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NY Post Shames Teens At "Fail Factory" Manhattan High School
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 23, 2014
Modified Feb 23, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 23, 2014
Modified Feb 23, 2014
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It is seeming less and less likely that Murray Bergtraum High School for Business Careers in Manhattan will catch a break in the press, and perhaps rightly so: first there was rioting after bathroom privileges were taken away, then headlines over several videos of fights at the school. The Post has been hammering the troubled school over its "blended learning" courses (which includes online classes, video instruction, and almost no contact with teachers), which it dubbed a "fail factory" for passing failing students. And today, the Post has gone further by shaming students from the school on their front cover.
In response to the Post's takedown of “blended learning” teacher Alexis Pajares, students were encouraged to write letters to the paper praising Principal Lottie Almonte and her program. Unfortunately, no one proofread those letters, which are filled with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. "To deeply criticize a program that has helped many students especially seniors to graduate I should not see no complaints," wrote one student. "Us as New York City Students deserve respect and encouragement," another letter read. "We are the future of New York City and for some students, The future of the country."
"You can digest in the information at your own paste," another said about the online courses. One student said the program, which is offered to students after they fail in regular classrooms, "made it less challenging and more understandable. We watched a video, answer a few questions, and took an online quiz/test. It was simple, and reasonable."
Whether or not the Post should have printed the letters on their front page is another story, but as former city high school teacher Jessica Siegel put it, "These kids feel strongly, but unfortunately they're not making a good case about the success of their school." Based on these students' letters and descriptions of the program, the method is clearly not working—but it also feels unnecessarily cruel for the Post to let young people who have been let down by the system embarrass themselves with their own words on newsstands across the city.
But hey, this is the NY Post!
Tagged
education
fail factory
manhattan
Murry Bergtraum High School
ny post
school
teen shaming
teens
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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