In the wake of his decision to double down on selective admissions, New York City schools Chancellor David Banks offered a blunt argument in favor of that approach: Students who work “really hard” should have priority access compared with “the child you have to throw water on their face to get them to go to school every day.”
Speaking in front of corporate, nonprofit, and education leaders at a forum hosted by the Association for a Better New York, Banks said: “We made a decision, after hearing all the arguments, that merit really should matter.”





