(credit: istock.com)
DETROIT (WWJ) – According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.
WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.
“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.
“I don’t really know how they get by, but they do. Are they getting by well? Well, that’s another question,” Tyler-Ruiz said.
Some of the Detroit suburbs also have high numbers of functionally illiterate: 34 percent in Pontiac and 24 percent in Southfield.
“For other major urban areas, we are a little bit on the high side… We compare, slightly higher, to Washington D.C.’s urban population, in certain ZIP codes in Washington D.C. and in Cleveland,” she said.
Tyler-Ruiz said only 10 percent of those who can’t read have gotten any help to resolve it.
The report will be used to provide better training for local workers.
Note: Illiteracy rates are from the National Institute for Literacy, as reported in a new study by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.
- View a copy of the report - (.pdf format)
830 Comments
So much for diversity
May 4, 2011 at 3:39 pm | | Report comment
A voucher system would go a long way to solving this problem. It would save the state a great deal of money as well with many private and perochial schools costing far less than $7000 anually.
May 4, 2011 at 7:14 pm | | Report comment
President Johnson’s legacy. Democrat’s in action
May 4, 2011 at 7:14 pm | | Report comment
Do you mean “Democrats?”
Literacy?
November 22, 2011 at 11:30 am
but they can vote for obama!
May 4, 2011 at 7:35 pm | | Report comment
They don’t have to. The Democratic Party does it for them. And for the rest of us.
May 4, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Amen, Harood!!
May 4, 2011 at 7:43 pm | | Report comment
SAD very sad they need get HUKED ON FONIX. PROGRAMS STARTED.
May 4, 2011 at 8:31 pm | | Report comment
Keep voting for dems Detroit!
May 4, 2011 at 3:48 pm | | Report comment
They will, too. The 47% who can’t read will all vote for the candidate they are told to vote for. After all, they can’t read about the issues or candidates, can they? That candidate will always be a Democrat, so if even a few of the literate side vote Dem, the election will always be a lock. And the cycle will always perpetuate itself.
Hooray for “community organizers”, and “leaders within the community” who deliver the votes.
May 4, 2011 at 6:28 pm | | Report comment
You mean that they will vote for the person that promises them the most handouts.
May 5, 2011 at 8:37 am
Mike, you said it. It’s a cultural issue. Sad facts are that for a lot of Detroiters, education is not important. Otherwise, there would not be a 47% illiteracy rate.
When is the last time you met a gang member with an advanced degree?
May 5, 2011 at 8:47 am
This is why I think you should have to pass basic high school civics to vote. If you can’t read, you should not participate in the system, because you cannot make an informed decision, and will vote the way someone tells you to vote.
May 5, 2011 at 8:56 am
Subsidized failure begets MORE failure. Drastically cut benefits to dropouts and watch America rise from the ashes. NO mo free money.
May 5, 2011 at 9:01 am
exactly!! Those in Detroit , have allowed the Dem’s to lead them NOWHERE! and they have become so complacent, they dont see anything wrong with it, as long as they get their Govt Checks in the mail..life is good for them. Dem’s have destroyed Detroit, which once use to be Vibrant and full of life, Now its a crime ridden cesspool.
May 4, 2011 at 10:43 pm | | Report comment
right. because the republicans who want to cut out education spending from the budget will change that. You morons are what is part of the problem.
May 4, 2011 at 11:27 pm
mp – looks like we could have cut 47% of education funding years ago, saved a ton of money, and arrived at the same result. Who can possibly support the monopoly of public education given these results?
May 4, 2011 at 11:40 pm
alot of good that funding did for Detroit huh? Take the blinders off please money will not fix the problem, a proper upbringing might, and no handouts will for sure.
May 5, 2011 at 1:16 am
MP – Detroit public school teachers currently earn an average of $71,000 a year. Just how much do YOU think it should take for the teachers to be able to teach basic concepts like reading?
May 5, 2011 at 1:42 am
Yea, because if the kid doesn’t show up for class or do their homework, it’s also the fault of the teacher, right? Last time I checked, education also involved the kid having to make an effort, too. Teaching is easier than learning, so why not partly shoulder the burden on the kids and the families?
May 5, 2011 at 10:53 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Public_Schools#Finances is my source btw.
My sister is a public school teacher, barely earns half of that, and about 85% of her class has a literacy rate at or above grade level(and all of her students except the mentally disabled are able to at least -read-). The issue is not money, it is cultural. You can’t just throw money at an issue and expect it to be fixed.
May 5, 2011 at 1:47 am
Exactly Dee. The liberal Democrats have destroyed Detroit, the residents and are working on the country. Vote conservative Republican, I will.
May 5, 2011 at 8:41 am
There is not one Republican within 50 miles of Detroit.
Detroit is a model Democrat town!
May 5, 2011 at 8:53 am
Easy fix – hold them responsible for their own lot in life. Slash benefits and make them accountable for their ignorance. It’s amazing that the poorest Africans can come here and be successful – because they have a work ethic. True African immigrants despise the lazy American blacks, and race past them up the socio-economic ladder.
It’s about education and responsibility. The more the Democrats deflect responsibility and protect the unions, the longer and deeper this problem will become.
May 5, 2011 at 8:53 am
Why is this such a suprise? After all we are talking about Detroit.
May 5, 2011 at 8:04 am | | Report comment
You have no idea how right you are. I don’t know how it is in the rest of the country but when I vote in Michigan, each candidate has their party’s icon right next to the name. Illiterate Detroiters are voting donkey over elephant ever time.
May 5, 2011 at 8:22 am | | Report comment
Some cultures don’t value reading. It’s ignerent to expect all peoples to be the same. If we truly value divercity we should embrace our differences.
May 5, 2011 at 8:34 am | | Report comment
*ignorant*
*diversity*
May 5, 2011 at 8:51 am
This really should be one of the top headlines in the news. A serious issue NATIONWIDE.
May 5, 2011 at 8:48 am | | Report comment
Maybe they can close 47% of the libraries.
May 4, 2011 at 3:50 pm | | Report comment
If they’d follow New York’s lead and allow porn on the computors, their libraries would be humming with business again . . .
May 4, 2011 at 4:18 pm | | Report comment
Hey Snake, what’s a “computor”
May 5, 2011 at 10:15 am
computor…dey?! oy, Maury?! GET A JOB!
May 5, 2011 at 10:26 am
ha! hilarious..
May 4, 2011 at 6:06 pm | | Report comment
They already are. Detroit is closing up to 18 branches of their public libraries.
May 4, 2011 at 6:16 pm | | Report comment
I guess that’s because those librarians are part of the 47%..
May 4, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Closing their libraries? Would that be before or after blowing $2.3mill on designer chairs and garbage cans at over a grand each?
May 4, 2011 at 9:47 pm
You have to be able to read before a library becomes useful!
May 5, 2011 at 9:16 am
The libraries need a section devoted to EBONICS to bring the youth back to the libraries .
Our welfare dollars at work.Why do they have to be able to read or write. They receive welfare checks,”public ” housing,food stamps,free medical all paid for by the literate taxpayer.
We have created a a sub culture that grows from generation to generation.
What will happen when these takers exceed the givers and there are cut backs to these enabling funds? Rioting in the streets and looting.
May 5, 2011 at 9:51 am
Anybody with even a basic understanding of statistics should be asking the question, “Where is the actual study that came to this conclusion?” How many people were surveyed? What type of survey was done? All the ‘report’ does is cover 200,000+ people in a blanket statement with no facts or results.
May 5, 2011 at 9:10 am | | Report comment
Please.
These ARE the facts. Detroit is a structureless, failing social cesspool. To throw statistical questions into the mix is an attempt to blur an otherwise sharp picture.
And yes, after college, four years of medical school and six years of postgraduate training and research, I have a ‘basic understanding of statistics’.
May 5, 2011 at 9:37 am
The study came from walking down ANY street in Detroit, genius!
May 5, 2011 at 10:14 am
You don’t need to see the statistical sources. This can be verified empirically.
May 5, 2011 at 11:11 am
Look at the states and cities run by liberals – NY, CA, Chitown, LA, Detroit, and you’ll see little evidence of fiscal responsibility or literacy, thanks in large part to the control they have over public institutions.
May 5, 2011 at 9:15 am | | Report comment
They need to keep the population stupid and dependent so they can keep getting reelected.
May 5, 2011 at 9:52 am
Look at the states run by conservatives – Alabama, Mississippi, The south in general. For every buck this new yorker pays in taxes, my state gets 75 cents back from the feds. Mississippi and Alabama get 2.00 back, because they are so behind they have to be propped up by liberal welfare. You want fiscal responsibility? Make the south pay their fair share and stop suckling off NY and Cali.
May 5, 2011 at 9:58 am
It used to be the other way around. Stop whining.
May 5, 2011 at 11:32 am
Mississippi is 37 percent black, the highest percentage in the country. Alabama is 26 percent black. Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina are all approximately 30 percent black. It should be no mystery why these states have the worst statewide educational and health statistics. By contrast, Northern states like Minnesota and Vermont have the best. Wanna guess why?
May 5, 2011 at 10:27 am
Detroit still has libraries?
May 5, 2011 at 10:22 am | | Report comment
But they know every word to the latest rap “song”.
May 5, 2011 at 10:33 am | | Report comment
You summed up the whole problem. Help is available for those who need it and seek it. The black community made great strides and then took a u-turn. Hip-hop & rap ‘music’ often puts out a self-defeating message that ho-chasing, pimpin’, drug-dealing is acceptable behavior. It is an anti-social message and Detroit today shows the result of such stupidity.
May 5, 2011 at 11:31 am
Jim makes a very sensible recommendation. As Chris Rock explained in his insightful social commenatary “Black People vs. Niggahs”:
“Wanna hide your money? Put it in your books. Books is like Cryptonite to niggahs!”
Thank you LBJ’s “Great Society”, government school teacher’s unions and generations of federal bureaucrats for destroying the lives of black Americans in ways that the KKK could only dream of… and never come close to achieving.
May 5, 2011 at 10:35 am | | Report comment
You Misspelled Cryptonite.
Its Kryptonite.
May 5, 2011 at 11:39 am
47% can NOT read and yet public school teachers have lavish pensions, lush pay and can never be fired…
GOOD WORK LIBERALS
May 5, 2011 at 10:39 am | | Report comment
Worse yet, they can vote and sit on juries…..
May 5, 2011 at 10:44 am | | Report comment
Obviosuly, they are not spending enough money on their government schools. .
May 5, 2011 at 10:54 am | | Report comment
Gee, I wonder what the demographics are on this? Where’s the big “O” when you need him. Hey bro, can you spare me a job or handout from your stash?
May 5, 2011 at 11:32 am | | Report comment
I want to say something all clever and cutting about the city run completely by libs, but what is the point? Detroit stands as a monument to what liberals are all about. 47% illiteracy; how long before the only people in the kingdom that can read are religious officials and the ruling class?
May 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm | | Report comment
Mr. Cowan,
Excellently written comment. You must be a historian.
May 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm | | Report comment
Your’re professional cynics. Look at the bright side, 53% are literate. I mean, that’s not to bad is it? IS IT?
May 4, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Unfortunately, our children are turning out illiterate while being used as pawns to line the pockets of statists who insist that they’re doing everything for the children, and that they’re the champion of the underprivileged. The results say otherwise. Our public schools spend far more per student than private schools which do a much better job. Worse, our public schools subscribe to the weird notion that rewarding false accomplishment in order to avoid short-term disappointments is better than giving children the tools to succeed in the real world. The result is what you’re seeing here, and it is both heartbreaking and infuriating. Perhaps we should fire every one of the managers of the public schools, and use the savings to send these unfortunate illiterates to a real school to learn what they should have been taught to begin with. At least they’d have some prospects for a better life.
May 4, 2011 at 7:04 pm | | Report comment
Send these kids to the private schools and see how long they last. They don’t want fools who get pregnant in gym class and snort their coke in the cafeteria while others are reading the Playboy pictures in study halls. The privates are much smarter than that! They only take the kids who are serious about education.
May 4, 2011 at 9:34 pm
It’s hard to motivate people to learn when the government pays them every month to sit on the front porch and smoke… Gotta cut a lot of the welfare before we see motivation to succeed.
May 4, 2011 at 9:40 pm
“Perhaps we should fire every one of the managers of the public schools,”
*Perhaps*??
May 4, 2011 at 10:51 pm
If the system is failing them….then why as parents are parents not stepping up and teaching their kids? I taught my kids to read, write, and do basic math. Stop passing the blame.
May 5, 2011 at 11:17 am
The one thing most private schools have that many public inner-city schools don’t is parental involvement. Sure, the outcome will be better if the parents is active in the education process, makes sure the kids get to school, does homework, etc. Any teacher or educator can tell you that. Schools can’t make up for poor parenting, nor can tax dollars, nor can money in general. That’s a human thing, not a political thing.
May 5, 2011 at 10:49 pm
We are descending into a new Dark Age, but this time there is no Christian Church. It is interesting to note that the Muslim enclave of Dearborn is a mere fifteen minutes from Detroit’s city center. The only language future residents of Detroit will be reading is Arabic, if anything. Nature abhors a vacuum.
May 4, 2011 at 11:09 pm | | Report comment
Little bit of a stretch but agree on the Christian church angle in the sense that Libs seem to have very flimsy morales, ethics, and seem to be mostly agnostic.
May 5, 2011 at 1:21 am
Is this a surprise,,with the schools being closed there.Why bother to try and educate those types anyway,,their civilization is de evolving anyway
May 5, 2011 at 8:54 am | | Report comment
Outstanding comment. You hit it right on the head John.
May 5, 2011 at 10:07 am | | Report comment
That’s what happens when Democrats run a city or state for decades. You get Unions full of bad teachers and crooked employees. You get government kickbacks to special interests groups that pay themselves big salaries and barely make an impact on the community they say they are assisting. You get a welfare State that teaches and encourages everyone to cheat the system at every turn. You get a city and or state that makes hard working tax payers look like fools for playing by the rules. Eventually the fools wise up and leave and once they do, we’ll there goes the free ride, baby! No more bennies for the bummies!
May 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm | | Report comment
all true, but as far as kickbacks, repubs are just as guilty at instituting crony capitalism. libs are the worst, but we just need less of government altogether.
May 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm | | Report comment
Excuse me..didn’t you hear about GE (friend of Obama) pay NO taxes? And what about Obama handing over GM to the UAW, cronie-ism is not just a republican affliction.
May 5, 2011 at 9:46 am
I could not have said that better than you did Carlos – excellent!!
May 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm | | Report comment
Decades, Carlos? I think not. How long was that fool mayor? Not very long. Keep electing brain dead D’s like your congressman and those idiot council members who only care about the lining in their own pockets.
May 4, 2011 at 9:37 pm | | Report comment
not at the table Carlos…
May 5, 2011 at 11:24 am | | Report comment
This comes down to parenting or the lack of it!!!!
Without stating my race, I wonder what the percentages between the races?
White
Black
Mexican
May 5, 2011 at 11:39 am | | Report comment
Toady…wrong! That’s what they have government social workers for. I’m in Baltimore. I shudder to think what “the rate” is here.
May 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm | | Report comment
i’m not shocked…this is what unions do to cities…
May 5, 2011 at 12:31 pm | | Report comment
What does a union have to with people not being able to read???? Seriously.
May 5, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Teachers Unions, in this case.
Of course, these other have there impacts from a different direction.
