The real lesson of Zohran Mamdani’s education controversy

Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayoral candidate, speaks to members of the media on September 29, 2025, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. | Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images Last week, Zohran Mamdani revealed that, if he wins the mayorship this fall, he will end New York City’s “gifted and talented” program for kindergartners.  This triggered a minor firestorm. Mamdani’s chief mayoral rival, Andrew Cuomo, decried the socialist sensation’s proposal as “destructive.” In Cuomo’s account, when a city eliminates separate classes for its most intellectually sop