I've been looking at a lot of "Moving to Detroit" threads on DetroitYes and other forums and I'm noticing that the perception of what are "good schools" doesn't line up with mine.

For example, everything in Wayne County is off-limits except Plymouth-Canton, Northville, GP, GI, and MAYBE Livonia IF you can get into the Stevenson High area. Franklin and Churchill are "bad" schools. Even GP South is supposedly "in decline" and GP North should be avoided if possible.

Every single thread will recommend Novi, Rochester, Berkley, Bloomfield, Birmingham, Walled Lake, Utica, and Farmington.

What's hilarious to me are the supposed "bad" schools that we're supposed to avoid, and the reasons behind them. Warren Con is strictly off-limits, as is anything in SCS. Everything in Downriver except GI is full of blue-collar trash. It doesn't matter that Allen Park High School has an average SAT score 33 points higher than Walled Lake Western, nope, because Allen Park is a "bad" school.

Remember, if your child goes to Ferndale, Dearborn, or Livonia Franklin there's no chance they'll get into U of M. Or State. Or any school of quality for that matter. Better start looking into Divine Child or U of D if you really care about your child's education.

But what is a "good" school, really? Is it a race thing? Obviously DPSCD and Southfield are to be avoided at all costs to these parents, but Wyandotte Roosevelt and Lakeview are lily-white and are to be avoided. For right now ol' Wylie E. Groves is a "good" school being 24% black-but once that figure hits 30% you better think about moving into the Seaholm attendance area.

Truly, it is a desire for richer parents to send their children to schools with other wealthier children. Schools that have a significant proportion of students on free/reduced lunch are "bad," and homogeneous schools where everyone lives on a nice 4 bedroom colonial with a well-kept lawn are "good". One must look at the number of kids coming from apartments and trailer parks to decide whether a school is "good" or "bad".

We are witnessing a boxing of the upper echelons of society into exclusive public schools, walled off to everyone else by iron-clad attendance zones, skyrocketing home prices, and limited school-of-choice options. Part of it has been fueled by realtors, making "good" schools a selling point and destroying Westland, Southgate, Warren, and SCS in the eyes of young homebuyers seeking to start a family, and part of it has been fueled by parents terrified of their child being educated alongside a child living in a rented apartment or relying on SNAP.

With public schools like these, who needs private schools?

Thanks,
MicrosoftFan