I read a whole bunch of mostly maudlin articles about 9/11

[conuly]

I probably shouldn't've, and I knew it at the time, but I did it anyway. In between sniffling and feeling sad I had bouts of entirely unreasonable anger at, yet again, the ridiculous emphasis on Stuyvesant High School to the exclusion of all else. A profile on various people suffering from 9/11 linked illnesses - two stories about Stuy kids, not one about anybody who taught or was a student at any other school in the area. They could've found somebody if they'd bothered to look. An article on the boat rescue - "Students had to be evacuated from Stuyvesant High School...." Like, would it be so hard to say "from local schools" instead? Even "From local schools including...." would have been better, because it is not the only high school in the area.

I know it feels like I'm ranting about nothing for no reason, and I kinda am, but I'm also kinda not. The obsession the city has with that school is wrong, and it's absolutely bad for those students. I knew multiple students when I attended who admitted outright that they didn't want to be there, but their parents basically forced them. (Smart enough to get a good score on the SHSAT, not smart enough not to, I guess.) It's not a good thing that this school takes up so much parental focus in some families.

Comments

[gingicat]

Bronx Science straight-up ruined my nibling's mental health.

In general I've been grateful that my parents let me go to Music & Art. (Also we actually beat Stuyvesant at least once in Academic Team.)

[conuly]

All those schools are overrated and toxic - and incidentally, LaGuardia isn't that much better, at least if you're in dance. Or it wasn't when Jenn was there, anyway. I actively discouraged the kids from looking at those schools when they applied to high school.

[delight]

My public middle school was also evacuated! I guess we don't exist!

[conuly]

I know omg. (I mean, I don't actually have much idea where the various middle and elementary schools were situated on 9/11 other than the one practically next door to Stuy, by the playground, but I know there's those in the area.)

I hope you're... well, all right.