Two essays that should be compared.
July 31, 2008 - "Education should lift all children" by Susan B. Neuman, a professor in educational studies specializing in early literacy development at the University of Michigan, is one article you don't want to miss.
But, then read "Michigan Chronicle publisher lays blame for city's problems with Detroiters" by Sam Logan.
Detroiters are scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality elected officials. The makeup of much of the school board, city council, mayor’s office and Detroit delegation in the state Legislature are proof positive, painfully reinforced by the tendency of voters to repeatedly elect candidates with little integrity or judgment about what constitutes good public service.----------------------
TT previous coverage of the education crisis in Detroit. Here Here Here
In the past five years, Detroit Public Schools has lost more than 50,000 students. Meanwhile, charter school enrollment in the city climbed 50 percent, now standing at about 45,000.The shift is an indictment of Detroit's failure to educate its students. The failure is driving families to seek out other choices, a trend that is exacerbating the district's financial woes. Parents are giving up on the Detroit school system .See, Here and Here and Here
TT OPINION: Ms. Neuman is right. You can't shame schools into doing a better job anymore than you can shame bank robbers. What you can do is educate parents so they know how poorly their schools are doing so they can seek out better education venues for their children. That's what NCLB does, and that's why it is a success.No amount of social programs giving away free health care and promising all sorts of giveways will have any more quality than education from government schools that operate without oversight. It no surprise that the people who want such programs are the same ones who failed to deliver decent education.