May 5, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Look, they’re Preferred Species. They’re quite capable of doing this to themselves WITHOUT any union help.
May 5, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Literacy rate is low.
Crime rate is high.
Detroit is majority black.
Similar stats for any other majority black city.
/End of subject
May 5, 2011 at 2:55 pm | | Report comment
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
Truth and stats can’t be refuted, so we’ll just go ahead and delete ‘un-PC’ comment.
Doesn’t matter – most people know the truth, but they’re just too afraid to state it.
Apparently you haven’t read some of the other comments below.
So, go ahead, ‘moderate’ away…
May 5, 2011 at 3:37 pm
The government teachers teach them nothing, and the government welfare system makes an ignorant life tolerable, so there’s no desire to accomplish anything. Let’s face it folks, it is black Americans they are talking about here, for the most part. The government (Democrats) have DESTROYED much of black America, killing them with kindness by creating bad incentives and thereby robbing them of dignity and motivation. What a travesty. We need more government like we need a hole in the head.
May 5, 2011 at 3:41 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: 47% of Detroit Residents Are Functionally Illiterate | The American Pundit
And 90% don’t have or will not have a job. So what is the surprise here?
Detroit: the continuing tribute to Mayor Coleman “Drive Whitey Out of OUR City” Young.
May 4, 2011 at 3:54 pm | | Report comment
I saw those emails. What a joke but a perfect example of how Detroit works/or not. The ex-Mayor Kwame had ‘Mayor’ monogrammed on his shirt cuffs. Bling, bling go da bell.
May 5, 2011 at 11:13 am | | Report comment
Exactly. And this is shocking, why? Nowhere is the teachers union any stronger. This is just a very natural correlation.
May 5, 2011 at 2:39 pm | | Report comment
While teachers deserve SOME blame. Let’s not let parents off the hook. Educations begins and ends at home. It starts at birth and is SUPPLEMENTED by school from grades K-12 and then continues (whether in college or otherwise) througout our lives.
In Detroit, many people think, “Why are aren’t the schools teaching my kids?” The question should be, what can I do to make sure my child is learning.
May 6, 2011 at 1:11 pm
The hate white vote succeeded and now feeds on itself.
May 5, 2011 at 5:09 pm | | Report comment
No! No! You got it all wrong!
You got it wrong. White people are the problem to everything.
Minorities failing at literacy? White people’s fault!
Crime such as rape, murder, theft? White people’s fault!
Poverty? White peoples fault!
Isn’t life easy? We can blame white people for EVERYTHING.
May 5, 2011 at 6:36 pm
No one should be even mildly surprised at this “news.” Throwing money at public schools will not work if you allow the teacher’s unions to perpetuate mediocre education by poor teachers. Bad surgeons, dentists and lawyers are eliminated in the marketplace. Bad teachers, on the other hand, are given tenure. In teaching, thanks to the unions, competition does not weed out the poorest and reward the best. It seems to be just the other way around..
May 5, 2011 at 5:14 pm | | Report comment
Let see that we can get this right, some of the highest paid School Districts in the country when it come to Teachers pay. Next some of the highest failure rates for the monies, yet nobody fails. Ok now we get the Government unemployment Service and Training machine involved. More monies for 12 years of failure. Isn’t this beautiful, now you know why this country is broke! I can’t wait for economic collapse and it is closer then all these government parasite want to admit. God will not be able to save Amerika, only suffering and misery will bring this country back to reality. I really don’t give a dam what you’re all think your entitled to. Get a glue Death and Taxes. Countries go broke and fail when there isn’t anything left to steal. Look and study why the Communist nation in Eastern Europe and Asia failed during the 80’s. Nothing left too steal.
May 6, 2011 at 1:18 am
Yes….and we all know who the vultures were, that quickly moved in to pick the bones clean.
May 6, 2011 at 4:01 am
Don’t bet on that!
May 4, 2011 at 3:56 pm | | Report comment
The aftermath of letting the government be involved in education.
Note that in Hawaii the illiteracy rate for public school graduates is about 60%, that for private school graduates 0%. The natives ignore the free public schools and go to great trouble to run their own so that their kids can read.
Unfortunately on the mainland we all are sucked in by propaganda and let the public schools destroy our future by handing over all opportunity to the kids (like Mr. Obama ) who went to private schools instead.
May 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm | | Report comment
Having grown up in Hawaii, I have to tell you that your logic is idiotic. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to send your child to school from kindergarten through high school is not something that everyone can afford. Of course kids that graduate from private schools can read. They come from wealthy families and are constantly taught the value of education both at school and at home. Aside from that, kids that can’t read are expelled before they have a chance to raise the illiteracy rate of the school. No, in your mind the answer is to privatize all education. Tell me, then, what will happen to all the kids whose parents can’t afford private school tuition? Perhaps we should just kill them off. After all, they’re usually Hawaiian, Filipino, Samoan, etc. rather than white or Japanese. Who cares about them, right? “The public schools destroy our future.” OK, how do they destroy it? What’s your alternative? The answers are that you don’t know and you have none. You’re just regurgitating what a few pundits told you. “Glenn Beck told me that privatization was good. Privatize everything! No more government!” God bless the internet, land of the armchair politician.
May 4, 2011 at 4:24 pm | | Report comment
Or, rather than kill them off, perhaps we could give them vouchers to go to a school of their choice. If given a real choice, who would go to the public schools? By the way, my family lived below the US poverty level and all 7 of us children went to Catholic schools. We paid what we could and the rest was charity.
May 4, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Hey Bob, nice of you to chime in with the usual nonsensical ranting of the left. It must be great to be a mind reader, nowhere in his post did Andy say the answer was to privatize all education. While not accessible to everyone (What is?) the fact that private schools work better at educating children than public schools is undeniable. Do you honestly think that every child that attends private school is from a wealthy family? Are you that grossly ignorant?
Government schools are largely broken, and it’s not due to lack of funding, if we can’t face that fact we cannot fix them.
So these poor folk have horrible public schools, no access to charter schools, and can’t afford private schools. If they care about their kids education they can home school. I did.
The fact is that bad choices in life cause bad consequences. They always have and always will. No amount of liberal hand wringing, taxation and government spending will help losers.
May 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm
What you do when you privatize all schools is create a grant system with the billions of dollars the government wastes on a horribly inferior public school system. Those who could not afford it would get vouchers and if a school failed to teach well, the MARKET would close that school down because students would transfer to other schools. Flunk students who deserve to flunk, fire teachers who can’t teach, make people with children pay for their childrens’ schooling, and if you didn’t want to send your children to a private school, you could home school them. If you are prepared to actually BE a parent, it doesn’t take a village. Why should I pay for your kid to be passed through a failing system just to come out illiterate.
May 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Bob, what kind of public schools does Hawaii have that they cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars?” Get off your high horse, I’m a public school product as well so don’t patronize me and my other successful public school graduates.
And by the way, not every conservative is in love with Glenn Beck. Get over yourself, your partisan bs is what is hurting America.
May 4, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Bob
How did the pioneers achieve success? Did they get subsidized education? Did they work and do everything they could to learn? The idea that a public education system should go beyond basic literacy (remember the 3 ‘R’s readin” fitin’ n rithietic;) .. they were coined to indicate that everyone should be ‘functionally’ literate. The rest come from personal effort, and hard work. Many parents homeschool their kids, and the kids end up getting into Harvard and other excellent universities.. the onus is on the parents, problem is neglect on the part of a generation of entitlement seekers (not unlike yourself) who expect that they should get what they want and need out of a vending machine called ‘government’, or ‘system’ … this starts with the sexual predation which has single men impregnating single girls, then splitting, leaving the girls (who are not mature enough for the job) to raise the kids, so the girls go on welfare, the kids grow up in poverty and the streets, and they become hood rats (sometimes just to survive) and criminals, and they repeat the process, and after a couple of generations, we have what we have now, it’s very sad, but it isn’t the ‘system’ or the ‘government’ who can solve this problem, it’s the individual and the local communities…. back to the churches and the mentoring and parenting that the children need to avoid this cesspool of depravity.
May 4, 2011 at 7:10 pm
The Angry white liberal strikes again.
May 4, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Sorry Bob, teaching your child to read has NOTHING to do with money. I was a working poor, single mom; but I read to my children every day and helped them learn to read when I found the public school was failing to teach them. I took the time to give them the educational help they were not getting in the public school, often learning history and math right alongside them. Just because I could not afford a private school, did not mean my children were left behind. Parents need to take responsibility for the training of their children whether they have money for private schools or not. “My kids are dumb because I was poor,” just doesn’t cut it!
May 4, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Dear Miss SallyR,
What you received was not charity. The funds for your sibling’s and your Catholic education were from intelligent people investing in our country’s future. From your excellent writing ability, I can see that the investment is paying off. The investors would be proud.
May 4, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Bob, you are violently defending a system that is clearly failing. This one statistic in Detroit is not isolated; it’s repeated in our urban centers throughout the country. Over the past 50 plus years liberal/progressives have made it their full time occupation to destroy all positive institutions in the U.S. They have spent energy, effort and money to ensure children can’t pray in school or that U.S. history is not taught or that standards are systematically lowered. You are reaping what you have sewn. As far as privatizing you would put education contracts out for private bid. The parents would not have to pay because it would come from money already spent on failed government schools. I guarantee a private company can educate a child more efficiently than a union monopolized government system. If we try it what have we got to fear a 50% illiteracy rate?
May 5, 2011 at 1:24 am
Sorry, Bob; but it’s most people are not willing to sacrifice their lifestyle enough to send their kids to private school. I am keeping a 15 year old vehicle running, living in a smaller place, and giving up the vacations I used to do to pay for school. Very few truly cannot afford private school, and those often can get assistance from the school.
May 5, 2011 at 8:06 am
+1
May 5, 2011 at 12:29 pm | | Report comment
Excellent comment Andy. You get what you’re accountable for.
May 5, 2011 at 1:12 pm | | Report comment
Yea, but what about making people “feel” good about themselves?? LMAO!!!! Good post!!
May 5, 2011 at 1:41 pm | | Report comment
Do you think it’s a coincidence that those who can afford to attend private school come from more affluent families and are thus much more likely to have parents supportive of their education?
Correlation does not imply causation.
May 5, 2011 at 2:18 pm | | Report comment
No one needs to attend any school in order to learn to read. Just ask someone who can read to help you learn. You can find such a person at any library in the country. People like to help.
My sister taught herself to read at age 3 by asking my mother to read to her, following the words with her finger.
Close the public schools, sell the property, give half of the education budget to the parents in the form of debit card vouchers, and refund the balance of the school budget and the proceeds of the sale of school properties to the taxpayer and you will see a revolution in education that would put the industrial revolution to shame.
There are plenty of qualified entrepreneurs who will fill the chasm that is public education with efficient and effective education for less than half what our public institutions are costing us, only to fail us.
Sports can be managed by community centers or private gyms via the same voucher system.
May 5, 2011 at 2:44 pm
You made one of the most insightful comments on this board -your sister asked your mom to read to her. It’s easy to blame the schools, like many of the postings here do, and overlook the role home life and family/parents play into the success of education.
May 5, 2011 at 10:57 pm
KIPMJf* Are you kidding me? If you gave the money to these parents they would not spend it on their kids. Just look where their welfare money goes; into shiny rims and cars.
May 5, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Problem with your theory is that the funding is there in both cases. I sent my kids to private school for 1/4 of the cost per student of public schools. Not only did they get an education, but it cost a LOT less money. Unfortunately, I still had to pay for the worthless public schools through my property taxes.
This problem could be fixed by simply running the school system as a private enterprise. We could even subsidize those who “couldn’t afford it” and STILL save billions of dollars. Give parents a choice and see what they will choose.
May 5, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Accurate comment. While working here I met a young man 17 years still in high school who was taking algebra, but couldn’t even add a column of numbers. Unions are very strong so is the Democratic party. Living out here has changed me from a moderate to a strong Libertarian.
May 5, 2011 at 3:12 pm | | Report comment
You became a strong Libertarian after moving to Detroit? Geez, even more proof of the horrible educational system in Detroit. Now people who move there are becoming morons.
May 9, 2011 at 12:47 am
I can totally understand where you are coming from. Union people can’t see that they are part of the problem and they never will. I can’t understand how anyone can GRADUATE without being able to read.
June 8, 2011 at 8:37 am
@ Andy Are you a Tea Party peon? Straight in there with anti-government claptrap. If you “freidmanite” nutcakes stopped cutting back on public education then maybe standards would rise. But that is not your goal – you want most US citizens to be illerate slaves working for nothing.
People like you are destroying the US. But we all know that you work for the Koch Brothers. Probably voluntarily at that. Lol.
May 5, 2011 at 4:51 pm | | Report comment
@Ray……that excuse is so old it is pathetic. How many years has money been thrown at the public school system and we are even further behind. Obviously you are a progressive that likes to spend everyone’s money on worthless projects. It is a proven fact that private, parochial and charter schools are all way ahead of public schools.
What about the offer of philanthropist Bob Thompson to spend 200 million dollars on the building of charter schools that the fools in Detroit declined?
May 5, 2011 at 5:56 pm
Actually, not it’s not a fact. Plenty of studies are showing the kids aren’t doing better (as a whole) at charter, etc. schools. The fact that they aren’t held to the same testing standards and requirements/accountability as public schools just makes it easier to skew data because it’s not apples to apples, but apples to oranges.
May 5, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Ray, you must be kidding. Detroit: awful public schools, welfare dependency, deadbeat parents, rampant drug addiction… sounds like a Democrat stronghold to me. You Americans: so rich that you cannot see how useless it is to throw more money at the problem – it has never worked. A quick review of your 50 states show that a tiny state like Utah(?) spends far less but has much greater scholastic results than NY, CA, IL and the other large states.
My friends and I are amazed at how some of you Americans think so simplistically! As if $ was a solution to this situation! GROW up.
May 5, 2011 at 6:02 pm
@Esteban……you got it pegged except for one thing – it isn’t ALL Americans, just a certain segment. There are those of us with common sense and we are trying to make an impact and changes. We have been silent too long.
Sure wish there was a “like” button here – so many comments have been made that I like!
May 5, 2011 at 6:43 pm
You suck..You are a bigot and A Racist
You read Huckleberry Finn as the cornerstone of Americana literature–We read it as overexaggerated Black vernacular
May 5, 2011 at 11:18 pm | | Report comment
This is damning considering that Iraq (unlike Afghanistan) has a literacy rate in the mid-70 percentile range.
May 7, 2011 at 9:12 pm | | Report comment
That was pre Saddam, then Iraq was a Mecca of thought, prose and intellectual thought. All of that was suppressed by him, the few institutions of higher learning left open merely taught his philosophies and propaganda, open discourse was banned, and few women went on to higher Ed.
May 11, 2011 at 2:16 am
It’s the government’s fault that Detroit slum? Did you just completely block out the utter collapse of Detroit’s entire auto-industry resulting in the single most dramatic reduction in population and services ever seen in a major city in America’s history? But, sure, you don’t like Obama so it must be his fault. The auto-industry’s failure to adapt to changing economic climates has absolutely nothing to do with Detroit.
May 9, 2011 at 12:45 am | | Report comment
Yes, it is the government’s fault. The people who feed off the public have absolutely NO motivation to better themselves. And you don’t like Bush so everything was his fault. The auto unions have just blame as the auto industry as to why there was a collapse there.
June 8, 2011 at 8:33 am
Wait for it….Wait…..
“More money is needed to…..”
