Crains New York - October 8, 2012 - (Page 10)

OPINION hen evaluating job applicants, employers consider experience, education, character and skills. They do interviews and check references. Colleges and universities do the same with students seeking admission. But for seven of the city’s elite public high schools, a single test score is all that matters. That doesn’t make sense. The result has been a lack of diversity at these top schools that is nothing short of stunning in our multicultural city. The student population at Stuyvesant High School is 72% Asian, 24% white, 1% black and 2% Hispanic. Bronx High School of Science is 64% Asian, 25% white, 4% black and 7% Hispanic. Asians, who account for 13% of city residents, also predominate at Queens High School for Sciences (74%) and Brooklyn Technical High School (60%). Asian students deserve credit for performing so well on the Specialized High School Admissions Test. They can’t be blamed for mastering the process, which has been enshrined in state law since 1971. The problem is the system itself. Mayor Michael Bloomberg likes that the test is purely objective: All applicants who score above the cutoff set by their top-choice school are admitted. But high-school admissions need not be free of subjectivity. The point is to admit students who are most likely to succeed and who best enhance the experiences of fellow students. A test score alone does not predict success in W H.S. policy earns ‘incomplete’ school as well as a combination of grades, test scores and other factors. That stands to reason, because flourishing in school requires much more than acing one test. The NAACP recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education about the city’s policy.That was no surprise: The organization advocates for blacks, who are dramatically underrepresented at schools that rely on the SHSAT. More telling is that the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, though not a party to the complaint, also views the policy as problematic even though it appears to favor Asians.The advocacy organization opposes admission policies that discriminate without reason, and this one fits that description. A school is better off having a diverse population of bright students than a homogeneous one. An admission policy that is selective and comprehensive would produce a student body more reflective of the city and more likely to thrive academically and socially. To broaden these elite institutions’ one-dimensional admission policy would not be to “get rid of these schools,” as the mayor impulsively claimed. It would improve them. CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan EDITORIAL editor Glenn Coleman deputy managing editors Valerie Block, Erik Ipsen assistant managing editors Erik Engquist, Jeremy Smerd senior producer, news Elisabeth Butler Cordova news producer Lauren Elkies contributing editor Elaine Pofeldt columnists Greg David, Alair Townsend crain’s health pulse editor Barbara Benson senior reporters Theresa Agovino, Aaron Elstein, Lisa Fickenscher, Matthew Flamm, Miriam Kreinin Souccar reporters Amanda Fung, Andrew J. Hawkins, Adrianne Pasquarelli contributing reporter Chris Bragg web reporter, producer Tania Karas art director Steven Krupinski deputy art director Carolyn McClain staff photographer Buck Ennis copy desk chief Steve Noveck copy editor Thaddeus Rutkowski data editor Suzanne Panara assistant data editor Emily Laermer researchers Eva Saviano, Amy Stern interns Ali Elkin, Emily Lundeen ONLINE AND INTERACTIVE SERVICES general manager, online & e-commerce strategy Kira Bindrim senior web developer, interactive Chris O’Donnell ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION advertising director Trish Henry senior account managers Irene Bar-Am, Courtney McCombs, Sheryl Rose, Suzanne Wilson account executive Jill Bottomley Kunkes sales coordinator Danielle Wiener newsletter product manager Alexis Sinclair credit Todd J. Masura (313-446-6097) director, audience development Michael O’Connor senior marketing manager Catherine Schutten event producer Courtney Williams reprint sales manager Lauren Melesio production and pre-press director Michael Corsi advertising production manager Suzanne Fleischman Wies TO SUBSCRIBE: For print and digital subscriptions or customer service, e-mail customerservice@crainsnewyork.com or call 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years, for print subscriptions with digital access. www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe TO ADVERTISE: Contact Advertising Director Trish Henry at thenry@crainsnewyork.com or call 212-210-0711. www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise FOR INFORMATION ON OUR EVENTS: Contact Event Producer Courtney Williams at cwilliams@crainsnewyork.com or 212-210-0257. www.crainsnewyork.com/events TO CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: The lack of diversity at top city schools is stunning CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL COMMENTS A comptrolled response bloomberg news AFFORDABLE-HOUSING ‘CRISIS’ DEBATE, CONT’D In an Oct. 1 letter to Crain’s, Rent Stabilization Association President Joseph Strasburg wrote that Comptroller John Liu’s recent report on New York City’s affordable-housing crisis “slices and dices the statistics” in order to suggest that middle-income renters have greater affordability problems than poor renters. Mr. Strasburg is being disingenuous. Comptroller Liu’s report points out that the affordablehousing shortage has become so severe, that in addition to low-income renters, middleincome renters are now feeling the bite. In 2000, 23% of the city’s rental units were unaffordable to medianincome households. That figure skyrocketed to 38% in 2012. Bottom line: More New Yorkers have watched their rents climb as their incomes have remained flat. That’s a WHO WON THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE? Knockout for Mitt Romney Victory for a calm and cool President Obama Draw between two worthy candidates Total snooze Date of poll: Oct. 4 152 votes problem that threatens our city’s social fabric, no matter how you slice the numbers. Unaffordable rents are a national problem, but New York is in the unique position of having more than two-thirds of its households composed of renters (compared with onethird nationally). So high rents burden a far greater percentage of renters here than in the rest of the nation. Perhaps that’s a point that Mr. Strasburg would prefer not to acknowledge because, as president of the largest association of New York landlords, he has a vested interest in minimizing the city’s affordable-housing crisis. 62% 20% Deputy comptroller for economic development —mark kim HUNTS POINTLESS Your story “Hunts Point deal keeps Jersey at bay” (Crains NewYork.com) makes reference to the Business 9% 9% Integrity Commission: “The merchants contend that the agency is assessing needless fees and penalties for various infractions such as parking violations within the market.” That, plus all the local taxes and other regulations, etc., make for not such a profitable business plan. The only reason these companies and institutions don’t move to New Jersey is because of the tolls on the Hudson River crossings, all manufactured by the Port Authority, which, ironically, is supposed to support commerce “within the Port District,” not take commerce to the cleaners to finance its mismanagement. Once this economy gets back on its feet, watch an exodus of small and midsize businesses from New York City, similar to what happened during the 1970s. They have nothing to look forward to with the likes of who is running for mayor, either. 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 editorial phone: 212.210.0277 fax 212.210.0799 Entire contents ©copyright 2012 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. PUBLISHED BY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain secretary Merrilee Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby group vp, technology, circulation, manufacturing Robert C. Adams vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. (1911-1996) —james fay FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. 10 | Crain’s New York Business | October 8, 2012 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe http://www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events http://www.NewYork.com http://www.crainsnewyork.com/poll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - October 8, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
CORPORATE LADDER
FROM AROUND THE CITY
OPINION
GREG DAVID
THE LIST
REAL ESTATE DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - October 8, 2012