When selecting a high school, it is very common for immigrant families, especially new immigrant families, to face difficulties in their children's enrollment decisions due to language barriers and a lack of understanding of the educational system in New York.
Some Chinese parents complain that their children attend high schools that are almost identical to those in China, where the proportion of Asian or Chinese students is high, and they can even communicate directly in Chinese at school; other parents wish to transfer their children to better high schools but find the process extremely challenging and frustrating. In New York, high school admissions differ from those for elementary and middle schools; elementary and middle school students must attend their zoned schools unless there are special circumstances, while high school students have the right to choose their schools. However, selecting 12 schools from over 400 high schools may seem easy, but sometimes having multiple choices can be more difficult than having just one.
This article introduces the high school selection system in New York to help Chinese parents understand the process and avoid common pitfalls. Doing thorough research is more beneficial than remedying the situation afterward. Ms. Zheng Quan (pseudonym) moved to the United States last year with her child, and according to zoning rules, her child could only attend a certain high school in Flushing, which she heard had a poor academic reputation.
At first, she did not think much about her child's schooling and did not carefully consider the quality of the school; her mindset was that having a place to study and her child being willing to work hard was the most important thing. When she took her child to register at the education department, because her child had just arrived and she did not understand the rules for high school selection in New York City, when she met a staff member who spoke Chinese, she "naturally" pushed the responsibility of school selection onto the staff member.
