Miseducation

This spring, our team of student interns is taking you inside NYC's segregated high schools to investigate the policies that perpetuate this dual system.

At the City Council's December 7 hearing on school integration, representatives from the Department of Education showed no signs of picking up the pace to address what Council Member Ritchie Torres called a "crisis." Student members of Teens Take Charge and dozens of other advocates testified at the hearing. Students Whitney and Nelson joined Taylor to recap the highs and lows of the hearing.

For this Extra Credit segment, we hear from Brian, an 18-year-old Crown Heights native who has been perseverant in pursuit of his career goals despite facing obstacles posed by educational inequity and systemic racism.

Featuring the testimony of a dozen members of the student-led group Teens Take Charge, season one ends with a strong call to action. Visit bellpodcast.com and click on "Join the Movement to End Segregated Schools" to get involved.

Hebh Jamal grew up in the Bronx but attended an elite public high school in midtown Manhattan. That experience gave her a sense of just how big of a difference five miles can make when it comes to schooling – and it prompted her to start asking questions about race, class, and enrollment. Eventually, she teamed up with a youth-led group called IntegrateNYC4me, and together, they found some answers. Now, Hebh is an activist on a mission to integrate the nation's most racially segregated public school system. This present fight echoes of a similar one, six decades earlier. Will the result be different this time around?

Extra Credit segments are a chance to hear more from the incredible young people featured in the season. We start with the young man at the center of the first two episodes: Noah.

There are plenty of examples of 100% non-white schools that have produced tremendous results. So, why raise a fuss about integration? Episode 4 dives headfirst into that debate. It features two black scholars with a core disagreement about integration and two black New York City teens who attended very different schools.

From testy encounters in church youth groups to long-distance video game friendships, hear how students in racially isolated Harlem schools interact with white students. Plus, a look back at the social science that laid the foundation for the Brown v. Board decision.

With Episode 3 on the horizon, editor Taylor McGraw takes a short break to analyze the city's recently announced school integration goals, and to propose an alternative approach.

We pick up with Noah's story at the end of 8th grade and learn about his high school, how he chose it, and what's next once he graduates. Along the way, we dive into NYC's complex and controversial "open choice" admissions process for high schools. We hear about Noah's teachers, friendships, and thoughts on a range of topics, including segregation.

Noah is 16 years old, laid back, persistently late to school. His friends call him a genius. He shrugs off such praise – says he just does "what he's supposed to do." He's right. He passes his classes and state tests when he's supposed to pass them. But, in a segregated school system accustomed to failure and remediation, passing represents a rare feat. Noah's educational journey – full of twists and turns, successes and setbacks – provides an introduction to New York City's separate and unequal schools. This is the first in a two-episode series on Noah.

Coming Spring 2017