Protecting Kids From An Education
The problem is, the guy who wanted to pay for it, for inner-city kids, is white, and his plan would eliminate the stranglehold the teacher's union has on the schools (the severely failing Detroit Public Schools). Nolan Finley writes in The Detroit News:
With the Detroit Public Schools near disintegration, it ought to be noted that it's been five years since Plymouth philanthropist Bob Thompson was told to take his $200 million and get back to the suburbs.Thompson, a retired road builder obsessed with spending his fortune to get urban children a high-quality education, ran into a political buzz saw when he offered to open 15 charter high schools in the city that would guarantee to graduate 90 percent of their students and send 90 percent of those graduates on to college.
Community activists denounced Thompson as a white meddler out to steal their children. They were joined in their absurdity by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who threw their lot in with the teacher union.
The rejection of Thompson's millions became a national story of a city so seized by racial divisions it couldn't set them aside even to save its children.
So instead of a network of alternative schools that would have rescued roughly 5,000 students from the sinking DPS, look what Detroit has today:
A school district that fails to graduate 70 percent of its students; a school board that's fired two superintendents and an interim superintendent in four years; 18 of its 19 high schools on the failure list; and a fiscal meltdown.
Five years after Thompson was given the boot, Detroit is officially the worst big city school district in the nation and still sends more children to welfare and prison than it does to college.
Think about how different things might have been. Had the Thompson schools been built, they would be preparing to graduate their first class in the spring. Two thousand Detroit seniors would be making college plans. And Detroit's fast-fleeing middle class would have a reason to stay.
Yet no one has dialed up Thompson to apologize, to say they were wrong, to beg him for a second chance.
In fact, the governor and Democratic lawmakers are stubbornly blocking other Bob Thompsons from saving Detroit's children.
Idiotically, Michigan governor Granholm is refusing to lift a cap on charter schools.
And the teacher's union was, apparently, a big part of keeping him out. Here, from 2005:
Thompson, of Plymouth, Mich., originally offered the money in 2003, but was rebuffed by the Detroit Federation of Teachers and others. Despite passage of a new state law that year allowing for the creation of up to 15 new charter high schools in Detroit, none were built. The Detroit Federation of Teachers held a rally in Lansing, which was followed by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Gov. Jennifer Granholm deciding to withdraw support for Thompson.The incident shed a negative light on Detroit both statewide and nationally. Time magazine columnist Joe Klein said the DFT "led a furious, and scurrilous, campaign against (Thompson's) generosity." The Metro Times, a weekly paper, said Thompson's offer was "amazingly generous," especially "in a city where the schools, like the government, are a stunning failure."
...The Detroit Federation of Teachers, however, remains staunchly opposed to the plan.
"We believe Mr. Thompson earnestly wants to make a positive difference in the lives of the children in Detroit," Janna Garrison, DFT president, told Michigan Education Report. "But we think he's going about it the wrong way."
Of course you do. Because he's exposing and will continue to expose how teachers' unions ruin it for the kids they're supposed to be educating. If teachers truly cared about educating the kids, they'd weep with gratitude for Thompson and his money. Greed and the promotion of failure in the service of it are especially ugly where kids' welfare is concerned.
Here's another story, from The Weekly Standard, by Henry Payne:
For thirty years, Detroit has been hemorrhaging population as a result of high crime, high taxes, soaring insurance rates--and a crumbling system of public education, which has left Detroit's adult population with a staggering rate of functional illiteracy (47 percent, according to the federal government's National Center for Education Statistics). This leaves a shallow employment pool for any enterprise looking to locate in the city.Seeking educational alternatives, state Republicans--against fierce opposition from teacher unions and Democrats--succeeded in passing legislation in the 1990s authorizing charter schools. These public schools are governed independently of local school boards; each is sponsored by a city or a university, and most are nonunion and have a distinctive educational approach. Since then, 39 charter schools have opened in Detroit, yet the number of Detroit families on charter waiting lists is estimated in the thousands. Moreover, most charter schools serve grades K through 6 (elementary schools are the cheapest to build), which leaves a crying demand for high schools.
In 2002, Republican governor John Engler answered parents' pleas for aid with a push to bring 15 more charters to Detroit. Enter Robert Thompson.
A Michigan farm boy who later taught school in Detroit, Thompson went on to found the state's biggest asphalt paving company, working out of the Detroit suburb of Plymouth. When he sold his company in 1999 for $461 million, he and his wife, Ellen, created the Thompson Foundation, dedicated to helping Detroit's poor. They first funded University Preparatory Academy, a successful K-12 charter school with a 90/90 system that is the model for the high schools Thompson now wants to build.
Thompson credits his own success to the education he received, and he is determined to give Detroit's poor the same opportunities. "The only way to get those kids out of there is through education," says the soft-spoken Thompson.
