This is sure to end well...

Chaz, before you go spouting about how this is income inequality, allow me to retort that Detroit government, and the Detroit school board, has a history of being corrupt as fuck.

When I was living there, there was a case where the school board, not exactly full of rich white cats, took a week-long retreat to Hawaii while not being able to afford school books. I dunno if that mentality still exists, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Add failing buildings, falling property values (and, thus, taxes) and a Detroit flight...of everybody...and you have an extreme situations that sum up to this.

Well...60 students per class? Shit let's make it 100 students per class...not like they learn anything in the first place.

*and we wonder why Americans are so fucking stupid and getting dumber by the minute!*

But Chrysler told me Detroit is A-Ok now!

Both Chaz and TheMisanthrope are correct.

Detroit is fucked either way.

@4, because when you are dirt poor and pretty much destroyed....well that makes you an expert in luxury cars.

I don't understand where Charles draws the line between the economy falling out for the city and a scheme to screw over schoolchildren. The school district has to do this because there is not enough money to keep the schools open. Should they simply keep the schools open and start bouncing checks to vendors and teachers? Is that the only way they will not be labeled as the KKK?

I went to public school in Detroit for 11 years. The dirty little secret is the 70% drop-out rate and the implacable unions. Good for them but shitty for the kids.

The drop-out rate for minorities in Seattle is over 50%, FIFTY PERCENT! (an economic death sentence) and the educator's average salary is over $60k+bennys+summer. Again, good for them- terrible for the kids.

Charles,
I'm pretty surprised at you invoking "Amerikkka", the nasty, racist sobriquet of the USA. The entire country can't be blamed for the mess Detroit is in. Nor can racism. Fine, income inequality exists in the USA and especially in Michigan. But, that state and Detroit in particular is going through hell. However, it is largely due to a great industry, automobile manufacturing dying. America has an African-American (or bi-racial or bi-cultural if one wishes) President, Michigan has a white woman Democratic governor who's hardly a racist (Jennifer Granholm was born in Canada, one could call her bi-cultural) and former NBA basketball great, Dave Bing, an African-American is mayor of Detroit.

Detroit certainly needs help. I believe Mayor Bing gave a call out to anyone to submit "ideas" to assist Detroit in its financial mess and decline. But, like Detroit you and I don't live in "Amerikkka". We choose to live in the United States of America. I think "Amerikkka" is a cheap shot at a great country.

@9, so lower teacher salaries correlate with a lower drop-out rate? I'd love to see the research that backs that up.

Those class size numbers make me feel ill. If you're teaching four English classes per term, that means the assignments you're marking -- and there should be at least 2-3 per week, ideally more -- just doubled from 120 to 240... even if you just gave them two marked assignments per week, that's almost 500 that you're supposed to be evaluating. Every week...

It's impossible. The kids are going to be watching movies and playing Scrabble instead of learning. And when the kids fail to learn, guess who's going to get the blame?

Also, isn't education supposed to be a right?

@12 no, that's an artifact of overall salaries in an area. Areas with low salaries (e.g. Vermont) have lower teacher salaries, and fewer choices for kids. They value education more, since it's the only way for kids to get a chance to move to high-salary areas, which tend to have fewer children and most of those in private schools, which pulls the cream of the crop off (both majority and minority, due to scholarships) and leaves the less-teachable kids in the public schools.

Correlate the data with census figures and it's very obvious.

@9

Please describe to us exactly how middle-income teachers and their union lead to higher dropout rates. Anything would help. Thanks!

@12 & 16 I agree, not explained very well. Maybe it's anecdotal, but unions played a part in how schools were run.

What I had in mind were disciplinary actions against students which lead to lawsuits filed by parents, there were a few cases in a row which in turn neutered teachers and administrators. Rules were changed city wide. The unions may not have had a role, but they incurred liabilities.

By high school there were metal detectors at every entrance at two of the three schools I attended. The causation is debatable.

But what is not, is that it happened on the union's watch. The situation is dire and for poor students it is double jeopardy. I personally felt many teachers stopped caring at some point and it seemed to correlate to me.

I am grateful that my dad was UAW. But the unions need to own their poor performance. Is there anything more important for those who start out with nothing?

Well, that should solve all their problems!

@15: You think so? Feel free to drop in on the Windy City sometime and maybe see how what you said was fucking moronic.

I am just not so confident that the 60 students per classroom figure is accurate. I am from the metro-Detroit area and have worked in a few Detroit schools. Let me tell you something, none of them are full! Detroit is such a huge, sprawled city they need so many schools just to accommodate the enormous space the city takes up, not because the population of school-aged children is that large. I am not sure how the Detroit News came up with this number, but I would love to know.