Michael Benjamin has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of Government, Human Services and Politics. He was elected to four terms of office as a Member of the New York State Assembly. Before entering the State Assembly, Michael headed the Bronx Board of Elections. He has twice served as parliamentarian on the Bronx Democratic County Committee.
Over his professional career, he worked for Members of the New York State Assembly, New York City Council and the United States Congress. He has also worked for Affinity Health, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Center, and the Hunts Point Multiservice Program Center. He has delivered speeches, talks and lectures on government, education policies, electoral politics, and race.
Michael graduated from The Bronx High School of Science and Syracuse University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He has done graduate work in public administration, community public health, and urban affairs at SUNY-Binghamton, NYU, and Hunter College.
Michael Benjamin was elected to four terms of office as a Member of the New York State Assembly.
Thursday, October 11th, 2012
Monday we wrote about the Specialized High School Admissions Test given by the Department of Education for admission to eight prestigious high schools in New York City including Bronx Science and Stuyvesant. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has challenged the current system on the basis of the small percentage of Black and Latino students admitted to the elite high schools. There is another disparity, with the number of Asians in these schools far exceeding their percentage of the population.
Opinion varies about whether the examination is predictive of academic success in these high schools, if the disparate scores of ethnic groups are the product of past or present discrimination and if the test should be changed to include non-verbal questions.
