African-American Valedictorian Challenges Elite N.Y. High School on Diversity: Justin Hudson has become somewhat of a heroic figure at Hunter College High School—a New York City public school founded in 1869 for intellectually gifted students.This past June, Hudson, 18, used his graduation speech to challenge the high school’s admission procedures, which he says puts too much stock on a single, teacher-written exam for admission into the selective school that caters to students in grades 7-12.
Only elementary school students in New York City who score in the top 10 percent on the state English and math exams are invited by Hunter to take the admissions exam. In the past, individual elementary schools were chiefly responsible for getting the word out about when the exam would be administered.
