<p>I'm not sure the answer is cultural. Stuy, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech have experienced dramatic reductions in the percentages of African-American and Latino kids in just the last 5+ years. "Cultural" change usually happens over a longer time horizon. Just four years ago, more than 8% of students at Bronx Science, for example, were African-American. Now the percentage is barely half that. One thing is certain: if the declines continue they become self-fulfilling, as qualified black and Latino students do not apply to the specialized high schools because no one they know (or that looks like them) goes there. Perhaps that will be what is necessary, finally, to prompt a re-evaluation of the very curious (and far from transparent) admissions practices at these supposed bastions of meritocracy.</p>
<p>One final note: the percentage of white students at two of the three specialized high schools (Stuy and Bronx Science) have also declined in the past five years.</p>