Three hundred students from Beacon High School walked out from school to protest against one of New York’s most selective public schools.
Beacon High School students on protest
Around 300 students from New York’s most selective prestigious public high school went out of their classes to join the protest against admission selection policies.
According to the students, the school admission process is making the segregation issue in the nation’s most extensive school system more complicated.
Naia Timmons, one of the students from Beacon High school who considers herself privileged for not being in the minority, joined her classmate at the streets in protest.
I continue to recognize the privilege I had of escaping the system that many of my friends could not.
Some of Timmons’ classmates in the background are shouting “End Jim Crow” (a racial caste system which is primarily anti-black) and “Education is a right, not just for rich and white.”
School integration in New York schools
According to data, New York has some of America’s most segregated schools. Despite the constant call for school integration in the state, there are still existing schools that practices segregation in their admission policies.
The protest in Beacon High School is just a manifestation that more civil citizens are getting involved in the issue of segregation in public schools around New York.
Beacon being a non-specialized high school – no admission tests required – has a questionable population comprised of almost 50 percent white students in a community that is nearly 70 percent black and Hispanic.
Beacon is one of the most selective schools in New York, which requires students to submit middle school portfolios, standardized grades, and entry essays upon admission. The institution also has the lowest percentage of students living in poverty. Last year, the school’s parent-teacher association raised over $685,000 worth of funds.
Cons of being in a selective school
Several families support strict screening in schools. Students who demonstrate academic excellence in middle school deserve to be in the top-performing high school.
Students that go into Beacon High School are privileged in terms of access to private tutors, sufficient guidance counselors, and well-equipped facilities.
The abundance of privilege in our school is so universal that it goes unquestioned and unnoticed
-Toby Paperno, Junior student
But being in a highly selective school, minority students feel the segregation and racist remarks even more.
A Hispanic and white student shared her sentiments on the issue:
I feel uncomfortable with the idea that my classmates see my admission to Beacon. They think I am here not because of my intellect or talent but because of the unspoken privilege out of my race.
An Asian-American sophomore added:
I benefited from segregation thanks to my high grades in middle school. But I feel isolated at school, which was only about nine percent Asian.
Featured image by WNYC
