New York

Education

In the fall of 1996 the New York City Public School System—the nation's largest—enrolled 1,063,561 students in grades K through 12; 16.1 percent were white, and 83.9 percent belonged to minorities, including 37.3 percent Hispanic, 36.1 percent black, and ten percent Asian/Pacific Islander. The school system operated 1,120 schools with a staff of 110,709, of whom 57,338 were teachers, making a pupil-teacher ratio of 18 to one. The school system has won acclaim for its career magnet schools, which include the High School of Music and Art, the High School of Fashion Industries, the School of the Performing Arts, the New York School of Printing, Bronx High School of Science, and Stuyvesant High School.

The City University of New York operates branches in all five boroughs, including eight liberal arts colleges, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Since 1970, the city university system has had an open admissions policy for all New York City high school graduates. New York also has more than 20 private colleges, some of the best known being Columbia University (the oldest), New York University, Fordham University, Rockefeller University, and the Juilliard School, which trains students for careers in music, theater, and dance.