IN DETROIT, officials reacted to Thompson's proffered $200 million not with gratitude but with rage. The Michigan Federation of Teachers urged a walkout, declaring a school holiday so that union members could march on the state capitol in protest of charter schools. State Democrats cowered before the union, while Detroit's politicians bristled at a white suburbanite's "meddling" in the city's affairs. Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick--whose own children attended a charter school--responded to Thompson's offer by saying, with a dismissive wave of the hand, "Let us make the rules, and if he can't abide by the rules . . . "
Says Thompson, "We thought if we tried to do good things, people would appreciate it. I guess we were naive."
You have to laugh at the Kwame quote. Kwame's now abiding by the warden's rules, after failing to abide by society's.
If anyone with real testicular fortitude ever comes to power in Michigan, they'd have Janna Garrison arrested on several thousand counts of "risk of injury to a minor" and "contributing to the delinquency of a minor". They would then follow this up with an order dissolving the DFT.
Any attempts at future unionization by the AFT or NEA should be met with a slap to the face and a hearty "FUCK NO!".
And someone needs the authority to chew out parents who refuse to make their children give a damn.
If we can't be rid of government schools, we can at least be rid of federal meddling in and national unionization of them.
brian at January 2, 2009 8:20 AM
I said it before and I will say it again; why I am not surprised?
Detroit was build out of a strong lobby against foreign car imports, racial prejudice on all sides and Unions who have reached the level of regional power. There's so many groups trying to pull the same sheet in their direction, how can we expect any productive work being made?
I love this little line:
I still have a huge problem with this; are they telling us that they prefer to have a black child to learn ebonics and fairy-tales about Africa than having a solid base in maths and science? This is the same bloody nonsense that is wrecking many African countries right now; Whitey is out to be blamed for everything. Well, they have their wishes now and Detroit is really looking like a third-world capital. I will just keep this little story about Mr. Thompson the next time a "Community Activist" (I.E. race hustler) will claim that "Whitey don't care for the black man".
It is mediocrity and carelessness, not race, who is the enemy here.
Toubrouk at January 2, 2009 9:50 AM
Yet another step towards the creation of an unemployed and unemployable underclass. With an illiteracy rate of 47%, half the population of Detroit is not only useless but an active drag on the economy. If they had any sense, they would beg someone to "steal" their children and give them an education. Instead, they raise their kids to look forward to getting their own welfare check.
What can be done with an underclass like this?
bradley13 at January 2, 2009 9:59 AM
Of course the unions and city officials want control, so they can suck the money dry for themselves, get nothing done and promote their agenda. They'll then blame a few bad gov people/bad economy/bad students/whitey/anti union evil "conservatives" etc. etc. for their failure to get kids educated so they have a shot at a productive life.
Sio at January 2, 2009 10:52 AM
I'm reminded of the push against English immersion in schools. If there's one way to keep Spanish-speaking immigrants a permanent underclass, it's by teaching them in Spanish.
Amy Alkon at January 2, 2009 10:53 AM
"What can be done with an underclass like this?"
Stop paying them to be like this. You just get more of what you subsidize.
Pirate Jo at January 2, 2009 10:54 AM
"What can be done with an underclass like this?"
I also think it is important to take away the right to vote. Anyone who receives more in benefits than they pay in taxes should have no say in the government. Otherwise they vote in the cronies who support their way of life. This case from Detroit is a prime example!
bradley13 at January 2, 2009 11:39 AM
I'm reminded of the push against English immersion in schools. If there's one way to keep Spanish-speaking immigrants a permanent underclass, it's by teaching them in Spanish.
I wonder when this trend started. When I started kindergarten in 1969, I didn't speak a word of English. By first grade, I was fluent and I have been making my living as a writer and editor for over 20 years. Not only that, I don't remember the process of learning English, so it must have happened pretty naturally.
Granted, I was at an age where kids pick up languages fairly easily, but immersion is always the best way to learn any language. Plus, kids WANT to learn English; they want to fit in. They even often translate for their parents.
About the Detroit schools, there was some hope when Connie Calloway took the job as superintendent a few years back, but she's since been ousted. She actually challeneged some things, lordy forbid. I'm not sure on all the ins and outs there, but this article is interested (written before she was fired): http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12993.
Monica Milla at January 2, 2009 11:51 AM
Good god, stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Makes me feel especially warm and fuzzy, that we now have one of those idiot community organizers in the white house where he can keep anyone from stealing and edumacating ANY american kids.
Why didn't he just start some zero-tuition private schools? Seems a way to get around that little road bump. NOt that he'd have a lot of motivation to do so after being bitchslapped for his generosity and common sense.
If i lived in Detroit and lacked the wherewithall to leave, I'd just go assassinate everyone who stomped on this little plan. I'd spend the rest of my life in jail, but I would have done my little bit of good for the human race.
Don't even get me started on not teaching kids english. I live in the mexican part of town and see the sad, sad outcome of that crap every day.
momof3 at January 2, 2009 1:24 PM
I was still living in Plymouth-Canton when this happened. I sat on juries with some of the 47% illiterates-wouldn't convict a black man no matter how strong the evidence agaist them. The St. Louis Public Schools are trying hard to equal Detroit's, so we live in a suburb with great schools. I would prefer to live closer into the city, but my kids need an education.
