The continuing saga of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick — now standing accused of racketeering — is gathering headlines in the Motor City. But the city’s school system remains as abysmal as ever. From levels of functional illiteracy that rival every urban system to scandals such as involving disgraced former school board president Otis Mathis, the Motor City school district is now under virtual state receivership for the second time. Moves such as the effort to turnaround 34 of its failure factories is one of many steps the district must take in its overhaul.
But it is how the district dooms the futures of young men and women to prison and poverty that makes its systemic failures an atrocity. Some 8,442 students have dropped out at this point in the year; 24 will drop out today. Resident Youtuber Fonrilloon captures this succinctly in his seven-minute documentary. Watch, listen and consider what shall be done with this worst of America’s dropout factories. Then think about the schools in your communities which are likely only doing slightly better than this one.
