That defeats the purpose entirely. There are plenty of schools that take anyone who applies. These specialized schools only take kids who are capable of handlin

That defeats the purpose entirely. There are plenty of schools that take anyone who applies. These specialized schools only take kids who are capable of handling a more advanced workload. And on top of that, the average NYC public school student is in a pretty bad place in the eighth grade. A quarter of them won't make it to graduation no matter what school they attend.