Quinn, in Brooklyn Bridge Park, asks for science middle schools for girls
Perhaps taking a page from Brooklyn’s Urban Assembly Institute for Math and Science for Young Women, City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn on Monday came to Brooklyn Bridge Park to call for science and math-oriented middle schools in each of the five boroughs.
Mentioning the hurdles that her sister, a geologist, had to go through, Quinn, accompanied by City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn Heights-Downtown) said, “Although we recognize how many incredible gains women have made through the decades, we can’t lose sight of how our girls – the next generation of great, powerful women – are supported today.”
Schools such as the one Speaker Quinn wants to establish are known as STEM schools, standing for “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.”
She began her campaign speech with some statistics. Sixty-seven percent of the student body of the prestigious High School for Math, Science and Engineering are girls, she said. In addition, she said, only about a quarter of all students in the city’s public school tech programs are girls.