High-Tech High: A Look at Today's Stuyvesant High School

When Washington Post reporter Alec Klein graduated Stuyvesant High School, New York City's top academic public school (more competitive to get into than Harvard) in 1985, the personal computer was just coming to be and the internet was still to the public the stuff of science fiction. In his latest offering, A Class Apart: Prodigies, Pressure and Passion Inside One of America's Best High Schools, Klein revisits his alma mater to see how it has and hasn't changed in the 20 years since he walked these hard-to-get-into halls. We asked him for a before-and-after look at the use of technology in America's most competitive high school.

What types of technology did you have access to as a student at Stuyvesant
that was considered then to be cutting edge?

A blackboard. Well, okay, perhaps we had something a bit more cutting
edge than a blackboard way back in my day, more than 20 years ago,
technically known as the Stone Age of high school, at least if you ask
students today. There were, for example, watch calculators, though I
didn't possess one. Personal computers--the clunky DOS variety--were
just coming onto the scene, but I didn't know a single student who had
one. Even video games were rather crude. Remember Asteroid? I know.
This was a long time ago!

What are some obvious tech changes to the school from when you were a
student?

Where do I begin? Students today have cell phones, Sidekicks, iPhones,
laptops, desktops, iPods, and they're busy e-mailing, IMing, blogging
and facebooking. What's more, Stuyvesant High School is wired to the
hilt with more than 450 computers [for 3,000 or so students]. On top
of that, students have developed their own robust Web sites to
congregate virtually, including www.stuycom.net. It's a brave new
world, indeed.

Are computer and internet technology popular among the students in terms of their aspirations? Are their any related clubs or organizations?

Very much so on both counts. Even a decade into the dot-com
revolution, many students aspire to invent the new breakthrough in
computer and Internet technology, a dream perhaps inspired by the
incredible successes of the founders of Google and, before them,
Microsoft. A quick glance at the school's clubs, [from Dynamic Web
Programming Club to Wii Club], at http://www.stuysu.org/cp/--also
shows how much technology has pervaded the school.

Do the students use gadgets at school, like cell phones or portable
electronic games? Are there rules about using gadgets at school or in the
class room?

Gadgets are widespread even as the school has moved to restrict their
use in school. Indeed, it was a big controversy last year when the
school, as part of a broader school system policy, decided to forbid
cell phones and other devices. Many parents, as you might imagine, use
cell phones to keep track of the whereabouts of their children, who
often travel great distances every day to get to and from school, so
the policy sparked a good deal of controversy.

Is there a department or teachers who specialize in computer science and the internet?

The school does have a computer science department and, incidentally,
it's headed by a former Stuyvesant student.

How have computers and the internet changed Stuyvesant's curriculum and the way students learn?

So much of what students experience at school is tied to the Internet.
For instance, the school Web site, www.stuy.edu, is a frequently used
portal for vital information about the goings on at the school.
Stuyvesant also has its own e-mail system, and many teachers use
facebook and their own Web sites to communicate with and disseminate
information to students. Check out, for instance, one popular
teacher's Web site, .

As Stuyvesant students, do they have special access to today's cutting edge
software, computer technologies or industry leaders and innovators?

For one, Stuyvesant students have the benefit of a $150 million
building, one of the most expensive schools in America. And it comes
with the best facilities, including robotics labs and a dozen
state-of-the-art science labs. The school also attracts some of the
best teachers who want to work with the best and the brightest. What's
more, companies and other entities in the tech field often seek out
Stuyvesant students and teachers for scholarships, internships and
other partnerships. After all, what makes Stuyvesant so special are
its students. That, by the way, hasn't changed since my day.

--Andrea Chalupa

Photo credit: Frances M. Roberts