'White privilege' survey posted in mostly minority school in Manhattan
By Rich Calder and Bruce Golding
June 23, 2019 | 8:54pm | Updated June 24, 2019 | 8:38am
Page 1 of a survey on how a person's race affects their daily life, hung on a bulletin board for students and faculty to see at the Life Sciences Secondary School on East 96th Street on the Upper East Side.
Page 2 of the survey
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The "three Rs" at this school are reading, 'riting and resentment.
A survey on "white privilege" was posted in a Manhattan school with virtually no white students — raising questions about what, besides stirred-up outrage, is being taught.
The two-page "White Privilege Exercise" was spotted earlier this month inside the Life Sciences Secondary School amid the ongoing controversy over Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza's racial diversity initiatives.
City Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) said a city worker last week sent him photos of the questionnaire stapled to a hallway bulletin board near the principal's office, but it's unclear who put it up or why.
"What could even be the purpose of this in a school that has so few white students? Is it to inflame tensions and single out?" Borelli said.
"Given the school's abominable test and college readiness scores, perhaps the chancellor should be concerned that they are not teaching enough math and English."
The East 96th Street school has 520 high school students who are 3 percent white and a 54-student middle school that's just 2 percent white. Only 24 percent of the middle schoolers met state standards on English tests, while the results in math were even more dismal, with just 13 percent meeting state standards.
In the high school, a mere 16 percent of students were able to pass college prep or career prep courses and exams, and 36 percent graduated "college ready" for the CUNY system.
The 26-item questionnaire is based on a 1990 academic magazine article titled "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack," and includes statements such as "If a police officer pulls me over, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race" that get scored based on whether they're "often," "sometimes" or "seldom" true.
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A similar survey is posted on the "What's Race Got To Do With It?" website, which says it should be used during group discussions to reveal different average scores for "each racial group" involved.
In 2016, The Post revealed that the Department of Education was using the "White Privilege Exercise" during mandatory racial sensitivity training for school staffers. The DOE said some schools also began using the survey as part of a pilot program called "Courageous Conversations About Race" that involves both staffers and students.
The program started at Life Sciences Secondary with 15 participants during the 2017-'18 school year, and was expanded this year due to "positive feedback," the DOE said.
But officials didn't respond to questions about the survey being posted where all the kids could see it.
"Our sole focus is on improving outcomes for our students," DOE spokesman Will Mantell said. "Test scores and graduation rates at Life Sciences are increasing, and the school is strengthening instruction while also building a supportive environment by having real conversations about race and equity."
In 2017, Life Sciences principal Kimberly Swanson came under fire when The Post exposed how her low-performing school threw out hundreds of purportedly "outdated" textbooks without replacing them — just weeks after spending $15,000 in taxpayer money so she and eight staffers could attend an academic conference in Anaheim, Calif.
The three-day junket included a gala party at Disneyland, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.
Filed under department of education , Richard Carranza , white people