May 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm | | Report comment
Always!
May 4, 2011 at 5:48 pm | | Report comment
There is help – contact Literacy Volunteers
May 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm | | Report comment
Can you put that in a Voice Mail, how do you expect illiterates to know what you wrote?
May 4, 2011 at 4:26 pm | | Report comment
Priceless. I havent laughed that hard all year.
May 5, 2011 at 11:48 am
+1
May 5, 2011 at 2:18 pm
I’m sure if we just spend One More Billion each year on the school district, we can get that rate to an even 50%.
May 4, 2011 at 4:00 pm | | Report comment
That’s the problem NOT the solution! I’m sure you meant that sarcastically but, that’s exactly what the government and school administrators say. As a public educator, I saw more and more children “socially” promoted in public schools. That means, even though they can’t read or write, they get promoted. Reason: not enough money to ‘reeducate’ them for another year. Put a value on an education and parents/children will see it’s an advantage not a “free” ride!
May 5, 2011 at 12:25 pm | | Report comment
LOL. That was an OBVIOUSLY sarcastic statement. It’s NOT what the government says, it’s exactly opposite. The goverment would have stated 40% (down from 47%) instead of 50% (up from 47%)
May 5, 2011 at 1:37 pm
LC- YOU ARE the PROBLEM
May 5, 2011 at 7:34 pm
That is the reason why they voted for Obuma.The best way to control anybody is to keep him or her ignorant.
May 4, 2011 at 4:04 pm | | Report comment
They say ignorance is bliss. Therefore, Detroit must be a very blissful city.
May 4, 2011 at 5:04 pm | | Report comment
If ignorance is bliss, then Detroit must be Oz.
May 4, 2011 at 11:12 pm
What’s the surprise? I could have toold you the same thing. If parents fail to parent, do not make their kids go to school, sit down, shut up and pay attention to the teacher then the children are not going to learn to read, write or do math. And the teachers are shoveling against the tide like Hercules. Duh.
May 4, 2011 at 4:06 pm | | Report comment
These illiterates went to school. Passed along to stay with their age group and preserve their self esteem, they graduated with diplomas they couldn’t read. But they felt REALLY good about themselves. Parents are only one part of the problem.
May 5, 2011 at 12:29 pm | | Report comment
Doesn’t surprise me. Have you ever watched Hardcore Pawn? No wonder the city is a mess.
May 4, 2011 at 4:07 pm | | Report comment
yes, they can and do, One of the 43% helps them.
May 4, 2011 at 4:07 pm | | Report comment
Maybe one of those 43% can help you with your maths, too…
May 4, 2011 at 4:21 pm | | Report comment
Mikey must be from the part of Detroit that can’t perform basic math – that would be one of the 53% (100-47=53)
May 4, 2011 at 4:24 pm | | Report comment
That’s why liberals go to school – to read welfare aplications to illiterates.
May 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm | | Report comment
Not one person on here talked about the lack of parental guidance. School doesn’t stop at 3 o’clock when the bell rings. How many of the 47 percentcome from single family homes, or are being raised by grand parents who are to old to care. I would bet that nearly half, if not all, never had a parent open up a book and read with them before they go to bed at night. Most of them are to busy worrying about the next joint they can buy, or who they are gonna sleep with at night. This problem starts at home. Take responsilbilty and be a parent. Or close your legs and don’t have kids at all!
May 4, 2011 at 4:10 pm | | Report comment
Yup, too many unwed mother. They are this country’s greatest liability. BAR NONE
May 5, 2011 at 11:39 am | | Report comment
Sienna, you’re 100% right on this one, some parents could care less if their child attended school, did his/her homework or even read a book. I lay this problem at the feet of the parents and the politicians we elect, that just don’t give a damn. When we stop paying attention to the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and others and start thinking about what’s best for our families, the things will start to change for the better.
May 5, 2011 at 3:47 pm | | Report comment
I don’t know, I thought single family homes were the norm.
May 6, 2011 at 12:11 am | | Report comment
So wrong! Everyone knows townhouses and condos are the norm.
May 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm
There are plenty of cities in the south and Appalachia that are predominantly white that also have very high illiteracy rates. They are probably very conservative places as well. What does that prove? That poor people are disproportionally disenfranchised when it comes to education? It’s not a political problem, its a cultural problem. When education is not a priority people will be ignorant, regardless of color.
May 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm | | Report comment
White or black is not the issue. Unfortunately, there are many people who are, and always will be, willing to live at a subsistence level. We have significantly raised the bar on what that means, with handouts and subsidies. We have found, over and over, that you can tell some people, “We will pay you to go back to school”, but you can’t force them to become educated.
I was hired as a consultant in a steel plant, in one of the communities you are talking about. In order to operate a new generation of computerized equipment, the workers needed to be able to read. I instituted a literacy program. It was very positive and respectful to adults who had never learned to read. The voluntary participation rate was dismal. It was not until they realized that they would absolutely lose their jobs that SOME of them became motivated to even attend. Many simply said that they would apply for unemployment and government aid. You can’t fix that by throwing money at it.
May 4, 2011 at 4:23 pm | | Report comment
Well, there;s a nice set of unsupported and unreferenced generalities to sell your untenable thesis. Of course it’s not a political problem. But the politics of Detroit IS Detroit’s problem.
May 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm | | Report comment
Well said. I couldn’t agree more. The difference then and now was parental responsibility and work ethic. We knew if we didn’t do well in school that when we got home we would have wished we had. Today’s parents don’t want to be parents, they want to be their child’s friend. When their children are children, parents need to be parents, when children have grown up parents can be friends. Until then, they have a responsibility to their children to be parents.
May 4, 2011 at 5:13 pm | | Report comment
perhaps that is correct but how often have those cities made #1 on the FBI list of the most deadly cities …..Detroit is top 5 always and often # 1 and consider how far Detroit has fallen …once it was the wealthiest city in the U.S. now its in essance a welfare state onto itself
May 4, 2011 at 6:14 pm | | Report comment
Maybe you should look around the country more at crime stats! There are many urban cities pushing Detroit for those titles! Birmingham, Ala, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis or Houston the list goes on and on. Fueled by lack of jobs and failure of their educational systems they are in has big trouble has Detroit is. Don’t think this is an isolated problem that has only happened in the last 2 years!
May 11, 2011 at 2:05 am
we’re not talking “probablies” we’re talking Detroit, Philly, DC …. reality, you dope.
May 5, 2011 at 2:18 pm | | Report comment
You obvioulsy haven’t been to Appalachians recently. They’re a good deal more literate and educated (the two are different) than most places. They’re not on welfare walking the streets talking on cell phones. They actually work even though many are unemployed. You can’t teach ethics like this anymore.
May 5, 2011 at 2:40 pm | | Report comment
I live in a poor appalachian town myself. Half the people here are on drugs or selling drugs. Old people are a major source of drugs – they get Medicare funded narcotics and flip them. The murder rate is the highest of any place I’ve lived. There is a lot of illiteracy. People don’t keep gardens any more. Girls are interested in popping pills, getting pregnant, a different guy each year, and getting on state Medicaid and WIC. You can’t hire anyone that will show up and do a days work. But they still all go to church on Sunday.
May 5, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Name ONE that has comperable rates
May 9, 2011 at 5:48 am | | Report comment
What do expect from high school dropouts, and extreme dixclexic cases? Plus didn’t mention in article if they were latino speaking or not/
May 4, 2011 at 4:12 pm | | Report comment
You do realize that “dyslexic” simply means “can’t read”, right? Here are two identical forms for you to turn into the redundant of redundancy department.
May 4, 2011 at 5:59 pm | | Report comment
Um, no. “Dyslexic” does not mean “can’t read.” It is a term to describe someone who has dyslexia, which is defined as “any of various reading disorders associated with impairment of the ability to interpret spatial relationships or to integrate auditory and visual information.” It’s a disorder that makes it more difficult to learn to read, but many, many people with dyslexia can read and achieve great things (e.g. Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da VInci, Winston Churchill, Ted Turner, Scott Adams, Fannie Flagg — just to name a few).
May 5, 2011 at 1:34 pm
There are very few latinos in Detroit. There is, however, a relatively large percentage of Somali immigrants.
May 5, 2011 at 9:33 am | | Report comment
The answer, of course, will be to throw more federal money at the problem. Because we all know that the problem was that not enough money was spent on their education already.
Only when you take away money from those who will not help themselves (and their community) will you make any inroads towards solving the problem. It’s called tough love, in other situations. Those who are mentally challenged, or otherwise unable are one thing. But many people simply won’t do a thing about this, because someone else is there to make sure that they get by on a day to day basis. You may not like the sound of it, but you know it’s true.
May 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm | | Report comment
Thats rasis!
May 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm | | Report comment
You may have intended to misspell “That’s racist” or maybe you’re living proof of the Detroit problem. You scored a “0″ on this spelling effort bigbiz2…. and it’s nobody’s fault but your own.
May 4, 2011 at 4:45 pm | | Report comment
Those who cannot recognize sarcasm are doomed to comment upon it.
May 5, 2011 at 11:30 am
I’ll bet their union people
May 4, 2011 at 4:15 pm | | Report comment
I bet they know the difference between “their” and “they’re.” You should try it – it’s fun!
May 4, 2011 at 4:27 pm | | Report comment
How about “your” and “you’re”, or immigrate or emigrate?
May 4, 2011 at 4:42 pm
[I bet they know the difference between “their” and “they’re.”]
Umm…. no. You know the difference. They don’t. They’re illiterate, remember? Or do you not understand the meaning of “illiterate”? I guess it’s possilbe to be able to spell and still be functionally illiterate.
People who mistake “their” and “they’re” can still fill out their own job applications. They just won’t be getting a job as proofreader on an anonymous Internet forum. So I guess you have some job security.
May 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I bet you not – you first need a job to be in a union
May 5, 2011 at 1:11 pm | | Report comment
No, you don’t need a job to be in a union. There’s lots of unemployed union people.
June 8, 2011 at 8:44 am
Obama and the democrats are asured of another 47 percent of the votes in2012. with the help of community orgainizers.
May 4, 2011 at 4:16 pm | | Report comment
Or look at it another way, the Republicans can count on another 47% not voting! With the voting restrictions and requirements that they are tirelessly working to instill (or get removed) this is going on all over the country, they can count on fewer people voting it’s how they stay in office!
May 11, 2011 at 1:54 am | | Report comment
The Welfare dept. will fill the forms out for them
May 4, 2011 at 4:16 pm | | Report comment
Learn to read or become bio-diesel. We could solve our nations energy needs with bio-diesel made from the willfully ignorant functionally illiterate. Toss in illegal immigrants, drug abusers, three time offenders, pedophiles, and we’d have no shortage of fuel plus free up thousands of prison beds, apartments and homes, and lower the cost of gas, food (fewer consumers), housing, and criminal justice. It’s time we stopped overlooking this abundant fuel resource. It can be found anywhere there is cable TV service and public schools.
May 4, 2011 at 4:18 pm | | Report comment
…and anywhere welfare $ is readily available.
May 4, 2011 at 4:48 pm | | Report comment
Soylent gas anyone?
May 5, 2011 at 12:03 am | | Report comment
Nice reference.
May 5, 2011 at 12:31 am
Pingback: Fallen Oak – A Bonding Moment « Life on Tour
You a verb.
May 4, 2011 at 4:23 pm | | Report comment
I’m sure Obama has folks to do this for them,
May 4, 2011 at 4:26 pm | | Report comment
I think we need more UN ION teachers !
May 4, 2011 at 4:28 pm | | Report comment
Great just how Obama and the Dems like to have you. They’ll help you with your votes and where to get your free healthcare and foodstamps.
Please Check out song called teapartiers I can’t hear you at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJfboOindCo
Here’s a verse
Doctors are retiring earlier but we’re getting 17000 new IRS
This is how Obama creates health care jobs I guess
For 234 years this country’s been God’s blessing.
Now he’s following Cloward and Piven’s to bankrupt the country I’m guessing
If Obamacare gives Grandma and Grandpa a scare
Think how when their rationed and die earlier we’ll save on healthcare
May 4, 2011 at 4:29 pm | | Report comment
Funny we already die earlier than nearly every other industrialized country ( and many so called 3rd world countries) in the world!(about 12th) Our infant death rate puts us about 21st in the world and the number of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth we’re about 27th. Cloward and Pivens must be Republicans since thats where the first 10 trillion of debt came from(and that was with no recession!). Don’t believe it Google it, you won’t hear these stat coming from anti healthcare reformers.
May 11, 2011 at 2:27 am | | Report comment
And Healthcare Reform is going to improve our mortality rate how? I have yet to hear of anyone dying because they were unable to get Healthcare. Each time I’ve had anything done at our local hospitals, I’ve had to sign a form that told me that they could not refuse me care because I was unable to pay for it.
June 8, 2011 at 8:50 am
You obviously didn’t come to Raleigh. It has the highest rate of PhDs per capita in the nation.
May 4, 2011 at 4:32 pm | | Report comment
How many of them were educated there? Not many, I’d guess. Most are high-tech professionals that come from elsewhere, often from other countries.
May 4, 2011 at 6:19 pm | | Report comment
Yes Pervy and guess where their kids are going to grow up, go to school, and contribute to the future – NC. I cannot wait to get back to NC, a true Eden on Earth
May 4, 2011 at 6:47 pm | | Report comment
Do you know how hard it is to get an online Ph.d? It takes a loan that you don’t pay back, the ability to read/write, and access to a library where you can use a computer. I’m not impressed with Ph.ds. If they work for the government, have a Ph.d from the past 10 years I want to see their diploma on the wall.
May 5, 2011 at 10:53 am | | Report comment
And Omaha has the highest number of millionaires per capita. I am willing to bet most of them do not have a Phd. I wonder which works better, a Phd or common sense?
My B.A. and J.D. route was the hardest way to earn money that I have ever heard of.
May 5, 2011 at 2:55 pm | | Report comment
Wow, but I am not surprised! Hell I live in Cobb County Georgia and it is probably the same….
May 4, 2011 at 4:32 pm | | Report comment
LOL
May 4, 2011 at 4:34 pm | | Report comment
Exactly. The sheeple is multiplying.
May 4, 2011 at 4:36 pm | | Report comment
Sienna,
Parents help but we are just talking about reading! 13 years to get a student to read should not matter if the kid is being tought on the fly on the street with green eggs and ham. Don’t make excuses simple one.
May 4, 2011 at 4:36 pm | | Report comment
I am a returning student to college, age 49, and have been SHOCKED to see this first hand. I retired a few years ago after selling my business and decided to get a degree. The very first class I too, ENG 101, the students were expected to read aloud, these were not immigrants, or foreign students, and I nearly fell out of my chair. It was unbelieveable to sit and observe the level of reading skill these kids and adults possessed. Now over three years later, just this past week we were takign turns reading aloud in another class adn several students still lacked the basic skills to successfully navigate reading a single paragraph. They had simply been passed along and were now either junoiors of seniors in a university class. I would submit that in certain areas the level of functional literacy is mosty likely much lower than this article even suggests. I have seen this first hand. We are doomed.
May 4, 2011 at 4:37 pm | | Report comment
Chris Freind, an independent columnist, reported recently that 33% of 10th graders in an upscale area here in PA could not read/write. Anyone who does not fault the government, unions, and teachers for failing our children is someone who is not fully functioning.
