Rochelle Riley: Schools should be #1 priority for new mayor

[kraig]

We had John Engler get rid of the elected school board. At the time he wanted to give control Mayor Dennis Archer, but, Kwame Kilpatrick worked out a deal with Engler so that Dennis Archer wouldn't have control. Then, when he was mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick wanted to take control of the schools, but the voters rejected that idea. Meanwhile, the voters in the City of Detroit kept on voting in idiots and obstructionists who in turn kept hiring idiots to run the school system to the point that Granholm had to appoint a Financial Manager to run things. And now, we're at the point were it looks as though the mayors office will finally be given some control over the school system. Throughout all of this, which has gone on for the past 10-12 years, everyone has been arguing about governance, but, no one has been talking about actually educating the kids. We're going around in circles, backwards.

[mwilbert]

There is widespread agreement that the DPS system is broken. I say disestablish them. Let people take the money and go out of district, or to charters, or to private or parochial schools. I claim this would be more attractive to middle-class parents than any plausible improvement to the DPS.

I have nothing at all against public schools, but the ones in Detroit have such huge problems of credibility and governance that I don't think they can be fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

[Irvine Laird]

The fundamental problem at the root of DPS's failures is the difficult situation many students face at home and in their neighborhoods.

According to the most recent numbers I could find from the U.S. Census Bureau, single parent homes in Detroit outnumber dual parent homes almost two to one. A 1998 study from the Casey Foundation in Baltimore--ten years old I know--found that seven out of ten children born in the city of Detroit were born to single mothers. I wonder how this has changed.

Further, U.S. Census Bureau data shows that although Detroit is one of the most affordable U.S. cities for housing costs, more than 60,000 residents still pay over 30 percent of their monthly income on rent. In other words, Detroit residents either cannot afford even average housing and must settle, in many cases, for substandard housing.

So, a combination of single parent homes in substandard housing casts a shadow over children's odds for success. When a single mother has to work extra hours to afford the cost of living, her children have fewer opportunities for encouragement and support.

This is not an indictment of the single mothers out there, but a glimpse at the challenges they face in raising their kids.

As a man, however, my focal point is this: Where are the fathers in Detroit? What happened to our men? Why do so many kids in Detroit not have a real dad around?

It is my opinion that the greatest crisis in Detroit is its missing male leadership in the home and in the community. The difference this could make in the schools is beyond expression.

[Hypestyles]

the essay really sheds some light.. we'll see what happens in the coming months..