“THE WAY OUT”: A Contemporary Portrait of 1.5 and Second Generation Immigrants from New York City’s Most Selective Public High Schools

Abstract

30,000 eighth graders sit down to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) every October, and Asian students – despite constituting only 16% of public school students citywide – make up 60 to 70% of the student body at the three most selective specialized high schools. Educators pinpoint affordable or free test prepping as the equalizer to help more black/Latino students get admitted. I surveyed (n = 134) and interviewed 16 recent specialized high school alums to examine the saliency of the test prep advantage. My results support that test prepping is indeed a co-ethnic social capital geographically salient in – but not limited to – East Asian enclaves. This thesis will also give insights into how strict parental involvement circumvents the higher-crime neighborhood effect experienced by 1.5 and second-generation black/Latino immigrants. Lastly, I will begin to discuss the limits of the cultural capital acquired from test prepping.