Another symptom of the problem: Detroit school board President Otis Mathis can't write

theblogprof.blogspot.com ^ | 3-5-10

[Justaham]

It's bad enough that Detroit Public Schools (DPS) graduates a pathetic 1 in 4 students, the worst in the nation. That obscene graduation rate is only that high because DPS commits 'social promotion' - the practice of passing students onto the next grade who are not ready, a practice that DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has just ended (Detroit Public Schools Finally Ends "Social Promotion" - Passing Students That Can't Read Their Diplomas). That same Robert Bobb has been fighting with the teachers union and with the Detroit school board for academic control of the district. The school board is led by Otis Mathis, who wrote a mass email last August:

Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row's, and who is the watch dog?

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row's, and who is the watch dog?”

Perhaps we ax Obama what row is we doing?

[digger48]

[Rome2000]

Give that man a raise, a promotion and a six figure pension, caus he desrve id jus ax em

[Pontiac]

Detroit's education system is so bad, 33% of working-age adults, and 44% of all adults, read below the 6th grade level. Not good enough to graduate from elementary school. 60% of students entering community colleges need to take remedial courses.

And instead of demolishing the failed DPS experiment that is only creating or saving government dependency,

Granholm wants to build adult education centers, RUN BY DPS, to pick up the slack.

So the very people responsible for the educational failure will be in charge of bringing adults up to speed

The governor needs to take over the schools and completely fire the staff from top to bottom eliminating the union.

I know that this will never happen as long as there is a Democrap governor (probably not with a republican either) but it is the best hope for turning around the schools.

No doubt the reason to have DPS run the new adult education centers is to create more NEA union jobs and union voters.

[NavyCanDo]

LOL!

Seriously, Detroit is now a third world country. I was hearing on the radio yesterday that houses were up for sale for as little as $500 because nobody want to live there.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

This article is incredible...

[truth_seeker]

“Seriously, Detroit is now a third world country. I was hearing on the radio yesterday that houses were up for sale for as little as $500 because nobody want to live there.”

Forget about living in them.

Banks don’t want to own them, and thereforte delay foreclosing.

With ownership comes liability.

Why own it, when it is worthless, you get liability, and can be expected to spend money to maintain it?

[Signalman]

I be a Dee-troit high skool gradurate. I be votin’ Democrat.

[kickonly88]

Sounds like the school super here in Champaign,Illannoy. I hear him speak and it’s no wonder why the schools suck. But he helps the schools comply with the consent decree so they keep extending his contract. What a load! That’s why we’re moving to a smaller town west of here with far superior schools.

[redheadtoo]

A co-worker once asked me to check out a report he had written. It was a page long and consisted of a single sentence. Really, he wrote the thing as one long, run-on, sentence.

There were spelling errors, verb tense errors, and no punctuation at all. The report was so messed up I gave up correcting it and rewrote the blasted thing.

[LouAvul]

Detroit will be a farm town in the future. As houses fall down and nobody builds, people will start cultivating empty lots.

It might be a decent place to live in 100 years.

[RayChuang88]

I disagree.

Detroit has the potential to be the largest cross-border point for goods trade between the USA and Canada. What hurts the city is the corrupt, ineffective government that has turned everything inside the Detroit city limits into something that is in many ways just as bad as Mogadishu in Somalia, of all things!

A huge problem with Detroit is the choke point of the Ambassador Bridge, which is not well-connected to the freeway systems on both sides of the border. By building a second crossing bridge (called the New International Trade Crossing) that will now directly connect with the Ontario Highway 401 freeway, that could open up a revived Detroit to become a huge free trade zone between the USA and the most populous part of Canada.