Welcome back from the holidays, students — can you spell “integration”? Or better yet, define it?
Probably not, since only 29% of New York City eighth graders are proficient in reading at grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ “Nation’s Report Card.”
How about doing “integration”?
Even less likely, since only 23% of eight graders are proficient in math, and by 12th grade, where calculus and integration are usually taught, far too many students have long fallen behind in algebra and given up entirely on math.
For comparison, calculus is mandatory or often required for university-track high schoolers in countries such as India, Germany, France and Russia.
“Integration” is important when Kamar Samuels, the city’s newly appointed schools chancellor, is best known for “integration initiatives,” for which he scaled back gifted and talented programs, reduced middle-school screens for admissions and merged successful programs (sounds far nicer than “closed successful programs”) into lower-performing schools.
Indeed, hours before his own inauguration, Mayor Mamdani emphasized Samuels’ focus on integration and equity in his announcement to justify the appointment, a clear signal of what lies ahead — a page from the appalling playbook of former Mayor Bill de Blasio and failed Chancellor Richard Carranza, who did nothing for merit, basic reading and STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) while they chased woke racial goals.
The underlying assumption — that distinctions based on merit are inherently unjust — has not translated into stronger fundamentals but created a curriculum that diverted attention from dismal performance by imposing an ideological view of equity focused on delivering equal outcomes.
You can’t equity your way to excellence.
Even Syndrome, the villain in “The Incredibles,” gloats, “And when everyone’s super, no one will be.”
After a relatively quieter, less ideologically driven period under Mayor Eric Adams and Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, families now fear: How badly will Mamdani and Samuels’ woke antimeritism drive student declines, in both numbers and scores?
Mamdani has already backpedaled on ending mayoral control — now in office, he can wield it to drive his no-one-will-be-excellent socialistic vision, whether against the specialized high schools, screened middle schools or gifted and talented programs.
These policies risk accelerating the exodus of families seeking academic rigor.
The Department of Education reports there are 793,300 students enrolled in K-12 for the 2025-2026 year, down 10% since 2020.
Families are voting with their feet, with poor educational instruction (41%) and safety (25%) the top reasons to leave the city’s public district schools for public charter schools, private schools or parochial schools — or moving out of the city.
Even black enrollment has dropped, 54% in the last 20 years. Some “integration”!
Families aren’t fleeing because of “integration,” “segregation,” “culturally responsive” education or for race — it’s a flight for quality.
While the total number of K-12 students has shrunk, charter-school enrollment from that population is up to 150,500 students, a number growing annually from a few hundred in 1999.
Networks such as Success Academy schools (with 96.2% meeting proficiency in math and 92.5% in reading), which are mostly black and Hispanic, draw students from every race.
Quality trumps ideological positions and integration projects.
Meanwhile, nearly 35% of public-school students are chronically absent, a crisis race-obsession won’t solve.
Students might show up more often if schools offered rigorous academics or meaningful vocational training instead of haranguing them about privileges or how race infects every corner.
The DOE budget has swollen to $42.8 billion this fiscal year, the highest in the country and the city budget’s largest item, with per-student spending, including pre-K and 3K, at $44,000, higher than anywhere in the country and most of the world, yet academic results remain dismal.
Samuels will also have to deal with the cost of adding thousands of unqualified teachers to meet the class-size-reduction mandate, which Mamdani supported in the Assembly; the $10 million in grants for integration Samuels obtained for Districts 3 and 13 might not be repeated, but those seem to serve the program staff more than students anyway.
New York City schools are already super-majority-minority — with whom exactly are we integrating, the dwindling pool of whites? Or are we just making kids leave neighborhood schools for schools across town with the same demographics?
Chancellor Samuels: Emphasizing nonacademic integration over excellence risks producing more empty desks — and more families saying goodbye to a system that’s lost its way.
How about respecting taxpayers by not squandering $43 billion of their hard-earned money and by prioritizing excellence for all students: rigorous instruction in reading, writing and mathematics or meaningful vocational instruction; merit-based recognition for teaching and learning; firm discipline and safe schools in every neighborhood; and expanded educational options for families?
Only then can we have better outcomes for every student.
Wai Wah Chin is the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York founding president and a Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
