There was nothing fundamentally un-gamable about the tests they used in the early 80s, if anything on the contrary. But it was a very different time and cultur

There was nothing fundamentally un-gamable about the tests they used in the early 80s, if anything on the contrary. But it was a very different time and culture. The notion that spending tens of thousands of dollars in test prep for a gifted and talented program was something a reasonable person would ever consider doing hadn't taken hold yet. Certainly not in NYC, which at the time was experiencing the height of "white flight", had just gone through a major funding crisis, and was in the midst of a crime wave.