Photo by Salomé Noufele

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, proclaims in Article 26: 'everyone has the right to education.’ However, it is wrong to assume that everyone deserves an equal education, as the NYCDOE has proved. In eighth grade,  NYC middle schoolers are forced to write essays, take tests, go to interviews, and audition for the top schools. The NYCDOE established the high school process to give all students a chance at a great education, but the reality is that it causes anxiety in eighth graders, as the process declares their worth and value to all of the schools. The New York City High School process does more harm than good, as it is an unfair system that only leaves a group of people happy, and the majority of everyone miserable. 

          Every child is ranked by high school on a computerized list. The process has an emotional consequence on children because it makes them feel as if they are worthless, or not enough for the education that they deserve. It is shameful that children so young are having to face this amount of emotional trauma.  Some lower-income families do not have the money to afford things like tutoring. According to Eliza Shapiro in a NYT article published last year, Stuyvesant, arguably the best high school in NYC, only had seven black students accepted in the year 2019-20 out of 895. Students are being discriminated against because some families may not have the money to give their children opportunities they deserve. The process is punishing these children for things they have no control over.

          Some may argue that the high school process is fair because it rewards students who have good grades by giving them the education they worked for. Although this may be true in some cases, it is not the full story. I underwent the high school process last year. The NYCDOE taught me that the numbers on a page define all that I am, so I worked incredibly hard, but I wasn’t given the reward I was promised. I was rejected by many schools because, well, simply because there are not enough seats in the schools. I had developed serious anxiety after worrying about my numbers for nothing. As a NYT article, written by Ford Fessenden, an investigative reporter, states “Ultimately, there just are not enough good schools to go around. And so it is a system in which some children win and others lose because of factors beyond their control — like where they live and how much money their families have.” A computer that looks at numbers, and not at the full picture, ranks children. The computer that ranks children doesn’t think about the hardships in a child’s life that prevented them from opportunities in the future. The so-called “algorithm” that high schools use simply does not work.

          The high school process gives children anxiety over something they have almost no control over. Stop making thirteen year-olds consider their worth by making them think that they aren’t enough. The NYCDOE needs to make sure that all schools give equal opportunities so no other kids have to go through the painful experience that I did. If that isn’t possible, shut down the system completely and send children to zoned schools, where all are equal.