Is There Something Wrong With Stuyvesant?

The Daily News looks at some evidence that suggests Stuyvesant High School's current senior class is slipping. Okay, two pieces of evidence: (1) Not as many early college acceptances as they would like (Harvard has only accepted 4 students so far!) and (2) Stuy students were shut out of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists (and a half piece of evidence is that many sophomores seemed to be underperforming). What's interesting is that Stuy's Class of 2005 entered their freshman year with the World Trade Center attacks on September 11 - a fact made clear to college admissions officers in a letter sent from the school (though it wasn't mean to be "an apology"). Principal Stanley Teitel feels that students are still performing at high levels, even though there have been notable cases of drug use and gambling at the school, which, admittedly, are kind of timeless. Gothamist expects some Stuy alumni to step up and shake their college network to try to keep their reputations in tact, because if there's one thing Gothamist knows, it's that those Stuy alums are fierce. And something else that's disturbing at Stuy: Urination in the stairwells. Kids, that is so 80s - get over yourselves.

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Wow urination in the stairwells? At least they're now catching up with the rest of the NYC High School system. They have been woefully behind in the fields of gambling, drugs, and sex when compared to the rest of our schools for years.
Thats what happens when 2/3rds of the student body spend their weekends playing starcraft and counterstrike.

Ever hear of Senior Sing? ugh

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Is this just this year?

I hear that Bronx Science had more people going going as a first choice one year, and I would guess it's this one, being right after 9/11 and all..

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Nevermind, I just realize it would affect the year after. Wow, that blows..

Is anyone else sick of hearing about Stuy (not here at Gothamist, but in NY media in general)? How come Hunter HS never gets any love? As far as I know, male students only peed on the bathroom floors when they were trying to be "bad".

I like Stuy and other like it. It's competitive and students are well behaved in general.

Because a lot of the students who go to Hunter High School are elitists and aholes.
And I'm not saying that out of hate. Its public knowledge.

Stuy has a better location, brighter students, it just LOOKS better then Hunter. Not to mention many public officials, stars, etc have their kids go there. The press, even blogs love that.

Hunter = Ugly

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> Stuy has a better location, [than Hunter]

Better building for sure. Better location is debatable.

> brighter students,

Funny. But totally untrue.

JT

it's not clear to me why people who are freshmen would be more affected by 9/11 than the people who were sophs, juniors, or seniors.. i'd think seniors would be most affected, no? unless we are talking cumulative depressive effect on the grades...
also - does stuy still have incoming sophomores? they shouldn't be affected at all (in some theories) ;)

i remember when i was in stuy (over 10 years ago) there were still claims that stuy was getting worse. my year was called worse than previous years by many teachers - for many reasons!

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No one talks about Hunter because no one really talks about second place...

Why, whenever there is a Stuy story, do the Hunter alumns come out of the woodwork and whine, whine, whine?

Stuy is bigger.

Stuy has more famous alumns (partly because it IS bigger.)

Stuy has a higher profile building.

After 9/11, Stuy became a much higher profile school.

Stuy's building is more ostentious.

Stuy gets more kids (in raw numbers) into the elite schools.




All of these reasons are why Stuy gets more press. This has it's pros and cons. It's great that my alma is in the news all the time and people know about it. It sucks that whenever a small bad thing happens, it also hits the press.



It sucks that Stuy is always on the radar of the "watchdog" groups as well. Sure, Hunter gets less credit... but I bet ACORN never stormed your lobby and held a screaming/sign carrying protest with 50 parents while you were taking your AP Calc BC exam...



So just suck it up. The people who matter know Hunter is great too. Fortunately, you guys are mostly under the radar for a bunch of wackos and politicos... This doesn't have to be a pissing match (pun intended.)

Hunter gets unfairly overshadowed, in large part because while Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech are the jewels of the public high-school system, Hunter is part of CUNY. So CUNY understandably focuses on its colleges and makes Hunter High and Elementary afterthoughts. Thus Stuy gets its $180 million building while Hunter has to get by with K through 12 crammed into a building designed as a junior high school. We could have stood to be a little less under the radar when those decisions were being made.