May 4, 2011 at 4:54 pm | | Report comment
I was a grad student/TA at Wayne State in the early 90s. One of my students was the valedictorian of her high school in Detroit. She was at Wayne State because WSU had a policy of offering 100% scholarships to the valedictorians of all Detroit high schools. The problem was, at least in her case, she was valedictorian by “accident.” Don’t get me wrong, she was a very nice girl, and probably with a lot of help could have been prepared for college. But she hadn’t been prepared. She was valedictorian because, unlike the rest of her high school classmates, she’d stayed in school, hadn’t gotten involved in drugs, hadn’t gotten pregnant, hadn’t gotten in trouble with the law, and got along with her teachers. That made her the cream of her class. But her teachers were so busy putting out all of the other fires every day that they didn’t actually get around to preparing this poor girl for college. I don’t have any idea what finally happened to her. I’ve always feared that she finally got frustrated and gave up and now has several children, no husband, and is on welfare. I hope not. I hope she succeeded.
May 4, 2011 at 5:00 pm | | Report comment
You just hit on both the problem and the cure and it doesn’t cost anything! Young kids do not read out loud in school anymore! Teachers are to afraid to make them do it for fear it wouldn’t be politically correct! If all children read out loud from an early age has we did they would at least be able to read at a functional level by the time they reach higher grades! Regardless of their parents or parent!
May 11, 2011 at 1:21 am | | Report comment
Would this be English, Ebonics or Arabic?
May 4, 2011 at 4:39 pm | | Report comment
Inshallah I don’t know cuz I speak all 3 plus a couple of others! And all with my Lansing public scholl education and a couple of years of communmity college!
May 11, 2011 at 2:30 am | | Report comment
I’m assuming you didn’t learn to spell in English though.
June 8, 2011 at 8:52 am
LOL….Rock said books are like Kryptonite to you-know-who…..
May 4, 2011 at 4:41 pm | | Report comment
You would be surprised at how many black people you can find in a library. I am astounded at how little people think about black people. Every black person is not what the media and television make them out to be There are a lot of educated black people.
May 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm | | Report comment
Where?
May 4, 2011 at 9:11 pm | | Report comment
Thats the reason they need Polical Organizers to tell them how to vote and do everything else.
May 4, 2011 at 4:44 pm | | Report comment
clearly the Republican plan to continue this dumbing down of our nation is working…the only way they can achieve any political power is by dismantling education so the majority of our citizens have absolutely no clue how bad they are being raped by the party. If you don’t believe that’s part of their platform than you just do not folow politics.
May 4, 2011 at 5:20 pm | | Report comment
ARE YOU A TOTAL IDIOT……???
REPUBLICAN and DETROIT don’t fit in the same sentence palsy…
May 4, 2011 at 6:25 pm
hey DING DONG…… name those REPUBLICANS that are in Detroit…. i’ll bet you can’t find ONE….. at least, NOT in the last 50 years…..
May 4, 2011 at 6:33 pm
LOL, funniest troll piece I’ve read in awhile. Blaming the GOP for black illiteracy in a Democrat state. Now that’s either very funny or you are very delusional!
May 4, 2011 at 11:11 pm
You are another fine product of our public school system.
The education system in this country and almost every educational theory is written by leftists. The government of Detroit is almost totally Democrat.
It was a Republican that created the federal education system and appointed a cabinet member and it was a Republican that enacted No Child Left Behind.
Get a clue.
May 5, 2011 at 8:52 am
The libs have controlled the educations system for years mark, that is why it is failing. Liberalism is a disease that destroys everything it touches and our public school schools are ripe with it.
May 5, 2011 at 10:19 am
You win for having the most stupid comment of the day.
The Democrats run Detroit and yet, you find a way to try and blame the GOP.
You, yourself, might be able to read, but as to intelligence, you rate up there with the 47%.
May 5, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Mark,
Totally inane statement on your part. Detroit has only had Democratic mayors since 1962.
May 4, 2011 at 5:25 pm | | Report comment
and what does Detroit having a Democratic mayor for the last 40 years have to do with anything. I’m talking about the GOPs current platform right now…and it’s inarguable that they do not value education which therefore means that they do not truly care about the future that we are leaving to our children…the future that they might not be educated enough to handle or even advance further when the GOPs brilliant plan to cut deficits and give more unpaid for tax breaks to the wealthy consists of demoloshing education spending. Republicans thrive off an ignorant population and if you practice your civic responsbility to this nation than you know exactly what I mean. They exploit people’s fears through outrageous exaggerations and propaganda statements because they know that the majority of Americans only get their information from one source. Until this changes to where people watch a variety of news channels and read different websites in order to develop a well rounded opinion, our nation is going to continue to be run by the ignorant.
Can you name me one potential GOP candidate for president, announced or not, that you think has a shot to win against Obama? LOL, I’m an Independent and I’m not a die hard Obama fan, but I am competent enough to know that he’s still the best choice so far compared to the 10+ names being floated around by conservatives. Obama will win a 2nd term BECAUSE OF THE IGNORANCE showcased by the conservative party. Care to try and dispute this? Yea, I thought so.
May 4, 2011 at 6:06 pm
LOL ….he berides Republican and their education policies ignoring the fact that the most ignorant citizens of the U.S. reside in democrat run and controlled cities ….oh its been 60 years since Detroit had a Republican mayor
May 4, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Here are the composite ACT scores for 2009 graduating seniors:
Texas 20.8
Alabama 20.3
Louisiana 20.1
Michigan 19.6
It only took 12 years for Alabama to go from ZERO automobile industry to being about 1/3 the size of Michigan. We now produce over 1 million vehicles per year and every plant we have is expanding. In out city we make M-Class, R-Class, and G-Class Mercedes Benz and will soon add 3000 workers to make the C-Class. Pretty good for a state of inbred dummies.
May 4, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Nothing for anyone to be proud of, right?
May 4, 2011 at 9:05 pm
It should be noted that the 10 worst school districts in the country were in Orleans Parish.Katrina closed the schools and many of the students attending those schools moved to Texas.As a result the composite ACT scores for Louisiana students went up and the scores for Texas students went down.While the State of Louisiana has improved our educational system in Orleans parish by having private, charter and a Catholic school system, we still have a major problem with crime even though the population has been dramatically reduced.The same people that contributed to our low educational system are responsible for our crime statistics.I’m sure it’s the same story in Detroit and other major urban centers.
May 5, 2011 at 11:06 am
Gonzalez–go back to Mexico. You will be at the head of your class.
May 4, 2011 at 9:03 pm
How about you and your family go back to Mexico?
May 4, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Yes…yes…we know. As you’ve skreed for the 12th time, you’re an “independent.” Uh-huh. As “independent” as a Berkeley grad student.
Too bad your pathetically stupid, lame arguments all sound like DNC/Chris Matthews/Ed Schultz sound bytes.
May 4, 2011 at 6:35 pm
It’s clear from your post that your are NOT an independent as it is nothing but a repetition of the same liberal-Dem talking points I have been hearing for the past 30 years. If you are indeed a teacher that would explain a lot about the sorry state of public education. Instead of repeating the same old garbage why don’t you explain how the doubling of per-pupil eduction spending since the 70′s has only resulted in a massive decrease in student performance. Then use this to justify further increases in spending. I anxiously await a well reasoned response
May 4, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Money spent on education does not spell success. We currently spend far more on education than our nearest competitor, yet we as a nation rank in the mid twentieth position in science and math. Our education dollars are ill spent.
May 4, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Thank GOD you did no have any of my children. A sad pathetic teacher like you would certainly contribute to the 47% illiterate population in Detroit.
May 4, 2011 at 8:26 pm
With you as a teacher, no wonder our schools are a failure.
May 4, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Seems to me that a lot of people in these replies are caring “to dispute this” so……..you thought wrong (if you ever actually thought).
May 5, 2011 at 8:57 am
You are correct Mark: GOP people do not understand the US education process at all. Neither do foreigners. We are amazed at how much you spend per pupil yet achieve a very low yield. Please argue those facts. Your school districts are receiving historically high amounts of money.
As far as “Educating the future of our nation” you should address all the wasted dollars in Grievance Studies that you force kids through. Has anyone in Black, Women, Gay, Transsexual or other Studies departments ever produced anything that can compete in the market with the Chinese, the EU or Japan? Of course not. They become dependents upon the state—like teachers. Thumb sucking and looking back at past grievances continues to haunt them. The Japanese were nuked, for crying out loud (love your American colloquialisms) – look what they’ve done since WWII. And they were essentially nuked again with the recent tsunami and Nuke plants that went awry. Yet they are neither whining nor dependent upon their government. I was embarrassed at the display of your New Orleans Americans—all that dependence was sickening for someone who admires Jeremiah Johnson Americans—those poor Blacks never left the plantation, did they? In that case, they took the person out of the ghetto, but they could not get the ghetto out of the person. The rest of America has got to get over their guilt or whatever it is that keeps them feeding the Education Monster, and exercise Dr. Phil “Tough Love.” I like how he do that.
Tax cuts for the wealthy is a problem? Isn’t it their money? You know that 50% of your people—The Poor—pay no tax at all. One of your Founder said that “When one American can vote $ out of another American’s pocket into his own, the liberty of both will wane and disappear.” You are now doing that. Obama’s stash, indeed. Please grow up Mark; the rest of us need a strong America.
May 5, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Mark Santeramo, you are a idiot. Liberal policies have created the Detroit phenomenon. Educate yourself.
May 4, 2011 at 5:28 pm | | Report comment
Maybe Mark Santeramo was educated in Detroit.
May 4, 2011 at 5:58 pm
LOL, what are you talking about man.. as a teacher myself, I am educated on the issues. I don’t just watch FOX and think I’m a genius as most likely you do based on your response. In order for this nation to succeed Americans must take some pride and personal responsibility for their education as it is a lifelong process that continues on well after school ends. Now if you want to be a smartass and not talk facts, that’s fine, but do you think you can really dispute the FACT that the GOP/conservatives/Republicans have done NOTHING for education in this country besides cuts? Come on, argue that, please, go ahead. Republicans DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS and so what we see are statistics as shown above.
When the education of our nation’s citizens is considered to be one of the lowest priorities for the minority power in our current government, alarm bells should go off indicating that this particular party has absolutely zero clue how to maintain a prosperous nation well into the future. Educaiton is the backbone of society and our economy; I always find it hilarious how once Republicans get older the first thing they want to do is attack teachers, etc., despite them being some of the most important employees in our economy considering the influence they have on our children and the future direction our country potentially may take. Witholding billions of dollars from our students in favor of more tax cuts for the wealthy THAT HAS SHOWN FOR YEARS NOW THAT THEY DO NOT PRODUCE JOBS…well, that’s the argument we are having today.
Educating the future of our nation or give greater tax cuts to the wealthy that don’t need them. Hmm…and yet this inarguable issue is one that the GOP has no qualms about attacking. Cutting deficits are fine but not when you do it at the expense of “the future of our children” which Republicans say they care so desperately about.
Please…you sounded dumb enough with your comment to me…at least try to type something back that actually makes sense.
May 4, 2011 at 5:59 pm
I believe you really are a teacher, Mark. Because you are so good at spouting the Marxist dogma. You suggest that Republicans do not understand the “educational process”. But, based on the actual results (in Detroit, but also in our country as a whole) it is you who do not understand the educational process. What you do understand is the indoctrination process that you were subjected to, and which you now impose on children.
How does it feel to know that you, personally, are responsible for a portion of the incredible educational deficit in our country? Are you proud? Does it make you feel better to vilify those who have worked hard and been successful? Do you really believe that our children would rank higher in education, if only you would have gotten more raises in your career? Or maybe you believe that it was the lack of administrative help that made you fail so miserably in educating a generation of students?
This talk of tax cuts for the wealthy is smoke and mirrors. The amount of money spent on education in this country has been rising disproportionately to everything else, and the quality of education has fallen at an alarming rate. You people need to focus less on political idealogy and excuses, and more on teaching.
BTW – my dad was a university professor. My mother a teacher. One uncle was a superintendant of schools, and three of my aunts were teachers. What you know about the “educational process” would fit in a thimble. When the progressives took over, education went out the window in favor of indoctrination. It’s not even up for debate.
May 4, 2011 at 6:19 pm
And if Republican are so terrible at eduction why does democrat controlled area’s suck when it comes to education .Andl lets see when blacks and hispanics are excluded from tests do you know where we rank …..3′rd in the world ….and we have increased spending on education and what have we gotten for it …..you want to know what the problem is ….70 % of ALL births in the black community are to unwed mothers ….38 % of welfare recipients are black…..12 % of the population 42 % of the prison population…..12 % of the population but have committed 59.3 % of all felony murders in the U.S. since 1976 other crime numbers are equally as dismal ….if a black male what is more likely to happen….go to prison ……graduate from high school ……murdered or graduate from a university
May 4, 2011 at 6:29 pm
did you know Mississippi has the nighest rate of elected black public officials
May 4, 2011 at 7:05 pm
Guess that explains why TX has the fastest growing economy :/
May 4, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Mark Santeramo, watch Waiting for Superman, it doesn’t matter how many taxpayer dollars you flush down the education toilet it comes down to union control not allowing the good teachers to remain while getting rid of poor teachers. Every job sector has sub-par employees, just because teachers perform a good service doesn’t mean they should be given the benefit of the doubt even when they suck. It has nothing to do with Republicans, you are being partisan and dishonest, Repubs want to make cuts across the spectrum from everything because in case you haven’t noticed, we are BROKE.
May 4, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Spoken like a good sheep trained in “feewings based” education!!!!
Socialism doesn’t give children a future, if we still taught that in schools…we wouldn’t be in this situation.
Christian conservatives established this country and it’s education system (if you crack open a real history book), your socialists hijacked and created what we have to day AND they only wasted billions and billions of dollars to do it!! Sweet!!
May 5, 2011 at 1:52 pm
One very important thing to note is that every single one of them has a right to vote. If they can’t read a prescription bottle, or perform everyday tasks (according to the article) how can they possibly be informed about the issues or the candidates? The answer is that they take instructions from community organizers and “leaders”.
An illiterate populace can be manipulated much more easily for political gain. You should at least consider that there are those within their own community who have a vested interest in perpetuating the illiteracy problem. The very people who scream loudly, and demand more money be thrown at the problem. They preach about victimization, while they themselves victimize. Don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s a conspiracy theory. Being able to tell a large bloc of people how to vote? That’s real power.
May 4, 2011 at 4:45 pm | | Report comment
Hence why the democrats here in Milwaukee oppose a measure to require people to show ID to vote. If you can’t read, odds are you you’ll have a hard time filling out the forms required to carry a valid government ID.
If you can’t read, you’re also more likely to vote democrat in this state.
May 4, 2011 at 10:29 pm | | Report comment
If you insist on teaching to the lowest rated student and in multiple language, you get moronic children. No wonders that America is in a death spiral with an education system and laws that applaud studipity.
May 4, 2011 at 4:50 pm | | Report comment
There is no need to be literate. Obama, Perez, and Holder, under the guise of AmeriCorps, sends in members to ensure these people get every and any thing they can squeeze out of the myriad of social services available to those who choose not to work, read, or write – all paid for with our tax dollars.
May 4, 2011 at 4:50 pm | | Report comment
HAH!!! They have Community Organizers to help them do that.
May 4, 2011 at 4:50 pm | | Report comment
Illiteracy and hopelessness are the same conditions ripe for radicalizing and recruiting the disposable, ground-level cannon fodder type of people that are exploited in the poverty stricken Islamic world. Combine that with a large, ever-increasing number of Islamic people in the Detroit area, and it does not take a genius to see the likely outcome.
