MovieChat Forums > Head of the Class (1986) Discussion > No Asians?

No Asians?

posted 10 years ago by TVholic
8 replies | jump to latest

How utterly unrealistic. In the three schools that comprised the original specialized high schools in NYC (and which are still considered the best public schools in the city), the percentage of Asians has always been high. Probably about 30% in each of the schools around 1986 and approaching 60% in each school by 2006, the last year I can find statistics for. That had even led to accusations that the entrance exams were biased against blacks and hispanics. But in this show, they finally bring in a single Asian in this "elite" program, and only in the final season. That's one of the most ridiculous things about the show.

Not to mention what were they doing there anyway? No 98th or higher percentile student in NYC would go anywhere except to one of the specialized high schools. They wouldn't be in an "honors" program in a regular NYC school if they were really that smart.

[–] gamervivek 8 years ago

http://www.unz.com/article/no-quotas-no-elite-public-high-school/

[–] JosephASpadaro 8 years ago

Excellent article! Thanks for posting it!

The article states:

The only long-term consequence of our years of effort was that ABC soon created a successful television sitcom called Head of the Class, which ran from 1986 to 1991 and featured ten ultra-bright students in a public school program called "IHP". The show launched the career of Robin Givens, Mike Tyson's future wife, while one of the other students was actually played by a Reed IHP graduate.

I placed in bold that part that states: " ... while one of the other students was actually played by a Reed IHP graduate."

Which actor are they referring to?

Thanks.

[–] TVholic 8 years ago

Sounds like LA had no idea what it was doing. Racial quotas are stupid. NYC has had the Specialized High Schools program for almost 45 years, which has produced 14 Nobel prize winners. These are public high schools open to any kids who reside in NYC and make the cut on the entrance exams. In fact, in the pilot episode, Dr. Samuels said they were to face Brooklyn Tech in some academic competition. Tech never had or needed an IHP program, so they would have been up against run of the mill Tech students. Tech isn't even the best and most selective of those high schools. The student body is only about 60% Asian right now. Stuyvesant, which many consider the best in the city, is about 72% Asian, outnumbering Caucasian students by a factor of nearly four to one. That's how unrealistic the show's predominantly white cast is. Even worse was the three black characters in the IHP program. Good luck finding the black students in Stuyvesant. There aren't enough in the entire 3200+ student body to completely fill one classroom.

[–] JosephASpadaro 8 years ago

Excellent post. Thanks for the insight.

The article above stated:

... while one of the other students was actually played by a Reed IHP graduate ...

Do you know which actor they are referring to? Thanks.

[–] MrBlondNYC 8 years ago

Khrystyne Haje

George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya.

[–] MrBlondNYC 8 years ago

I went to Bronx Science and there were plenty of black students there including myself. So why couldn't there be black students in a gifted program in a regular high school?

I don't know the exact percentages but I recall there being a good number all ethnicities from all social classes. Yeah, whites and Asians were probably the majority. But I never felt like there weren't "enough" of anyone there.

George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya.

[–] TVholic 8 years ago

I didn't say there couldn't be blacks. I said the Asians should have massively outnumbered them and that the show was completely unrealistic with a predominantly white cast. Plenty of black students? Current enrollment is 66 out of almost 3000 versus over 1800 Asians.

http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/10/X445/AboutUs/Statistics/register.htm

Stuyvesant is even more selective. 22 black students in a student body of over 3000, and over 72% Asian.

http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/02/M475/AboutUs/Statistics/register.htm

Of the Big Three, Brooklyn Tech is the least selective and yet their Asian enrollment is still almost 60%.

http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/13/K430/AboutUs/Statistics/register.htm

Let's look at the "student" cast:
Maria Borges – Hispanic
Arvid Engen – White
Darlene Merriman – Black
Simone Foster – White
Jawaharlal Choudhury – Indian
Alan Pinkard – White
Eric Mardian – White
Sarah Nevins – Black
Dennis Blunden - White
Janice Lazarotto – White
Alex Torres – Hispanic
Viki Amory – White
Theola June "T.J." Jones – Black
Jasper Kwong – Asian
Aristotle McKenzie – Black

How does that even begin to resemble the demographics of one of the elite high schools?

[–] MrBlondNYC 8 years ago

I don't go there currently. I can only speak of when I went there which was 20 years ago. I must have had at least 50 different classes over the course of four years and never, ever had a class that didn't have at least two other black students, besides myself. I took a volleyball class and there were two black students besides me. And of course, there were others that I never met. I didn't keep a log of every single black student that I saw so I don't have an exact number. I doubt that I just happened to have classes with the only black students in the school. You can link to all the percentages that you want but I'm telling you my personal experience.

I agree that there should have been more Asians on the show. It took them four years to realize that there were no East Asians in the class. Realistically, there should have been MORE ethnic diversity, not less. Once again, I didn't say there were an equal number of all ethnicities across the board but I never felt that there was a dearth of any particular ethnicity there.

George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya.