Detroit High School Protest: Students Suspended After Demanding 'An Education'
About 50 students were suspended Thursday from the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, Mich. for walking out of classes in protest, demanding "an education."
Among their complaints: a lack of consistent teachers, the reassignment of the school principal, educators who abuse sick time and a shortage of textbooks.
"We've been wronged and disrespected and lied to and cheated," senior Tevin Hill told the Detroit Free Press. "They didn't listen to us when we complained to the administration. They didn't listen to the parents when they complained to the administration, so I guess this is the only way to get things solved."
One math teacher, parent Sharise Smith tells WJBK-TV, has been absent for more than 68 days.
The students marched outside the school and chanted,
"We want... education! When do we want it? Now!"
Students and parents became increasingly alarmed when Frederick Douglass was no longer listed as an application school in the district -- current students had to apply to attend. Smith told the Free Press that her son was given an A in geometry without taking a final exam.
"It was by default, just for showing up. It wasn't because he earned an A," she said.
The Frederick Douglass boys are just some of many students in a city that proved to be the worst-performing urban school area among 21 surveyed across the country. Despite its national rank, Detroit's overall performance increased on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in 2009 branded Detroit "ground zero" for education reform, but changed his tone to a more optimistic one last year. Still, the district is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and faces dwindling enrollment -- the first day of academic year 2011-2012 saw a 55 percent attendance rate.
Detroit Public Schools spokesperson Steve Wasko noted that Frederick Douglass teachers who abuse sick time "will be reprimanded," and the district aims to keep the school open while adding new courses like debate and engineering.
The 17-year-old Hill told The Detroit News that so many teachers have been simultaneously absent from school that dozens of students had been forced to gather in the gym or other common school areas. Students also went for long periods without homework, and Hill said he struggled on a recent placement exam at Bowling Green State University, where he's been accepted to attend next year.
"I literally couldn't answer a question on there," Hill said. "Right now, I'm not going to be as successful as I should be because I haven't been properly taught."
Source
About 50 students were suspended Thursday from the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, Mich. for walking out of classes in protest, demanding "an education."
Among their complaints: a lack of consistent teachers, the reassignment of the school principal, educators who abuse sick time and a shortage of textbooks.
"We've been wronged and disrespected and lied to and cheated," senior Tevin Hill told the Detroit Free Press. "They didn't listen to us when we complained to the administration. They didn't listen to the parents when they complained to the administration, so I guess this is the only way to get things solved."
One math teacher, parent Sharise Smith tells WJBK-TV, has been absent for more than 68 days.
The students marched outside the school and chanted,
"We want... education! When do we want it? Now!"
Students and parents became increasingly alarmed when Frederick Douglass was no longer listed as an application school in the district -- current students had to apply to attend. Smith told the Free Press that her son was given an A in geometry without taking a final exam.
"It was by default, just for showing up. It wasn't because he earned an A," she said.
The Frederick Douglass boys are just some of many students in a city that proved to be the worst-performing urban school area among 21 surveyed across the country. Despite its national rank, Detroit's overall performance increased on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in 2009 branded Detroit "ground zero" for education reform, but changed his tone to a more optimistic one last year. Still, the district is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and faces dwindling enrollment -- the first day of academic year 2011-2012 saw a 55 percent attendance rate.
Detroit Public Schools spokesperson Steve Wasko noted that Frederick Douglass teachers who abuse sick time "will be reprimanded," and the district aims to keep the school open while adding new courses like debate and engineering.
The 17-year-old Hill told The Detroit News that so many teachers have been simultaneously absent from school that dozens of students had been forced to gather in the gym or other common school areas. Students also went for long periods without homework, and Hill said he struggled on a recent placement exam at Bowling Green State University, where he's been accepted to attend next year.
"I literally couldn't answer a question on there," Hill said. "Right now, I'm not going to be as successful as I should be because I haven't been properly taught."
Source
But assuming that I'm "classist," based on one or two comments, shows a lot of gross assumptions on your part, too. When I'm not fully-versed in the finer points of a situation, I can only make calls based on personal experience.
I grew up in a little backwater town of 350 people, with a library the size of my current apartment, that had two Internet-capable computers that ran on Win95. My high school library was even smaller, and while it had more computers, the restrictions on their use were so ridiculous that it was impossible to really do anything on them. Somehow, though, I still managed to learn more about US and World History, Biology, Sex Ed, Health, and "Home Economics" from those meager resources than from the teachers who were supposed to be teaching me.
I didn't get my own modern computer until 2007, and it was a gift that I got after losing a job.
And currently? Currently, I live in Sec8 housing with my partner, because between her disability and my extremely sporadic freelance gigs (the only work I can get in this town,) we make less than $9k a year. We pay for Internet because it's the one luxury we allow ourselves. The nearest and only public library (which is getting a $100k city-funded renovation despite not really needing it,) is all the way across town - so far away that I've never even been there, despite living here for almost three years now. But it is there, open until 8 or 9pm six days a week, and free for anyone to use.
I've also never met someone who didn't own a computer, and most of the people who live around here aren't much better off, financially, than we are.
So there. Now that that's all laid out, and I've owned up to my own misstep and explained why I made the assumptions I did, maybe you can admit that you made a mistake in making gross assumptions of your own. Because that's exactly what you did - making assumptions about, and passing judgment on someone without knowing a single fact about them or their personal situation.
I mis-stepped, every person in DPS has a computer, even though the majority of them get free lunch.
I'm very glad that you were able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and ability to self learn (which in the magical world you live in everyone can do).
I'm very glad that you have a library even though it's across town that is open six days a week, especially since the library I posted about (which is the closest library to Southeastern High School) is only open ONE night a week and TWO Saturdays a month.
You're right, I shouldn't have called you classicist, but your statement:
TL;DR: They're 1/3rd right, but 2/3rds wrong. Yes, you can learn a lot online for free, but the best sites aren't free, and nothing can replace a teacher who can help you understand things you don't get.
is a really, really gross statement and as someone who actually EXPERIENCED DPS first hand, you need to go sit in a corner and go some research.