May 4, 2011 at 4:52 pm | | Report comment
sadly your words are accurate – Wake up America. It’s later than you think!
May 4, 2011 at 5:01 pm | | Report comment
How does Islam corrolate with illiteracy? Save your racism, religious zealotry, and your ignorance for your next Klan meeting, sir.
May 10, 2011 at 3:26 pm | | Report comment
Why should this story SHOCK? Doesn’t everyone know by now that over 80% of black male teens in Detroit drop out of high school? For the black girls it’s over 50%.
TICKING TIME BOMB HERE FOLKS!
May 4, 2011 at 4:53 pm | | Report comment
Someone from Acorn will help them. However, what do you expect from a city run by union goons and democRats?
May 4, 2011 at 4:54 pm | | Report comment
Could you please rewrite that in ebonics so I can read it?
May 4, 2011 at 4:58 pm | | Report comment
I find this disturbing and hearbreaking – the travesty is beyond words (no pun intended). Obviously the mainstream public school system has failed America. There are literacy groups looking for volunteers all across the country.
May 4, 2011 at 4:59 pm | | Report comment
Kela: You are correct. There are a lot of educated black people, they just don’t happen to be in Detroit.
May 4, 2011 at 5:01 pm | | Report comment
Drudge has this listed as a “Shock Report”. Not a shock really. I have suspected this all along.
May 4, 2011 at 5:02 pm | | Report comment
How about a basic geography lesson for most of the people here. The Southern States are almost completely republican and have the lowest levels of education in the country! Meanwhile, the East Coast states are almost completely Democratic and they have the highest level of Education citizens. Guess it just proves that even if you can read or write you still can be dumb as a rock.
May 4, 2011 at 5:02 pm | | Report comment
and what states would you be referring to
May 4, 2011 at 7:11 pm | | Report comment
Let me guess … mostly Black and Hispanic?
May 4, 2011 at 5:05 pm | | Report comment
Some think to read is to “act white”
May 4, 2011 at 6:22 pm | | Report comment
They are The Obama Base Voters.
May 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm | | Report comment
We will be waiting for a very long time.
May 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm | | Report comment
I don’t trust the source. That being said – thanks to the Democrats who have single handedly destroyed the black family, this would not be a surprise. Democrats won’t stop until every african American is in jail or on welfare, and the only family they have is the gangs. Detroit is the perfect Democrat community -it is a 100% Democrat success story – completely dependent on gov’t, at home or in jail.
When are black people going to wise up and realize that Democrats are killing them and thier community?
May 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm | | Report comment
Amen…The Democratic Party: Party of Slavery and State-sponsored eugenics!
May 5, 2011 at 1:42 pm | | Report comment
This is not a shock
May 4, 2011 at 5:08 pm | | Report comment
“a new report” – report of what? data? methodology? etc.
May 4, 2011 at 5:09 pm | | Report comment
How is this a surprise? After all, aren’t most Detroit residents Preferred Species? They have no need to read.
May 4, 2011 at 5:13 pm | | Report comment
But they can cash their government check.
May 4, 2011 at 5:15 pm | | Report comment
check? You must have missed the welfare upgrade. It is now an *independence* card. And they swipe it across an electronic reader, for now.
May 5, 2011 at 1:22 pm | | Report comment
This is not surprising. Many of these are the same people who elected and re-elected Kilpatrick.
May 4, 2011 at 5:15 pm | | Report comment
It must be a great pool to draw TSA agents from.
May 4, 2011 at 5:16 pm | | Report comment
This is so sad. All government schools in Detroit should be closed. The problem is that the government sets the standards with one hand and does the educating with the other. There is no real accountability, because there are no real choices or competition for funding.
Government involvement in education should be limited to the inspection process and providing vouchers. The government should test the kids at various levels for basic knowledge to make sure that the private schools which are receiving vouchers are doing an acceptable job. Every other part of education should be decided by parents and the schools they hire to teach their kids.
Politicians and government educators will never agree to private education vouchers because a well educated population would fire most of the them and they know it.
May 4, 2011 at 5:16 pm | | Report comment
I guess then there really isn’t a problem closing the libraries….
May 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm | | Report comment
I was going to write something educational and helpful for the poor people of Detroit, but, why bother, they can’t read it.
May 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm | | Report comment
I’ll bet a good portion of them work in Detroit civil service.
May 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm | | Report comment
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Jim in Houston is right. If anyone of any race gets educated, they are certainly likely to leave D-Town.
May 4, 2011 at 5:20 pm | | Report comment
It’s all those damn Republican school boards in Detroit that won’t educate the people…oh wait…
Did anyone ever stop and think that Democrats depend on a functionally illiterate population to get elected?
May 4, 2011 at 5:21 pm | | Report comment
Let’s not be harsh.
Public schools in detroit do not require reading for graduation. It’s considered an elective.
May 4, 2011 at 5:21 pm | | Report comment
This is an indictment of a monumental failure in the complete American school system. Teachers, teachers of teachers, unions, local school boards and the ubiquitous Department of Education.
This just should not have happened in the USA. That it has can only underline the need to rework the system from the ground up. Probably the most significant change that could be made would be to isolate the classrooms from the seriously negative effects of Political Correctness. This followed by closing the DoE, and removal of tenure at all levels of schools and universities. Unions have no place in the classroom (teachers workplace), get them out.
This is a battle long, long overdue. But if we are going to return to our children the educational opportunities that our parents and many of us (i am 73) had we have got to get these changes made.
May 4, 2011 at 5:25 pm | | Report comment
The system is doing what it has set out to do. It cannot be “reworked”. It must be abolished. We need to bring our children home to be educated properly by parents, who are the real teachers, and by neighbors and the community. By the way, this is not dissing private schools, they are a good 2nd choice, if it is available.
May 8, 2011 at 1:04 am | | Report comment
Big Liberal Sanctuary city where failure is the norm. Big Government backed by the Unions. Epic Failure, expect more of the same in other Liberal cities. Wake up America, the dumbing down of Americans began the Sanctuary cities along with the handouts of taxpayer entitlements. No jobs, 19% unemployment and above. 27 million underemployed. No hope, no change, just bigger Government with big paychecks 3 times that of the voting public with the best Healthcare taxpayers can buy.
May 4, 2011 at 5:25 pm | | Report comment
I’m not convinced it’s because of their political affiliation. I live in New York City, a very liberal city, and I can assure you most of the population is quite liberal. However, most of the people are competant in reading and writing.
Detroit has declined the same reason other cities have declined, mainly due to how the city developes which is a function of where transportation access is provided. Highways orient growth and development outside of existing municipal boundaries. So while metropolitan Detroit has increased in jobs and population over the last 50 years, the city has shrunk as a result of the removal of privately operated interurban transit infrastructure in addition to large swaths of the city that have been cleared to accomidate cars, such as highways and parking lots.
May 5, 2011 at 10:58 am | | Report comment
Highways and better transit to where? With the self inflicted demolition of the auto industry, where has been the increase in jobs and population? What incentive is there for a kid to finish school when there are no decent jobs waiting anymore! Until jobs are brought back to the city don’t expect much improvement in the grad rates!
May 11, 2011 at 1:37 am
Well they DID just blow that $2.3 million for fancy new chairs and trash cans, etc. (at over a grand each) at the Detroit Library. Surely some blacks are using those amenities there.
May 4, 2011 at 5:27 pm | | Report comment
Yet another shining example of Democrats in action.
May 4, 2011 at 5:35 pm | | Report comment
!0 years ago the last time the Dems were in real control was there such a vitriolic discourse about them destroying education? How have they been able to destroy education in the 2 years they have been back in power? This crumbling of education has been coming for a while like the last 8 years under GWB.
May 11, 2011 at 1:41 am | | Report comment
actually its the republicans who want to cut education funding
May 4, 2011 at 5:39 pm | | Report comment
Note to Jaik – not sure what rock you have been living under, but Detroit has been under Democrat rule for almost a half century. The city has been decimated because of it.
May 4, 2011 at 5:45 pm | | Report comment
If you cannot read, it is not a “funding” problem.
May 4, 2011 at 5:56 pm | | Report comment
ask obama about the charter school in DC that was closed down by his administrataion and was actually turning around kids lives and uplifting them to succeed. cant have competition with the failing unionized public school system.
May 4, 2011 at 5:56 pm | | Report comment
“The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality” ~ H. L. Mencken
—— http://911essentials.com
May 4, 2011 at 6:05 pm | | Report comment
It didn’t cost me anything to teach my 5 year old how to read :/
May 4, 2011 at 6:10 pm | | Report comment
Vermont spend half as much per pupil … they must have 90% illiteracy!
May 4, 2011 at 6:13 pm | | Report comment
School districts are mostly controlled by local Politicians and that applies to Detroit. It the perfect reason to remove Democrats from office. California is in the same boat. Republicans have for years tried to help those impoverished by allowing for vouchers. This would reach those who want to learn but can not because of local politicians who play to the Unions. It won’t get better in Detroit until the liberal’s are moved out.
May 4, 2011 at 6:20 pm | | Report comment
Not to mention a Democrat Governor for the previous eight years in Michigan who spent all of those years accomplishing nothing of great value.
May 4, 2011 at 7:16 pm | | Report comment
funding has nothing to do with it. Democrats could read if they applied themselves.
It’s easier to collect welfare, not work, and not learn. This is the democrat way.
May 4, 2011 at 7:16 pm | | Report comment
The US spends more money per student than any other western country. The whine of “the Republicans want to cut education funding” has always been used to silence debate about the effectiveness of liberal education policies.
Before the Democrats took over the city’s government Detroit had the fourth highest per capita income level of all U.S. cities. And some of the best schools.
Not any more.
May 4, 2011 at 8:05 pm | | Report comment
THE US SPENDS THE THIRD HIGHEST AMOUNT ON EDUCATION (PER PUPIL) IN THE WORLD. SPENDING IS NOT THE PROBLEM – BUT TEACHERS’S UNIONS STILL WANT MORE – DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.
May 4, 2011 at 8:51 pm | | Report comment
Obviously the money previously spent on education has not helped the Detroit citizens. However, teachers and school bureaucrats are doing very good. Since there is no accountability why bother to teach. Just punch the clock and try to look alive.
May 4, 2011 at 8:58 pm | | Report comment
Problem is….education spending != actual education
May 4, 2011 at 9:13 pm | | Report comment
I don’t care how much money they spend on education, Detroiters will still not be able to read. It is an ethnic thing!
May 4, 2011 at 9:29 pm | | Report comment
Yea, more and more money! That will fix it. The more we spend the worse it gets.
May 4, 2011 at 10:15 pm | | Report comment
Annnnnnd the Republicans want to CUT education ?? wow.
May 4, 2011 at 5:40 pm | | Report comment
might as well cut it….. it’s obvious that nobody is attending these schools as it is..
May 4, 2011 at 6:27 pm | | Report comment
The problem here is Culture. If you grow up in a culture where your 16 year old mother see you as a means to get and income and housing, your 28 year old grandmother is hooked on crack and you are brought up to beleive that doing well in school make you an uncle tom and your role models are NBA players, pimps and drug dealers, getting and education is not a priority.
May 4, 2011 at 5:40 pm | | Report comment
Bingo, Davo. Sad but true.
May 5, 2011 at 11:06 am | | Report comment
My wife WAS a teacher for 25 years. She’s seen the dumbing down of curriculum first hand. She last taught 8th grade algebra at a community college and feels the way things are going it will soon take twenty years of public schooling to obtain the same level of education obtained by sixth graders decades ago. Public education has become a disgrace.
May 4, 2011 at 5:44 pm | | Report comment
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Won’t somebody please think of the children……………
May 4, 2011 at 5:46 pm | | Report comment
“shocking…” i know i’m “shocked.” shocked that the number “be” ONLY 47%! my guess would have been nearer 90%.
May 4, 2011 at 5:47 pm | | Report comment
LOL they show a White girl for the pic. Can this media be anymore deceptive? This type of action would earn them a $1 million fine if I was running the FCC.
May 4, 2011 at 5:51 pm | | Report comment
Ares, it seems an accurate picture to me. A white girl in the library choosing books to read.
May 4, 2011 at 9:53 pm | | Report comment
Yeah but giving the false impression that Detroit is a White city. There should be a pic of negro gangs hanging out on corners. That’s what is in Detroit.
May 5, 2011 at 11:09 am
47% functionally illiterate.
and yet these same 47%-ers will somehow manage to vote in the national election 2012. most more than once.
wonder who will fill out their ballot(s) for them?
May 4, 2011 at 5:51 pm | | Report comment
yeah as a doctor these people are real scary because they pretend to understand your instructions and cant read the prescription bottle later. They get hurt and try to sue but usually we can prove they caused the problem themselves by counting their pills and proving they didnt follow instructions.
May 4, 2011 at 5:54 pm | | Report comment
Bad news: half of Detroit cannot read.
GOod news: they can still vote for Obama and Democratic congressmen 2 or 3 times in each election!!
….Wait, no: that’s still more bad news. Never mind.
May 4, 2011 at 5:57 pm | | Report comment
See if you feel the same way when you try to retire in the future to peace and quiet only to find that you have to take care of your own healthcare with a set amount voucher and try to buy your own healthcare! See if the price stays the same if you don’t stay in perfect health it had better because thats all you get, you make up the difference. This will be your Republican Future?
May 11, 2011 at 1:48 am | | Report comment
Yes but the teachers all retire at age 50 and that’s what is important.
May 4, 2011 at 5:57 pm | | Report comment
Didn’t zero just redistribute our wealth in the form of 60,000 free laptops for those educated slugs in the Detroit school system and furthermore, didn’t one of their illustrious teachers? pawn her laptop?
May 4, 2011 at 5:57 pm | | Report comment
There’s a bit of irony here in that you have to be able to read in order to read this article.
Maybe the wise Dems running this city will pass a law requiring all posted news articles to have accompanying audio.
May 4, 2011 at 5:59 pm | | Report comment
zimbabwe west.
May 4, 2011 at 5:59 pm | | Report comment
zimbabwe has 90 percent literacy
May 4, 2011 at 6:19 pm | | Report comment
good one Joe
May 5, 2011 at 3:03 pm
remember always: afro-sapiens be peoples too.
May 4, 2011 at 6:01 pm | | Report comment
maybe Mark was a product of a Detroit education…
May 4, 2011 at 6:01 pm | | Report comment
Mark Santeramo is a teacher?! That explains a lot. Mark back away from the Kool aid!
May 4, 2011 at 6:04 pm | | Report comment
They still have organs that might hold some value for productive people. Harvest the organs.
May 4, 2011 at 6:05 pm | | Report comment
So I guess the other half are white??? why is this a shock to anyone….
Hey, let’s throw a few ZILLION dollars more at the detroit teacher’s union – maybe that will fix the prolem..
May 4, 2011 at 6:06 pm | | Report comment
Guarantee the 47% are blacks and spics! Well, at least Detroit can save a hell of a lot of money by closing their libraries!!!
May 4, 2011 at 6:07 pm | | Report comment
Mark Santeramo…and its not just Detroit laddie…Look at Washington D.C. …..Flint….Gary…..New Orleans …. Youngstown…..Sharron…..St. Louis …..East St. Louis …..Watts …..Compton…..Chicago …..Wilkes Barre ……Harrisburg …..Cal …….Atlanta …..Newark…..Patterson …Miami…. and I could list a good many more ….what do they all have in common ….democrat run and controlled for decades.But lets look at Detroit shall we. In 1960 Detroit had a population close to 2 million and was the wealthiest city in the U.S. …today it has a population of less than 900,000 and is most often compared to Mogadishu
May 4, 2011 at 6:08 pm | | Report comment
Yea, they all have one thing in common, very low socioeconomic levels. Again, though, you keep avoiding the point that I’m making. Republicans DO NOT CARE ABOUT EDUCATION other than to cut it. Unless you can disprove this fact than why is it so hard to agree with me? I mean, is it truly that difficult to agree with someone from an opposing party? (and I mean that generally for everyone). Hell, I’m an Independent, not a Democrat, but at least I am aware of what is going on in the world…sadly I cannot say the same for a lot of other people.
May 4, 2011 at 6:30 pm | | Report comment
Lord, what a complete idiot you are. As Orwell said: “An argument so stupid only an intellectual would believe it.”
May 4, 2011 at 6:32 pm
well riddle me this if democrats care so much about education why does it suck so bad …..nearly every teacher I know and I know dozens are union members and unions are merely arms of the democrat party and do democrats really care about education or is it the dues paying union members every increase in education spending produces …. * GRIN * …just asking laddie
May 4, 2011 at 6:41 pm
It’s not so much cutting education as it is cutting the wasted spending on so-called education. If the money were spent responsibly and with some show of positive effect, I imagine it would be easier to persuade others that more spending would be better. As it is, the money spent is not having a positive effect, and it’s not because there is not enough, but because it is not spent wisely or effectively.
May 5, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Mark, I am an Independent. The democrat idea of throwing $$$ at education obviously doesn’t produce “education”, it only lines the pockets of politicians, elects politicians, lines the pockets of unions. If you have a bridge crumbling, and you throw $$ at it, AND it’s still crumbling – why are still throwing $$ at it? I see no reason to pay people to fix that bridge if they continually DON’T fix it! I care about education greatly but the persons that are being offered education have to care about it even more. Sadly, the population of Detroit, their democratic leaders and the unions don’t
May 5, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Education and schooling are not the same thing. One can exist without the other being present. You can get a good education without setting foot in a “school” also, you can be well schooled and still not be educated.
May 8, 2011 at 1:29 am
I bet 53% of Detroit are laughing at this article the other 47% are still on the word “According”
May 4, 2011 at 6:15 pm | | Report comment
No, the other 47% are waiting for the audio before they can respond.
May 4, 2011 at 7:18 pm | | Report comment
NAA–nearly 80% of Detroit are busy getting high or committing crimes to read or watch tv or listen to the radio.
May 4, 2011 at 8:50 pm | | Report comment
Well played Mark, well played.
May 4, 2011 at 10:24 pm | | Report comment
Why is this “shocking” news? The majorities of some people groups that can’t read – don’t value education, think that “gang banging” and the “thug life” are “sick”, live off the government, instead of education – the goal is having a baby at age 14, would rather organize “flash mobs” and hurt people than do something constructive.
May 4, 2011 at 6:15 pm | | Report comment
Ha, man, some of these comments are truly hilarious. Clearly none of you can read my posts or the argument I am making/proving within them. If name calling makes you feel better, great, but don’t act as though your superior to other people when you yourself are incompetent and incapable of grasping reality. Too many morons in this country have the right to vote and do so without any clue as to what the two main parties platforms are. Furthermore, when said people, the naive type especially, look for news they tend to only revisit one source day in and day out instead of spreading their search around to encompass all the viewpoints they can. The only way you can truly understand our world is if you expose yourself to a variety of viewpoints that you can analyze critically before formulating a final opinion. If you guys could read this post, please go ahead and try to better yourselves courtesy of an Independent; at least I’m intelligent and competent enough to know that the only way to guarantee a prosperous future for America is through a higher appreciation of EDUCATION. The end…go ahead, argue against me, just make sure that you don’t sound any dumber than you have already.
May 4, 2011 at 6:16 pm | | Report comment
Mark – maybe the people who can’t read your posts had you for a teacher. As for not getting the argument(s) you are making? Maybe it’s because all you have done is spout vapid Marxist dogma. No wonder our children rank so low worldwide. It’s because of people like you in the classroom.
May 4, 2011 at 7:07 pm | | Report comment
Well clearly someone like you who knows so much than the rest of us can clearly move to Detroit to help those in need?
May 5, 2011 at 6:40 pm | | Report comment
Quick: is it a Dem or Repube failure? The Great Society party or the personal responsibility party? Just axin’
May 4, 2011 at 6:18 pm | | Report comment
The half that can read are following road signs out of Detroit
May 4, 2011 at 6:18 pm | | Report comment
I don’t know why this should come as a shock to anyone, Detroit had a school board president that was functionally illiterate.
May 4, 2011 at 6:20 pm | | Report comment
The dumbing down of America continues. Detroit is just further along. We need to do more than crack jokes or make racist comments. I don’t see a happy resolution to this story.
May 4, 2011 at 6:20 pm | | Report comment
is this the SAME 47% that DON’T PAY ANY TAXES….????
i’ll bet anyone a cup of coffee i’m 110% correct that they are ‘one and the same’…. prove me wrong LIBERAL…
May 4, 2011 at 6:22 pm | | Report comment
Just throw money at the problem and it will go away. Go Dems! (I’m, of course, assuming that you can read this, but if you can, Congratulations, You’re not Illiterate!)
May 4, 2011 at 6:31 pm | | Report comment
Everyone knows using your brain is a white thing.
May 4, 2011 at 6:34 pm | | Report comment
That’s “thang” not “thing”.
May 5, 2011 at 11:10 am | | Report comment
Hf Yu cant reddi dis thank a Uniun Thetcha
May 4, 2011 at 6:38 pm | | Report comment
And this 47% is the core “block” democrat voter. Any question as to why the “blue states” and “blue cities” fall for degenerate community organizers as their leaders and why so may “blue states” are in economic collapse?
May 4, 2011 at 6:48 pm | | Report comment
Statement from BHO:
“Some call you illiterate, but I call you my base.” http://www.amren.com
May 4, 2011 at 6:49 pm | | Report comment
Hello fellow AmRenner…….!!!!
May 5, 2011 at 6:05 am | | Report comment
Glenn Beck writes in one of his books (and it’s true), what do the 20 cities with the highest crime rate all have in common? Answer (not what you think), they all have DEMOCRATIC MAYORS.
Look what NYC was like before Juliani, and then afterwards. Safer, cleaner, better schools, much less crime. And less PC.
May 4, 2011 at 6:50 pm | | Report comment
Yep thanks to Rudy the number of murders in NYC fell from something like 2200 a year…yes 2200 to what ever it is now 300 – 400 a year
May 4, 2011 at 7:17 pm | | Report comment
BLACK MAJORITIES IS THE CORRECT ANSWER
May 5, 2011 at 4:32 am | | Report comment
The democrats could care less that these imbeciles can’t read. Just so they vote for obama, conyers et ea.
May 4, 2011 at 6:54 pm | | Report comment
They wanted to be alone for the afternoon.
May 4, 2011 at 6:55 pm | | Report comment
So tax payers pay an average of $10,000 per student per year for the education of people who, 47% of which can’t read, and then those same taxpayers have to support them because of it? Liberalism, ain’t it great?
May 4, 2011 at 6:59 pm | | Report comment
This is totally unacceptable! The Demonrats need to dump more money onto the teachers union to IMMEDIATELY investigate what went wrong with the other 53%.
May 4, 2011 at 7:01 pm | | Report comment
I’d wage Obama has about a 90% approval rating among those 47%. Stupidity is the Dems best friend
May 4, 2011 at 7:05 pm | | Report comment
Think of all the money saved by not having a library budget.
May 4, 2011 at 7:08 pm | | Report comment
or a handout budget…
May 4, 2011 at 9:45 pm | | Report comment
Shakespeare got it wrong. First, kill the educators. Not teachers, of course, but the commissars at the top who engineered all this failure. Okay, you can fire them. But they must be prohibited from coming within 500 yards of a school.
Seriously, folks, we can’t have improvement until we get rid of the pretenders now in charge.
Bruce Deitrick Price
Improve-Education.org
May 4, 2011 at 7:09 pm | | Report comment
The demonrats and the unions have run the place for decades. What did you expect?
May 4, 2011 at 7:10 pm | | Report comment
I believe it !! They are the guys who designed and put together my Chevy 3/4 ton 4×4 pickup with so many idiot problems
May 4, 2011 at 7:12 pm | | Report comment
No country on the face of the earth except Luxembourg spends more on education than the U.S……liberalism is a dismal failure…..wake up and view the carnage.
May 4, 2011 at 7:15 pm | | Report comment
Dey done be talkin dat ebonics, do.
May 4, 2011 at 7:19 pm | | Report comment
I bet 47n dance like beyonce!
May 4, 2011 at 7:19 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: Illiteracy in Detroit | Warning: this is the Blog of Mark Bauer and may appear from time to time.
While I won’t argue that public schools have become featherbeds for unions instead of educational institutions, I reject the rather stupid idea that near half of any population is illiterate. They use terms like “functional illiteracy” to hide the fact that they are fishing for federal money to solve this “terrible problem”.
May 4, 2011 at 7:21 pm | | Report comment
According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.”
Irony upon irony, detroit just purchased 40,000 computers for the public school students who can take them home where they do not have and most cannot afford internet access.. I wonder if the functionally illiterate were graduates of the Detroit school system and how many of them work for General Motors. Ever wonder why the crime rate is so high in the black communities? If you can’t get a job what to you do? DC is close behind as well as most if not all major black areas of this country. Yes I suppose this truism to you liberals makes me a racist as now with a black president we are not allowed to say anthing negitive or positive about blacks without being called racists no matter how true. Oh well.
May 4, 2011 at 7:21 pm | | Report comment
Let me get this straight. There are 47% of the people in Detroit who do not have the basic skills to fill out the necessary forms to get a job? I am sure there are many of these people on welfare and exactly how do they fill out the necessary forms for welfare? Full time state employees securing their own positions, I am sure.
May 4, 2011 at 7:24 pm | | Report comment
Democrats – the party of criminals, illiterates, and the happy elitists who want to rule them. This is done deliberately to have a class system.
May 4, 2011 at 7:24 pm | | Report comment
Detroit is a town where every union dream has come true. Think about it.
See The Two Minute Conservative at http://adrianvance.blogspot.com for truth, science and humor written for broadcasters, editors and you. Daily on Kindle.
May 4, 2011 at 7:24 pm | | Report comment
We will spend 2.3 trillion on entitlements this year our projected revenue will be about 2.2 trillion …in short we are spending about 103 % of our income on welfare programs of one sort or another and the democrats are screaming it still isn’t enough
May 4, 2011 at 7:28 pm | | Report comment
Our illiteracy is our strength!
May 4, 2011 at 7:33 pm | | Report comment
On the bright side a large majority of these illiterates know that global warming, er, climate change is a man made disaster that we an only avoid by massive new taxes.
May 4, 2011 at 7:36 pm | | Report comment
Let’s just make an affirmative action ruling on this and just ‘Say’ they can read – so their feeling aren’t hurt.
May 4, 2011 at 7:38 pm | | Report comment
For those of you who think more money needs to be spent on education, take a look at our small southern city. We spend over $10,000 per year per student in the majority minority public system. In the private sector, we have three schools, Catholic, Protestant, and secular college prep. These schools spend less that $4200 per student per year and over 90% of their graduates go to college. Recently the Protestant school purchased an old dilapidated public elementary school for about $250K. Parent volunteers refurbished the school that now serves 800. At the same time a black city councilman whined and complained that his district “deserved” a new school. Nearly $40-million was spent for a palace for 600 minority students. All the taxpayers got for their money was the WORST performing school in the entire state.
Where does all that money go in Detroit?
May 4, 2011 at 7:38 pm | | Report comment
The entire problem lies with politicians and many of the public school teachers. When I was in college (I majored in physics, chemistry & mathematics), education majors were an absolute JOKE. The courses in science or mathematics taken by education majors were considered remedial and a serious student could not even get credit for them. To students such as myself these courses and the education majors taking them were considered to be “mentally challenged”..
May 4, 2011 at 7:49 pm | | Report comment
I leave n the DC area and i have many clients who are from Africa. Doctors, lawyers , head of governments and business. Many don’t know but the one ethnic group that has the highest gross income is from West Indies…pitch black in color.
They are the first to tell you that the black iin the United States lack behind the rest because not all but many who lives in poverty have a chip on their shoulder like Jessy Jackson. These Africans have nice solid families. These people are a 100% African.
Sorry the Black culture in teh United States breeds anger which results in bad students.
May 4, 2011 at 7:58 pm | | Report comment
I dislike the common culture of blaming others for ones own failings. This is a common theme in Detroit.
May 5, 2011 at 11:32 am | | Report comment
Integrating schools worked out well, didn’t it, America…?
May 4, 2011 at 8:02 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: SHOCK REPORT: 47% of Detroiters can’t read… | The Daily Conservative
I didn’t realize Detroit was only 47% black. Don’t worry though they have pictures of Obama and dollar bill signs on the polling booth so the monkeys know where to put their X.
May 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm | | Report comment
Few things are sadder in this country than to see an adult who does not know how to read, or do basic arithmetic. Our public education system is a disgrace. I don’t have an answer, but I do believe that it doesn’t lie with the government
May 4, 2011 at 8:25 pm | | Report comment
LMAO at liberalism
May 4, 2011 at 8:26 pm | | Report comment
The story is only partial. The 47% all know what a D is on the ballot is handed out at the union rallies and people that visit each at their door or shelter.
May 4, 2011 at 8:38 pm | | Report comment
Our children learned to read at home in a few months. In a year they were working at 12th grade english levels.
The problem isn’t books. The problem is the brain that is trying to read the book. You can’t make a pack mule into a race horse with lipstick and high heels and you can’t make a negro into a human with cash and positive thinking.
There’s a reason they don’t find any artifacts of any kind in Africa. The reason is there aren’t any going back two million years. Africans have had to claim the ruins of Dutch colonists in order to invent a past of any kind at all.
May 4, 2011 at 8:49 pm | | Report comment
You have to wonder how many of these illiterates have high school diplomas and how many are in city government.
May 4, 2011 at 8:51 pm | | Report comment
why READ when you can RAP !!!!
May 4, 2011 at 8:52 pm | | Report comment
AND YOU KNOW WHY????
BECAUSE YOU DON’T PAY THE TEACHERS ENOUGH!!!!
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
May 4, 2011 at 8:56 pm | | Report comment
Nuts, John,
We pay teachers on the average over $50,000. In the old days when teachers were successful they were not paid much at all. You have been had by the teacher union propoganda.
May 4, 2011 at 9:54 pm | | Report comment
J,
I have not been HAD by the union, I was looking for a good laugh!!!
May 5, 2011 at 9:44 am
I taught my four children how to read using Phonics and reading with/to them. These parents are self absorbed low life’s who spend their time watching “The Biggest Loser” and eating junk food.
Having said that, JOHN– how difficult is it to teach 1st graders to READ???!!!!!!!
WHO would let a child advance to the next grade without being able to READ??? FIRE ALL THE TEACHERS WHO TEACH GRADES K-4.
May 4, 2011 at 10:51 pm | | Report comment
Great comment attila
May 5, 2011 at 9:45 am
Great comment – so did I. I have visited many cities and known people all over the world. Detroit has a serious “Blame everyone else and do nothing for ourselves” culture.
