The New York post documents disturbing news about local public school graduates.
Nearly half of all New York City public school graduates who head to local community colleges are forced into remedial classes to survive their first semester, troubling new data obtained by The Post reveal.
Amid chronic absenteeism, widespread grade inflation, and a failure to prepare students for higher education, city school kids are being shoved through an educational revolving door without truly learning, experts told The Post.
“Most of the kids we get from New York City schools are underprepared for college,” said Mohammad Alam, assistant dean of enrollment at Borough of Manhattan Community College.
In Fall 2022 across the City University of New York’s seven community colleges, 5,046 former Department of Education students were enrolled in a remedial math course, while 4,250 had to take remedial English — 47% of all new DOE high school graduates, a CUNY spokesperson said.
The lack of readiness for college work leaves students, some now parents themselves, frustrated — and angry.
“I don’t think high schools, especially public schools in The Bronx, prepared me enough” for college, said Priscilla Walker, a Bronx mom of two who at 29 is still struggling to earn an associate’s degree from BMCC. “That’s how the public school system runs: ‘These are not my kids, I just don’t care.’”
Sáleenal Butler, 20, complained that teachers at her former high school, Millennium Art Academy in the Bronx, “got annoyed when people asked questions” – which was why she had to start her Bronx Community College career in a remedial math class.
Nathan Ortiz, 18, said his classes at Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School in the South Bronx “weren’t engaging or motivating. The education system in New York is just outdated.”
“Most are just overwhelmed by how many students they have,” Butler said.