Detroit is a story of a once flourishing city that has been on a long downslide for decades. There are miles of unoccupied homes and buildings, and crimes and unemployment are at an all-time high. Many aspects of the city are breaking down, including the school system. The Detroit Public School System has lost over eighty thousand students due to high enrollment in charter schools, the large economic decline, and the departure of residents. For many years no one has taken responsibility for the public school system. However, for Detroit to rise again, it is necessary for someone to take responsibility, make a plan, and make sure that children are safe, well cared for, and are receiving a high quality education when going to school each day. In 2016, schools are low-performing with poor test scores, are falling apart, and teachers and parents have decided to take a stand.
Mayor Mike Duggan has recently added his voice to the many others in regards to asking for state help for Detroit Public Schools. While he observed some schools that were properly maintained, he noted that conditions in some schools would “break your heart” including issues with heating and severe water damage that prevented children from using the gymnasium. Duggan’s tour came to a quick and early end, however. Many schools were closed in early January due to teacher sick-outs as a form of protest to what teachers call “deplorable conditions for them as well as students.” These protests are in direct response to the building conditions, pay cuts, and the recent plan by Governor Snyder. In addition, the school system is projected to run out of funds in April. Duggan encouraged the state to help fix Detroit schools. Of the districts ninety-seven s...
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... many parts of the city are breaking down, the school system and the children of the city are suffering more than anyone. There are school buildings that are falling down with leaking roofs. There are classrooms that are overcrowded because the district cannot afford to pay additional employees. Test scores of the students are suffering and many children are falling further and further behind the national standard. In order for the city to rise from the ruins it is in right now, it is necessary for someone to take responsibility for the issues within the schools and fix them. It is impossible to increase the population and tax income in the city when people are continuously moving away. It is time for Detroit to make their children feel safe and cared for at school, and time to make school an enjoyable place again so that the students can begin to thrive again.
After reading Place Matters, I realized that all city mayors have struggled and will continue to struggle with addressing and implementing a plan for the concentration of poverty in their cities. They all take different approaches- some believe that instead of concentrating on anti-poverty programs, they want attract new investments, such as international companies to promote smart growth. This is to trickle down the services from taxes and create jobs for the motivated poor. In order to attract these international companies, the city infrastructure must also be attractive. Policies that do not take care of city infrastructure and development get little interest from outside corporate capital for investment. Secondly, they also promise things like better jobs, better low-income housing, and better schools but all to often this is a ploy to rally support for votes. Inner city poverty ends up being far too great of an overwhelming problem; so voting is usually swayed to more programs that aid the poor rather than fix the problems. The wealthy want and need different things than the poor and much less involved than their counterparts.
Goldstein argues a problem with education policy is, “American policy makers require every public school to use the same strategy…” (261) When facing the problem of inequality in education a teacher needs to be fluid with his or her curriculum. In fact, one of the best ways to allow for fluidity is through peer-to-peer help. Goldstein states, “(teaching hospital model) allows best practices tailored to a specific school to be passed from professional to professional.” (255) Peer-to-peer help not only does this allow for constructive feedback, but also it allows teachers to learn from one another. While policy makers might not know a schools demographics and unique situation teachers in the school will. Thus, teachers can help one another on their unique problem through a collaborative process. Peer to peer help allows for the design of, “creative curriculum materials and to lead school turnaround efforts.” (232) The problems associated with inequality can be thought out and explored through teachers working
America’s public school system started off very rough, but through the dedication of many hard-working Americans, it was starting to shape into a system that allowed all children, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nation of origin, to have an education.
Detroit, once known as a bustling city of fast cars and bling, is now known for its poor education system. Detroit, minus its Red Wings, has failed at every turn economically and educationally. With its population cut in half and poverty rates soaring, there is no telling what can stop this disaster of a city. The only hope, it seems, is to better educate the region that Detroit inhabits. Detroit Public Schools has been one of the worst performing school districts in recent years. In 2013, the city of Detroit filed chapter 9 bankruptcy, the largest account of bankruptcy to-date. Good teachers avoid Detroit Public Schools because of the poverty, job quality, and low pay, leaving children with the unqualified teachers they have today in this poverty-plagued city that they call home.
our school district never faces a problem as big as the ones presented in this
An outdated education system is the largest problem Michigan faces because it affects not only the present, but also the future of the state. Important issues cannot be solved, nor policies created to remedy them, if the people attempting to solve them are not equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to make informed decisions. The state cannot run itself, let alone the nation as a whole, if its’ people are uneducated. The Constitution, the very basis of our government, relies heavily on the assumption that citizens of the United States are able to make knowledgeable and well-reasoned decisions, the types of which cannot be made when a person does not receive a proper education. This proper education is unattainable when low educational funding occurs. Lowering educational funding leads to lower standardized test scores, lack of resources, and an overall poorer education (Roy 2003). Even with these results educational funding has consistently been put upon the chopping block at all levels of government. Governor Rick Snyder’s budget cuts $470 per pupil for the 2012 fiscal year, while promising only small incentives to be added when re-balancing the budget in 2013 (Resmovits 2012). Snyder’s cuts in education stand in sharp contrast to the budget and policy passed in 1994, by then Governor John Engler. Engler, along with the House and Senate, created Proposal A. This policy increased funding to all levels of education, reduced the large funding gap between poorer and richer school districts, and opened schools of choice. Proposal A was largely effective in its’ objectives, but was unable to maintain the projected budget needed to maintain efficiency due to the recession, and Michigan laws requiring education cuts when school ...
