Gifted immigrant children are pushed toward elite public schools by parental aspiration

Evidence

From a young age, it was clear that Rami was both a gifted athlete and a very bright kid. By junior high school, he was playing a lot of sports, football and basketball especially, and getting excellent grades, so his parents pushed him to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, hoping to enroll him in one of New York’s exceptional academies. He scored well, and eventually he was a proud freshman in one of the city’s top public schools. As soon as he got there, he tried out for the basketball team. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 823