What NYC Teens Actually Think About the SHSAT
In June 2018, I began to hear news about then-Mayor Bill de Blasio wanting to do away with the Standardized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the exam New York City students take to get into one of eight specialized high schools. These specialized schools are seen as huge stepping stones into elite colleges. Instead, the […]
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My Family Taught Me About My Roots
When I was in elementary school, I noticed that White students were favored by my teachers, from being picked first to be class monitors to being excused when bullying other children. In toy stores, my sister and I looked at rows and rows of White dolls wondering why none of them looked like us. There […]
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“You’re So Pretty, You Must Be Half-White”
I had my 14th and 15th birthdays during Covid, when anti-Asian violence was on the rise. Previously, I had experienced a few racist people pull their eyes back and make offensive remarks about eating dogs, but this was the first time I felt afraid and unwanted in my own country. I was horrified as my […]
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My Test Score Didn’t Show What I Could Achieve
The snow was piling up outside the school window, almost as fast as the anxiety building up in my stomach. After what seemed like hours of waiting, I was called down to the guidance counselor’s office to receive my results for the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Brooklyn Technical High School, one of New […]
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