A child’s first day of school is often viewed as a rite of passage; the first step on the road to a happy and successful life. This is true for most children from affluent families who live in the best school districts or can afford expensive private schools. But what if a child’s first day of school is nothing more than the first step on the road to poverty and possibly even illiteracy? The documentary Waiting for “Superman” addresses many issues in a failing school system and the innocent children that system leaves behind. Although the documentary spends little time suggesting parents’ roles in their children’s education, it clearly shows that we must make changes to help children from low-income families and improve the teacher’s unions.
“The Chicago teachers are among the highest paid in the nation. And their results are among the worst in the nation...they went on strike because they were unhappy with a big fat raise, and they did not want to face evaluations of their performance from time to time.(Root 2012)” Root expresses himself in a sarcastic manner, understates the purpose of the strike in order to discredit the teachers to convince the audience to support his claim and reduce school funding. The reason why we are Investing more money into a teacher's “gold-plated health care packages” is evident. Root does not consider the dangers of chicago, where parents assault young students, gang activity is in every corner. There are far more factors than can be blamed on teachers for the students performance. Various reports lead to the children's lifestyles where most of them are way below the poverty line and live in violent neighborhoods. Teachers voluntarily work in these situations acknowledging the type of students they will be working with, and despite the dangers, they continue to teach for change. These impressionable children are surrounded by the chaotic nature of the lower class lifestyle, where you have to steal to eat, where you have to fight back to avoid getting killed. More and more children are getting involved in gangs. These “little homies” are children that have been showed their whole lives that the only way of survival is to be in this negative system of violence. The only way to break this chain of abuse is to introduce these children to education where they will learn more than pulling triggers. It is a fact that there is an increased chance of a child to become involved in criminal activity if not educated properly. Whether there is more money being invested into willing educators or not should be the last concern for our society. Kozol’s commentary on the 2012 teacher strike, interpreted by Liz Dwyer,
The Ontario school system dedicates a great deal of the high school curriculum towards preparing students for University. Ontario high schools provide students with many courses that will help prepare the students that decide to go on to post secondary education. However, the Ontario School System lacks in preparing them for the most prominent aspect of University, stress. The Ontario school system does not prepare students for any of the on coming stresses which will be the number one factor in a students success or failure at University.
California is one of the largest states in the country and has one of the biggest state budgets, but in the past several years, its school system has become one of the worst in the nation because of enormous budget cuts in efforts to balance the state’s enormous deficit. The economic downturn at the end of the 2000s resulted in even more cuts to education. It is in environments like this one in which students from poor backgrounds become most vulnerable because of their lack of access to support in their homes as well as other programs outside of schools. Their already financially restricted school districts have no choice but to cut supplementary programs and increase class sizes among other negative changes to public schools. The lack of financial support from the state level as well as demands for schools to meet certain testing benchmarks by the state results in a system in which the schools are no longer able to focus on students as individuals; they are forced to treat students as numbers rather than on an individual case by case basis. An article from the Los Angeles Times showed that majority of Californians give California schools “a grade of C or below” and half think that the quality of schools will continue to decline (Watanabe).While the economic downturn affected the public school system in a negative way, it was not the sole root of its problems. It just simply exacerbated already existing issues.
With less than 5,000 residents living in Smallville, Ohio, it is an ideal small town where everyone knows each other, multiple generations of families live and grow and barely any crimes are committed. The main road leading into Smallville is like a never-ending run of corn fields, silos and dairy farms. It's an old town with old traditions. As brief as my residency was in Smallville, I witnessed the social injustices and educational issues that plague small town living.
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
Money will not solve or make this problem go away, no matter how many social workers are hired. Schools will succeed despite their financial circumstances if they have the basic components of motivated students, parent support, caring teachings, and strong central leadership. While this is the typical model of a suburban school system, Wilson High School proves that it can work anywhere. When ones thinks of urban public schools, overcrowded classes, underpaid teachers, and a lack of resources often come to mind. The fact is these problems can happen anywhere. While the environment at Kennedy could never be compared to the worst DC high school, the assumptions made against these schools are the same. By erasing these notions and confronting the problems one by one, we will be one step closer to reaching equal education for all.
Education is an integral part of society, school helps children learn social norms as well as teach them how to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. These schools have lower test scores and high dropout rates. In Trenton Central High School West, there was an 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often from low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial reasons to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and further teacher education, urban schools can be transformed and be better equipped to prepare their students for the global stage.
Even in this time of struggle, with billions of dollars going towards various war efforts overseas, America still has managed to keep taxpayer investments in education higher than that of funds for national defense (U.S Department of Education). In the 2004-05 school year, there was an estimated amount of 536 billion dollars set aside from taxpayer investment for education purposes. Without a doubt, education is a priority for the American government, and if these funds are used in the correct way, there is no reason why each and every kid in the United States shouldn’t be getting a quality education. However, the organization of the financial system is flawed, funds are not handled proportionately at the state level; rather, this system favors the wealthier districts and hands more funds to them while the less wealthier districts are handed a smaller pool of funds. This really affects America’s quality of education, which also reflects upon how America fairs on the world stage when it comes to competition in education with other countries. The disorganization of funds in the United States can be seen in the Hoover City School district, which has bought every student in that district an iPad for use in school. The first problem with this is that this school district does not even have a viable bus system that can transport students to and from school. Secondly, not even 20 miles from this district lies the Birmingham City School district where a little more than half the students are graduating, compared to Hoover City Schools where a bit more than 90 percent of the students are graduating. If anything, the state should be working towards improving educational standards in lower-income communities rather than debating on the log...