With Zohran Mamdani projected to win the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, his slate of socialist-influenced policies, from city-owned grocery stores to a rent freeze, are one step closer to reality. Mamdani's socialist agenda won't stop with housing policy or the minimum wage. It will also hit America's largest public school system and aim to kill the best thing about it.
While New York City schools are routinely criticized for overspending, underaccountable teachers' unions, and general dysfunction, the city's group of selective high schools is a consistent bright spot. Eight schools, including Mamdani's alma mater, Bronx High School of Science, admit students through an exam. The schools give talented students from all over the city the ability to escape chaotic local schools and receive an education at some of the top public high schools in the country.
However, the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), which is the test used to admit students, has long come under fire for what critics say is a racial bias. That's because Asian students overwhelmingly perform best on these tests. In 2023, for example, over two-thirds of the students at Stuyvesant High School (widely regarded as the best of the eight high schools) were Asian. However, this framing is reductive. It's worth noting that Asians have the lowest median income of any racial group in New York City. And, contrary to the popular vision of magnet schools being comprised of upper-middle-class white and Asian students, New York's selective high schools are economically diverse; 50 percent of Stuyvesant students are economically disadvantaged. At Bronx Science, it's 52 percent.