May 5, 2011 at 11:49 am
Anytime you have an urban black neighborhood you are going to have huge illiteracy. Too much racism, too much hate whitey, too much entitlement attitude. Black politicians preach victimization and socialism to get voted in and it does nothing to motivate and inspire their constituents to excel at anything but take handouts and / or turn to a life of crime.
It is very sad and unfortunately when pointed out (pointing out the obvious) one is called a racist. American’s, especially white Americans are not allowed to criticize black Americans but black Americans can wail on white Americans. How dumb!
May 4, 2011 at 9:02 pm | | Report comment
This is no surprised, they think reading is acting much like a white person.
May 4, 2011 at 9:10 pm | | Report comment
I have heard this. Anyone who can read is called, ” acting white”. I do not understand.
May 5, 2011 at 12:45 pm | | Report comment
That mindset does exist in the Black community. Like most of the ignorance that has infiltrated the Black community, it stems from slavery. When generation after generation for 400 years has been told that they are not human & treated as such, it takes more than 50 years to stop believing that.
Poor Blacks still have that slave mentality and reading amongst those kinds of people is seen as a negative. It sucks and only perpetuates the stereotypes of Black people, yet…it still exists.
May 10, 2011 at 3:39 pm
How do you educate someone whose only ambition in life is to be a drug dealer or a pimp or an employee of said sterling characters and don’t forget the welfare mommas. It’s all sort of sweet. Every major city has the same problem and look what it brought us- Obamarrhoid!
May 4, 2011 at 9:10 pm | | Report comment
Reading is for white folks. I don’t want to act like whitey.
May 4, 2011 at 9:12 pm | | Report comment
when blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western Civilization—any kind of civilization—disappears. And in a crisis, civilization disappears overnight.”
May 4, 2011 at 9:17 pm | | Report comment
Only 47%?
May 4, 2011 at 9:20 pm | | Report comment
This stat is probably the same for just about any area that has a 50% or greater black population. I have no doubt about that. As a black man living in various cities in the South and North East I’ve seen this first hand. And I shake my head in disappointment everyday.
May 4, 2011 at 9:21 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: port: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read » Freedom First - News and Information the Main Stream media will not touch. Without spin.
Pingback: Almost half of Detroiters can't read
As a Jewess in the US, I ask: If 47% of the population of Detroit is illiterate, WHAT percent is African Negroid?
May 4, 2011 at 9:38 pm | | Report comment
Obviously decadent social decay, Although maybe it explains why only 55% of americans vote.. At least I know no one from detroit is reading this comment.
May 4, 2011 at 9:43 pm | | Report comment
Everyone please stop and rather than reacting to these “facts” simply question them. There are comments from both sides of the political spectrum that are plain ignorant.
Look at the source of this report: Detroit Regional Workforce Fund. What is their motivation for this study. Could it be money for the fund?
Their referenced study in the posted presentation is The National Institute for Literacy estimates. How was this estimate derived? How was it tested? Are there any studies with different results? How many of you actually read their presentation?
Just based on 5 minutes of internet search compared to their posted “facts”, 200,000 of Detroit residents can’t read. Latest census reports at that number calculates to 30%. Yes, still unacceptable but leads you to question the rest of their numbers. The so called journalists of this reporting should have the integrity to do a little research and question the “facts”.
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_id=16000US2622000&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=detroit&_cityTown=detroit&_state=04000US26&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2009_5YR_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=
May 4, 2011 at 9:50 pm | | Report comment
Very true. The numbers have, to say the least, have been fudged.
The so-called journalists of this site need to go back to journalism school and learn how to fact-check.
May 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm | | Report comment
Why is this strange ??Every liberal Dem city and state run by liberals has the same effect. Dems use people like minorities for their voter base. But, their ideology and philosophy never educates these people. Never. Just look at Philly, Balt, LA, NYC and other liberal Dem cities. They all fail to educate but they sure do bribe those poor people to vote for them.
May 4, 2011 at 9:51 pm | | Report comment
My grandaughter who lives in ALabama now can write, read simple words and she is about to start kindergarten this fall. I think the problem in Detroit is too much government and unions interventions.
May 4, 2011 at 10:08 pm | | Report comment
wish I knew what this article said
May 4, 2011 at 10:08 pm | | Report comment
You’re in luck. The comments are the kicker. Would hate for you to read those…has me mad I could read.
May 6, 2011 at 11:15 am | | Report comment
Pingback: 47 percent of Detroiters are functionally illiterate | The Kansas Progress
The inner city culture (teen pregnancy, illiteracy, prison culture, drugs, sex, violence) is a cancer on this great nation. The people who subscribe to it are functionally useless, sap resources, reproduce like rabbits, poison our cities, and destroy all that they come into contact with. You can’t fix it by throwing money at it. All you do is feed the tumor.
Without public welfare, this cultural sickness couldn’t exist. Faceless charity breeds entitlement.
Give the welfare money to churches, outreach groups, and other organizations that aren’t afraid to teach something, talk to someone face to face, know their family, and actually care about them and know them before mailing them a check. Groups that won’t hand you money unless you make some sort of effort to better yourself, but will hand you food if you’re hungry.
My vote in the election goes to whichever politician — red or blue — that will handle tax reform, education reform, and welfare reform. How can we expect our employment rate to go up if we establish a system that funnels all the money out of productive private enterprises into schools that produce illiterates, and then prop up those that are illiterate with more money funneled from the productive private sector?
No wonder we’re in decline.
May 4, 2011 at 10:14 pm | | Report comment
Touche! Well said.
May 4, 2011 at 11:42 pm | | Report comment
Gosh, wonder what most of the illiterates have in common? The picture may provide a clue, a white woman getting books in a library. So white women who go to libraries are the problem. Sure. A picture of an unwed black woman with 5 kids following behind in the Walmart would have been a better picture.
May 4, 2011 at 10:15 pm | | Report comment
Maybe it’s genetic?
May 4, 2011 at 10:15 pm | | Report comment
NO SURPRISE TO ME. IF ANYTHING I AM SHOCKED IT IS THAT HIGH.
Detroit decades of Demoratic rule.
Chicago same
Oakland same
SF same
La same
Cleavland same
and I could name more.
Now name one city that the Democrats have controled where schools, jobs, house has inproved for minorities.
The big differencee is Democrats tell blacks, browns and others they cannot make it without their help, they tell them every test is racist failing is not their fault, They are more concerned about condoms and pot.
Republicans think blacks can succeed if they want to. They think we have to get rid of the crime and gangs, we have to hold schools and teachers and parents responsible.
May 4, 2011 at 10:16 pm | | Report comment
How is this a shock? Many people have known this for years but were called racists for suggesting it.
May 4, 2011 at 10:19 pm | | Report comment
Hey illiterates: Bleep you! HA HA HA
May 4, 2011 at 10:22 pm | | Report comment
Watch “Waiting for Superman” if you want to see the reason why the illiteracy rate is so high in Detroit. It is shocking, the number of road blocks are put up for students and a decent education, all in the name of almighty dollar.
May 4, 2011 at 10:26 pm | | Report comment
And what political party has been the over seer of education for most of my 60 years? Democrats.
May 4, 2011 at 10:30 pm | | Report comment
Turd World nation…right in our midst.
May 4, 2011 at 10:38 pm | | Report comment
82% of Detroit is African American. So WHY is there a photo of a WHITE woman????
May 4, 2011 at 10:41 pm | | Report comment
If 47% cant read, how do they fill out the forms for welfare?
May 4, 2011 at 10:48 pm | | Report comment
What the heck do you think {unionized) government workers are for??
May 4, 2011 at 10:53 pm | | Report comment
In all seriousness I have seen significant others who are literate fill out forms
May 5, 2011 at 1:12 am | | Report comment
what do you think social workers are for?
May 5, 2011 at 1:47 am | | Report comment
There is no more welfare in this country! I take that back only for the Fascist corporatism.
May 5, 2011 at 6:00 am | | Report comment
It is done for them by a paid civil servant!
May 5, 2011 at 7:07 am | | Report comment
Yo, readding isn’t nessisary, the mexskins can do da work, we get free obama mony and ain’t hav to work.
May 4, 2011 at 10:52 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: USA Politics Hamster Wheel - Page 80 - PPRuNe Forums
Easy way to save the city some money: Get rid of the libraries. It is evident they are not being used.
May 4, 2011 at 10:58 pm | | Report comment
the same 47% that voted for Obama.
May 4, 2011 at 11:01 pm | | Report comment
I don’t get it.
Why is this news story a surprise? Detroit is a classic, Democratic c’mom-and-take-a-free-ride city, and their public school system is beyond a mere disaster.
The Democratic strategy of “dumb ‘em down and they’ll be so clueless that they vote for you every time” has been very successful in Detroit. The average kid that “graduates” from a Detroit public school has enough intelligence to turn on a TV and listen to left wing propaganda, but that’s all.
May 4, 2011 at 11:03 pm | | Report comment
They know what a -D- is and that’s who they VOTE FOR!!!!!
Just keeping it real,
let me hear you DETROIT ROCK CITY!!!!!!
May 4, 2011 at 11:08 pm | | Report comment
The U.S. is finished.
May 4, 2011 at 11:09 pm | | Report comment
“This is Detroit and this is what we do”
May 4, 2011 at 11:14 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: Tragic: 47% of Detroit Can't Read | RegularGuyRant.com
Notice the female in the pic…she’s not black. So are we supposed to believe that it’s whites who are illiterate? Ha!
May 4, 2011 at 11:22 pm | | Report comment
Another mainly male issue. So, it will soon be forgotten in the advanced feminized US….
May 4, 2011 at 11:27 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: DETROIT’S CHICKEN HAS COME TO ROOST – 47% ILLITERATE | henrypatrick1736
And this is why the Department of Education, another regulatory behemouth overload should be abolished. Educating kids belongs to the parents, teachers and local elected city/state officials. Unions have ruined almost every institution in this nation, and none more so than the education. THAT is why more and more middle-income Americans work longer hours, have both parents working, working at more than one job, etc., doing everything they can to send their kids to private schools.
May 4, 2011 at 11:38 pm | | Report comment
This is what happens when you have city ran by blacks for blacks. Same thing in DC. The Democrats social projects are failing all over
May 4, 2011 at 11:44 pm | | Report comment
We spend more per student than any other nation on the planet, yet we get dismal resullts compared to other nations — even some we’d consider small and backward, e.g., Slovenia. We are one sick country. Abolish the US Department of Education, which is a tremendous waste of money and hold administrators and teachers accountable, which includes no tenure for any teacher ever.
May 4, 2011 at 11:46 pm | | Report comment
Fo shizzle.
May 4, 2011 at 11:52 pm | | Report comment
Detroit burned and drove out most of the decent people who used to live there. Many of the dregs that remain can’t (or won’t) even command enough brain power to learn how to read.
May 4, 2011 at 11:52 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: “Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read!” | Babalú Blog
Isn’t it great to know these people vote?
May 4, 2011 at 11:56 pm | | Report comment
Readin’ be fundamental and sheeeit, yo
May 5, 2011 at 12:00 am | | Report comment
The ACORN bus picks them up to vote – they are all Democrats no doubt!!!!!!!! LoL!!
May 5, 2011 at 12:03 am | | Report comment
“The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality” ~ H. L. Mencken
http://911essentials.com
May 5, 2011 at 12:07 am | | Report comment
a8′erioofnhQWIOP cvy808032 c
?
May 5, 2011 at 12:11 am | | Report comment
“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.” ~ Lily Tomlin
http://911essentials.com
May 5, 2011 at 12:11 am | | Report comment
Maybe you should have to pass a literacy test before you can vote?
May 5, 2011 at 12:27 am | | Report comment
They don’t have to know how to read to vote. All they do is look for the name with a (D) after their name & they pull the lever or punch the button. The Democrats/liberals/unions have ruined everything that they have touched.
May 5, 2011 at 12:27 am | | Report comment
Subsidized failure begets MORE failure. Drasticly cut handouts to dropouts and watch America rise from the ashes.
May 5, 2011 at 12:42 am | | Report comment
Letting the illiterate and poor die is certainly one way to improve literacy rates and the average income.
May 5, 2011 at 2:45 am | | Report comment
Ah yes, the Ebenezer Scrooge solution to social problems. Let them go ahead and die and decrease the surplus population.
It couldn’t *possibly* have been *anything* to do with the way the education system and methods were (not) functioning in Detroit schools. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Detroit being a depressed area where a lot of the more educated people, who could afford to relocate, moved away, leaving a higher concentration of urban poor–including a higher concentration of all the things that make people poor.
It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with whatever the mental disability rates are in the population brine in Detroit now that many of the healthy and able have been “boiled off” by the recession to places with more opportunity.
It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with all the people who are partially disabled, whose learning disabilities never got remedied when they were young, and who therefore were never actually taught to read.
Your own ignorance isn’t being subsidized with handouts, and it’s certainly not rising from the ashes.
Teach people to read, at all ages. Change how we’re teaching reading so that instead of picking “literature” that’s actively painful to read for school reading lists, we focus on commercial fiction–books with solid spelling and grammar that are *fun to read*.
Reading that’s fun begets more reading. Reading for fun makes people able to read for life and work.
May 5, 2011 at 8:21 am | | Report comment
Washington DC seems to be undergoing a resurgence to to changing demographics
May 5, 2011 at 8:31 am
Detroit has been under Democrat Rule for 60 years. All hope for fixin this problem is gone, period. Dream on Honey.
May 5, 2011 at 10:23 am
Although your post has good points and I agree that the points you make do have a lot to do with the high percentage of illiterate, it still does not explain the lack of literacy within a city that has an educational system in place. Almost all states require children to be enrolled in schools until at least age 16, by that age reading should have already been learned. If it has not, then the educational system failed.
I do not blame the educational system completely; I blame the parents and society. I say the parents because they are critical in reinforcing subjects learned in school and I say society because we have let race, financial status, living conditions and stereotypes control us to the point where some people feel that being ‘educated’ is not within their societal description.
I am a Hispanic male that grew up poor and in a high-crime/high-poverty area of Miami, Florida. I had just about everything going against me becoming educated, yet I managed to have an education. It was not good parenting either; I probably had one of the worst set of parents in my neighborhood. I made that choice because I refused to follow suit with what everyone else around me did. Most of the kids from my neighborhood would call me a “dork” for reading books, but most of them ended up poor and/or in jail, dead, etc. You could read about various educated black and Hispanic people that grew up in my situation with similar stories. I have constantly heard numerous government and society figured say that black and Hispanic education is lacking because of lack of funding, lack of good schools, lack of (put whatever new excuse they have here). Stop making excuses by holding up the race, poor, stereotype and living conditions card and start holding people accountable for their actions vice excuses because of something uncontrollable that multiple people overcome by not making excuses for themselves. I highly doubt this will ever happen since those people (I am sure I do not have to mention names) will never stop because it makes them excessive amounts of money by doing this.
Parents also need to be held accountable, if your child can’t make a grade then there has to be some kind of repercussion in order to ‘motivate’ the parent to reinforce information taught by the educational system. Of course, this is highly unlikely to happen because everyone wants someone else held accountable and refuses to let the finger point at him or her. Either way, society DOES need its few uneducated people. Not everyone in the country can have a college education or we would have no one working at McDonalds during school hours. Might sound harsh, but it is just the truth. The truth is not always beautiful!