I hope Hunter does start to get more credit soon, because it's a truly great institution. It was the top-ranked public high school of any sort in The Wall Street Journal's nationwide high-school rankings a few months ago, way ahead of Stuy. So that's a start.

Ahh and here we go into a 'My School is Better' flame war.

Who cares about Stuy and Hunter? What about Francis Lewis? We may have an old building, a sucky location right by the LIE, and a Swim Team when we have no pool, but we have character and we're just as smart and talented, we just don't have big heads.

Plus we get laid alot more.

Aren't we forgetting how great Clinton HS is? I heard that if the Stuy kids dont behave, they will be sent to the Boogie Down.

You're all idiots. Look towards the numbers to find the best HS in NYC. Who topped SATs, Regents, Graduation %, 4 year college enrollment? Townsend Harris.

OK, all of you, stop it. I went to one of these instututions. It was great. I know people who went to the other schools mentioned here -- they are great too.

Like the Democratic Party, we should stop all this infighting and unite together against a common enemy far greater: the private schools and their a**hole students and alums...

Go Kevin!!! I've had enough...this is all I ever hear...even in school...Science this...Stuy that ...Hunter this ...Townsend that...blah blah blah...does it really matter? (I go to one of the schools mentioned above)

The Bronx High School of Science is better than Stuyvesant High School. Don't forget, we've produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other secondary school in the world. We've also produced five Pulitzer Prize winners and five National Medal of Science winners. Who cares about the Stuyvesant building. One day Bronx Science will get a new state of the art building. Then let's see who ends up with the highest SHSAT cut-off score!

i think that some teachers at stuy are horrible, but it is so for most other schools. the STUDENTS make the school. if it isnt full of smart people, stuy would be nothing. The enviroment at stuy is very friendly though, and i have no urge to be competetive at all.I have also never been discriminated against, saw any violence, or pressured by my peers so far. I do not understand why we are hated by so many. We are smart, but we are still human. Is it wrong for SOME of us to be stupid? So what if some people have low averages. I know some people that failed most of their classes but got a 570 on satIIs without studying.It is not true that all stuy students are mature and nerdy etc. those are just stereotypes. We have all sorts of people, and they do whatever they want. it is wrong to be talked about so badly just because the students are supposed to be "good".

please do not take offense at my comment and i meant 770. yes.

I graduated from Stuyvesant in 2003. By then, the school was already ruined by the horrible principal that took over in 1999. He used 9-11 security concerns as an excuse to crack down on students cutting classes, leaving the building etc. Before then, students had much more freedom and Stuy felt like a different school, where the students had freedom and could occupy the building as their own. This all changed with draconian new rules that banished kids sitting on certain floors and instituted constant id checks. Well, the principal wanted to turn Stuy into just another NYC high school, and he got his wish, except now the kids behave like they're in prison, not in a relaxed environment. Even when I was there, I remember upperclassmen telling me about how much MORE freedom they had before 1999 and how school was so much more fun. It's sad really. After the new rules, I no longer had respect for a school with such an oppressive environment, and I can very well understand the kind of disregard from which pissing in the hallways stems from. No wonder Stuy is losing its academic distinction. When you treat the students like they are in an average prison-like NYC high school, they will perform like they are. Congratulations principal and (some) staff, you have ruined Stuyvesant!

As a current student of Bronx Science, I would have to say we do own. Seven noble prize winners? I mean come on, that rivals some colleges. All we need is a new building like one in queens and we'd get the reputation back. Plus Stuy keeps on making offers on Bronx Science Teachers.

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Okay. Why does the gothamist have it in for Stuy? Is this Jen Chung insulting Stuyvesant just beacuse she didn't get in? Seven Nobel prize doesn't really mean anything. Stuy graduates are on average more richer, more down to earth, and more philanthropic.

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