities that not only bring about the academic excellence of our students, but also support them in their social emotional growth. We also need reform of our single test admissions policy and the entire high school selection process.
CACF calls for the NYS Senate Committee on NYC Education at the upcoming borough forums to lay out clear rules of decorum at the start of the event to ensure that all voices are respected and heard, but also that the language used is respectful of the diverse communities of New York.