Ruth at January 2, 2009 3:35 PM
"Why didn't he just start some zero-tuition private schools?" - That was my first thought. But the 200 mil was enough to open 15 charter schools, it would probably only be enough to run 1 private school. And how long will the endowment last? When it ends, tuition goes up to the market rate.
I went to a Christain Brothers high school. I alsways loved that my tuition was subsidized by brandy sales. Then they sold the distillery.
I'm not sure how much tuition went up, but I do know my parents ended up spending more on my little brother's high school tuition than they were on my university tuition.
A more cost effective solution may have been to buy off the detroit lawmakers. We know they're for sale we just don't know the price.
smurfy at January 2, 2009 3:55 PM
"Since then, 39 charter schools have opened in Detroit, yet the number of Detroit families on charter waiting lists is estimated in the thousands."
This is, for me, the most telling part of the whole thing. The parents who want to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy have to line up to get what they perceive as a quality education for their children. It's like a Soviet bread line.
Tyler at January 2, 2009 5:36 PM
The other thing that drives me nuts about this is the unwillingness of the teachers to compete with each other. It's like they feel entitled to their jobs. Actually, that's exactly it.
If they really believed in their own ability, they would be willing to risk their jobs to earn better pay. Good teachers would earn more, poor teachers would earn less, quit, or be fired. But the students would benefit. Competition makes everything better.
A higher potential salary would also attract good, young teachers. Instead of becoming investment bankers, they'd be teaching your kids math. It would be a social good.
Tyler at January 2, 2009 5:44 PM
I have a Sister who is slightly left of Cindy Sheehan.
She lives in one of the nicest, lilly white towns in Massachusetts which also has one of the best school systems. No surprise there. What is surprising is the one subject we both agree on. Teachers Unions. She's very active with her kids schools and she gets spitting mad when she talks about the teachers unions.
It's pretty funny to listen to, coming from such a liberal moonbat like her. One time I was teasing her, talking the Liberal line, "But it's for the Children!!! We have an education crisis".
She replied: "You want to see a crisis? Just ask a teacher to add 15 minutes to her workday. Then you'll see a crisis."
Teachers Unions are evil.
sean at January 2, 2009 6:08 PM
Unions are about removing competition, creating false scarcities in the labor pool, and raising barriers to entry. This is done to maximize salaries, and minimize efficiency and effectiveness.
brian at January 2, 2009 6:09 PM
This seems to be the only subject we all agree on
lujlp at January 2, 2009 8:00 PM
Ok, where's crid to disagree? (just kidding)
Why do we even put up with government running education? It isn't like it hasn't fucked up enough other things, we have to give them control of learning? When government doesn't learn a thing? I realize that it helps keep Democrats(mostly) in power, as they form their voting base by promising cradle to grave benefits.
I guess one way to solve this, would be to force children of government officials to go to inner city schools. Then we could see just how quickly it would change.
And turning down 200 million, is as stupid as swimming in the great lakes in the middle of the winter. But then, who ever accused a politician of being smart?
wolfboy69 at January 2, 2009 9:29 PM
"I'm reminded of the push against English immersion in schools."
Oh, don't get me started on that hypocrisy. I've been taught Spanish off and on in CA and OR from 1st grade up thru college. The good teachers will tell you, to get over the "hump" and into fluency, you need immersion. I'd be fluent today if I'd taken my college spanish prof's advice and spent 6-18 months studying in a spanish speaking country via exchange program.
Yet, when it comes to teaching english... well we can't destroy their "native culture!" or whatever multicultural PC catchword they're using at the moment.
Sio at January 2, 2009 10:21 PM
And yet when Oprah funds it it's okay.....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28451271/
juliana at January 3, 2009 7:02 AM
Juliana -
I don't know if your TV is broken, but I'll let you in on a little secret:
Oprah's not a cracker.
I understand how you might miss that given her empire, seeing as the white man is holding the brothas and sistas down. But it's true.
Therefore, she cannot have racist motives for shoveling money into disadvantaged schools like a rich white man.
brian at January 3, 2009 8:17 AM
So, a mind's a terrible thing to waste, of course, ... but the most important thing is to keep unchanged our SYSTEM, which benefits mainly US, and to NEVER admit it's an abject disaster with zero prospects for amelioration. And by the way we need way more money.
OSweet at January 3, 2009 9:41 AM
You can try this at home.
The next time you hear some teacher/advocate passionately go on and on about how the schools are "underfunded" and how this is a crisis for "the children" who, after all, are our "future", stop and ask the teacher if she/he could pick up another class until the "funding" issue is resolved. After all, it's a "crisis" and the children are our "future".
Just be prepared to be looked at like you'd just asked her to try eating human flesh.
sean at January 3, 2009 9:54 AM
Jesus wept.
And my family wonders why I don't want to be a teacher. I don't want to be a school teacher because I actually want to teach so they'll learn. And god knows you can't go against the status quo to actually help the kids learn.
Besides, instructional design pays better.
Elle at January 3, 2009 2:15 PM
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