<p>The question is: where do the black and white children actually go? Your timeline tracks nicely with major changes in the public high school system, which created many special programs and small high schools that are more specifically tailored to individual students' desires. My daughter, for example, was admitted to one of the specialized high schools this year but chose the local IB program instead because of location and because she is more interested in humanities than in math/science. I, personally, know a bunch of both white and black kids who made other choices for personal reasons. There are a LOT of good options now that may be even better than Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science. The place where culture MAY (this is just my opinon, so PLEASE don't ask for documentation) play a roll is in which students accept seats in those three schools: the Asian students. In the NYC Asian community, it's expected/desired to the nth degree that those are the only prestigious schools, which is no longer the case. So my personal conclusion is that the big three aren't the best way of meeting the needs and expectations of a diverse community anymore. Many kids can do as well or better elsewhere now, which wasn't the case in decades past.</p>