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Words Matter: Why we wanted "aptitude" struck from the well-intentioned CCHS resolution on career assessments

Those of us who voted no on or abstained from voting on the February 11, 2026 "Resolution Calling on NYC Public Schools to Implement Career Aptitude Assessments for 9th and 11th Grade Students" are unified in our belief that invoking "aptitude" is not only unnecessary but also limiting to the potential of the resolution—and the students whose horizons it was designed to expand. Worse, it invokes a classist, racist, sexist, and ableist legacy of tracking students into classes and careers rather than giving them runway to explore options on their own. We applaud the resolution itself, but found it lacking in specificity (which tests? created by whom?) and lament a missed opportunity to remove a loaded word, especially when, as noted in Chalkbeat, the tests "often need adult support to assist with interpretation."

Neither educators nor students themselves need another reason to label kids as not good at something. What kids need is exposure to a wide range of career opportunities, ideally at the intersection of their interests and the skills they currently have—plus the ones they can acquire during high school and beyond. Words matter. And aptitude, which implies an inherent, fixed predisposition (and which even the SAT dropped in 1993), isn't the right one. Adults as well as students should beware of language that limits dreams.

In Dissent,

Adriana Aviles (Queens)
Kelly Bare (Manhattan)
Kim Berney-Brooke (Citywide Council on Special Education Appointee)
Nancy Cruz (Brooklyn)
Camara Hudson (Public Advocate Appointee)


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