I would have to agree that democrat controlled cities tend to have worse education, among other things. This is probably due to the high amount of excuses that democratic politicians make for every problem. Throwing money at the problem is always their solution, which helps them get elected, but rarely ever fixes the problem. If throwing more money at education helps improve education, then education would have substantially improved from Jimmy Carter’s administration forward, but instead it has declined.
May 5, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Much worse than that………they can’t think.
May 5, 2011 at 12:42 am | | Report comment
Whats more shocking is that it’s only 47%. I doubt anyone outside of Detroit is “shocked” to hear this statistic.
May 5, 2011 at 12:48 am | | Report comment
What a basket case. Considering the dropout rate and sorry state of the public education system everywhere, there will come a time when these problems will sink this this country.
May 5, 2011 at 12:49 am | | Report comment
In this country poverty is a choice. Instead of complaining about teachers, complain about what they have to work with. Insubordinate kids who come to school with an attitude and no interest in learning. Its the crayfish syndrome at work. In a pot of crayfish if one trys to crawl out of the pot the others pull it back. Unfortunately, illiteracy leasds to a people who lack the ability to critically think and they are prime targets and useful idiots for any petty dictator who come along.
May 5, 2011 at 1:05 am | | Report comment
Guess running all the whites out is really paying dividends. Coleman Young (i think) was the mayor that told the whites to leave and you see the results. This is what happens when the producers are gone and all that’s left is the USERS. But don’t worry I’m sure they have some COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS to fill out all those NASTY forms and advise them which lever to PULL ON ELECTION DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!
May 5, 2011 at 1:54 am | | Report comment
Well, I guess this story explains why Charlie Sheen attempted to have his first “Torpedo’s of Truth” show in Detroit.
May 5, 2011 at 1:54 am | | Report comment
They done got just enough edumacation to sign their welfare checks.
May 5, 2011 at 2:12 am | | Report comment
Detroit is 47% illiterate? No wonder Obama wants to stop testing in schools.
May 5, 2011 at 2:27 am | | Report comment
how many of you slack jawed fools are actually a Detroit resident? i bet none so stop talking
May 5, 2011 at 2:29 am | | Report comment
Obama’s base and reelection campaign headquarters!! keep’em coming Detroit. and some of these people were the ones making $50 an hour making cars….think that is fair to those that has taken the time and effort to learn to read and be literate.
May 5, 2011 at 3:02 am | | Report comment
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Let’s be honest. 46.95% of that 47% is black.
May 5, 2011 at 4:17 am | | Report comment
The title of this article should be: “Nearly Half Of Detroiter’s Don’t Know What This Says”
May 5, 2011 at 4:21 am | | Report comment
Bob Bob Bob,
You have been reading too many lib propaganda rags. You should do so some searching somewhere and find information that is not focused on making you believe something.
Contrary to lib philosophy education and educators are not part of some magic, secret knowledge that only produce results when the exact prescription is followed.
This country rose to greatness without federal education policies. Without teachers unions. Without life skills training. Without Mainstreaming. Without teaching children how to have sex. Without allowing children to fail basic subjects like reading. Without social promotion. Without paying people to stay home. Without feed children breakfast. Without taxes so high people can’t afford private schools.
The answer is simple but not easy. Stop doing this stuff and teach the things that were taught in schools 60 years ago.
How about Japan, do you think they educate their children? Yes they do very well. Their education system is the one the Douglas MacArthur put into place when the US occupied Japan after WWII. Guess what? He installed the current US education system.
The problem is really people like you who believe the trash they read instead of finding out for yourself what is what. You can fix it if you get off your butt and do some research.
May 5, 2011 at 4:45 am | | Report comment
Send them more money; that will fix everything! Not! I submit – Our safety net has turned into a welfare state that will be impossible to change, and that a society dependant on the government does not have to read!
May 5, 2011 at 5:40 am | | Report comment
Not a shocker. Detroit as well as the whole state of Meatchicken has been democrat controlled for years. If you want people to follow you keep them uneducated.
May 5, 2011 at 5:50 am | | Report comment
Democrats: Keeping Detroit Stupid for Generations.
May 5, 2011 at 6:13 am | | Report comment
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Just like old times…
May 5, 2011 at 6:18 am | | Report comment
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Tidal waves of doom: national/state/county/city/school dist/personal debt; out of control underfunded pensions; looted social security funds; widespread ignorance. I can see no way out.
May 5, 2011 at 6:21 am | | Report comment
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This is what you get when you allow government to teach your children. In the early 1800, long before there were public schools, a large percentage of the US could read above 11th grade. Today, you’re lucky if you get someone that reads above 4th grade.
Public schools are a failed 100 year social experiment. It breeds those that vote for an Orwellian government that promises to take care of you from cradle to grave. Love your kids? Get rid of the TV and get them out of school. Do whatever you need to do to home-school them. Hate your kid? Send them to public school and watched them get raped by the government.
Stop child abuse. Get the government out of schools.
May 5, 2011 at 6:45 am | | Report comment
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America, this is your future. Detroit is just poster child of what your government is turning you into. Keeping you dumb and stupid guarantees your votes for the progressive movement. The disintegration of the American dream continues. Those of us who live here have been watching as the corrupt government in this city not only has the ability to keep you down, but to make sure you stay that way.
May 5, 2011 at 7:13 am | | Report comment
White people are to blame. They’re holding Detroiters down by exploiting them to build up their own, wealthy lands.
May 5, 2011 at 7:14 am | | Report comment
“STOP”, “ONE WAY”, “DO NOT ENTER”, “XX SPEED LIMIT”.
Do these 47% drive?
May 5, 2011 at 7:30 am | | Report comment
From what I can dig up on line, Detroit is spending about $7,500 per “student” per year to turn out 47% inlliterates. Maybe if they doubled it they could drop that a few percent. Seems reasonable.
May 5, 2011 at 7:31 am | | Report comment
I feel sorry for these kids enough to want to volunteer to help them. If you don’t reach, grab and hold them when they’re young you’ll lose them. It’s hard to get their interest in reading back when they start to get older. You’ve got to make that interest strong in those early years.. A million comments there and no one wants to help, but just turn it to a politcal forum and a complaining site.
May 5, 2011 at 7:47 am | | Report comment
More money for the schools, they seem to be doing a great job, in the voting booth they can just color code the levers, pull commie red for the Dems.
May 5, 2011 at 7:47 am | | Report comment
i went to Cleveland Public schools and learned how to read a news paper in the second grade. We left cleveland during the great white flight when they started busing this policy ruined all of the major cities.
May 5, 2011 at 7:48 am | | Report comment
Sad, sad, sad!! The number is so high because a large number of people who could read and reason fled Detroit after seeing the writing on the wall of its decline. Unionized teachers, with no accountability, who allowed “social promotions” to next grade level, voters with no idea of the issues and vote strictly on party lines, and a corrupt city administration are to blame. The people of Michigan should rise up and correct this damning statistic to something they can be proud of showing.
May 5, 2011 at 7:54 am | | Report comment
Give me picture menus, or give me death!!!
May 5, 2011 at 7:57 am | | Report comment
Why is this surprising? Detroit is a third world country. Does anyone wonder why the Chrysler 300 ads say ‘Imported from Detroit’?
May 5, 2011 at 8:05 am | | Report comment
Did you see all the empty seats at the Red Wings game last night?
Nobody wants to be in Detroit anymore except handout “victims” and unionized employees.
I took my white azz out of that city 20 years ago and never looked back. I was mugged, robbed, taxed and disappointed too many times to even care about what happens there anymore.
F the liberals, unions and demorats that took that city down. And to hell with the rats that infest it.
May 5, 2011 at 8:08 am | | Report comment
Exactly why the plantation owners in the 19th century didn’t want their slaves to be educated, to keep them in control and ignorant. Another triumph for our education system and Democratic governance.
May 5, 2011 at 8:19 am | | Report comment
I Bet They Can Read The Amount Of $ On The Welfare Checks ‘Moms Gits’.
May 5, 2011 at 8:21 am | | Report comment
This is a uniquely American problem when compared with other developed countries. Sorry guys – your education system is broken. You have some catching up to do.
May 5, 2011 at 8:21 am | | Report comment
53% of Detroit students are literate? That IS shocking.
Lemme guess — not enough money being dumped down this toilet?
May 5, 2011 at 8:29 am | | Report comment
But they can figger our the pitchers pretty good.
May 5, 2011 at 8:32 am | | Report comment
these illiterate, unemployed, angry government dependents will be tomorrows jack-booted thugs. This is an army being trained up to cause mayhem. They don’t need no edjikashun. It’s the unmasked truth of why decent people LEAVE.
May 5, 2011 at 8:39 am | | Report comment
If you’re never going to have a job, why waste time learning how to read?
Magically the checks and food stamps keep showing up every month….here’s to the good life.
May 5, 2011 at 8:43 am | | Report comment
53% are literate, that is right on par with other parts of Africa isn’t it?
May 5, 2011 at 8:43 am | | Report comment
Of course they can’t read. If they could read their peer group would accuse them of “acting white”. God forbid you should act white. Then you might get a diploma, a job, and not be a burden to society.
May 5, 2011 at 8:43 am | | Report comment
To find out what Dear Leader and his ilk have in mind for the rest of America, Detroit is the answer. I grew up in the area and left.. part of the huge Detroit area diaspora in this country. So what’s the answer? Hell, more of the same! Line up Detroiters! O’bama is giving out car payments and money for cigarettes!
May 5, 2011 at 8:44 am | | Report comment
detroit, pontiac and southfield are predominately non white communities. billions of dollars spent on education. the teachers want more money for not teaching and the students either don’t want to learn or are mentally incapable of learning.
May 5, 2011 at 8:59 am | | Report comment
Well … I’M sure shocked!
/sarc
Whatever happened to “It Takes a Village”?
This?
May 5, 2011 at 9:01 am | | Report comment
FWIW, one of the big things is that some small children’s brains seem to automatically “get” that words are made up of phonemes, and some small children’s brains do not *automatically* pick up on that. There appear to be hereditary factors, the latter frequently struggle with reading, frequently fall behind, and frequently fail in a lot of life stuff later on.
There are a lot of problems that can keep a child from learning to read, every child is different, but that’s one of the most common problems. And kids with that problem can be *taught* to become aware of the phonemes in words, but it takes very targeted instruction. Just throwing “phonics” at them without teaching that first is a recipe for those kids staying illiterate.
But it’s easy to blame the kids or the parents, because the instructional methods we’ve traditionally used work with most children.
When we identify and teach these kids–not just tell them, *teach* them–so that their brains break words down into component sounds, *then* we’re able to catch them up and get them reading.
We’re getting failure, no matter how much money we spend on failure, because we’re doing the same thing and expecting to get different results. Cutting spending doesn’t stop the failure, either (duh), because *we’re not teaching these kids using effective instructional methods targeted to that specific child’s learning needs*.
May 5, 2011 at 9:01 am | | Report comment
Ok, we’z can’t can read no books, but’z we’z can Rap!
May 5, 2011 at 9:01 am | | Report comment
Where’s my Obama money ?
May 5, 2011 at 9:03 am | | Report comment
great democratic leadership!
May 5, 2011 at 9:06 am | | Report comment
The government plan for a illiterate populace seems to be working well in Detroit!
May 5, 2011 at 9:07 am | | Report comment
M&M and Chysler want me to buy a car ‘built in Detroit” “cause it’s what they do”. LOLOLOLOLO!! SICK F___Ks!
May 5, 2011 at 9:10 am | | Report comment
You know, if you really think your political enemies *want* people illiterate so that they’ll have an ignorant voting base, then the logical way to change the system is to learn how to teach reading and go volunteer.
If all those illiterate folks would agree with you on politics–would agree with you tomorrow, if only they could read to know better–then you have an easy way to make converts to your position.
You don’t have to mention politics to them at all–if being able to read would be enough.
So if you really believe the only reason people don’t agree with you is because they can’t read—then learn how to teach reading and go teach them to read.
May 5, 2011 at 9:15 am | | Report comment
Shock? Regressivism destroys everything it touches.
May 5, 2011 at 9:17 am | | Report comment
This, of course, should surprise no one. Between a corrupt city’s eudcation system being run by corrupt public employees unions amdist a culture where education is perceived by most as weakness, a waste of time or worse, why would rampant illiteracy (illegitimacy, crime, drug addction) be at all unexpected?
The Workers Paradise is the culmination of 40 years of Detroit’s monolithic liberalism at work. (Did I say “work”?) It’s just showing Mexifornia the way…
May 5, 2011 at 9:19 am | | Report comment
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Education tax dollars wonderfully at work.
May 5, 2011 at 9:21 am | | Report comment
That right there is the typical Obama voter. Illiterate and uninformed.
May 5, 2011 at 9:21 am | | Report comment
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When the gubment pays you to be lazy and stupid why improve yourself!
May 5, 2011 at 9:28 am | | Report comment
Is this surprising in a hot bed of liberalism/progressivism? This is exactly how the left obtains and maintains their power. Dumb down the populace and keep them that way. Tell them what you want them to think and how to vote. The lefts dream come true!
May 5, 2011 at 9:31 am | | Report comment
Are these the same prople who been building cars in Detroit?
May 5, 2011 at 9:32 am | | Report comment
Dis be de fawlt of de man in Wasshinton! Wait a minot! Don’t we own Washington? Sheeeit!
May 5, 2011 at 9:32 am | | Report comment
why bother reading? Obama is going to give me everything I need.
May 5, 2011 at 9:38 am | | Report comment
I was always shocked on how job applicants I interview with undergrad degrees have such a limited grasp on mathematics. This kind of news explains the deficiency due to the building blocks of communication must be mastered before a student can comprehend math, science and at the least have rational thoughts.
May 5, 2011 at 9:40 am | | Report comment
47%, the exact total of government workers and union teachers in the city.
May 5, 2011 at 9:40 am | | Report comment
Is anyone surprised by these numbers? The trend has been in view for quite a while regardless of pundit rhetoric. America circa May 2011: 1 in 7 collect food stamp benefits, another 400,000+ first time unemployment claims IN ONE WEEK, $4+ gasoline, food prices skyrocketing, home values at basement levels, income still flat after nearly a decade. The American Dream is nearly over because we need to make room for the rest of the world. When that finally happens we can all grab our ankles and kiss our butts goodbye because the rest of the world can’t be relied upon for s**t.
May 5, 2011 at 9:40 am | | Report comment
The races are different. Detroit is 83% black. Welfare Statism has been tried on this population to boot. There is no solving this problem. Capitalism would help only slightly with motivation and, overtime, with lower birth rates among the indigent. Everyone knows the truth about human nature and the role of genetics but know one will challenge our cultural myth of the blank slate psychology.
May 5, 2011 at 9:47 am | | Report comment
So here we have a whole bunch of brutha’s doing some sort of “shuck of jive” rap on the street corners of Detriot. Instead of learning how to read and write they seem to thinks it’s more important to convey to the rest of the world, which really doesn’t care, their happenings via some oral history lesson call rap! Nobody cares about inner city Detriot because their inhabitants don’t care about helping themselves!!
Frankly, 47% illiterate is probably very conservative!!
May 5, 2011 at 9:47 am | | Report comment
END the Department of Education! NOW
May 5, 2011 at 9:49 am | | Report comment
All of these complaints about the status of our “system” are just peachy. My question is what are YOU doing about it?
May 5, 2011 at 9:51 am | | Report comment
They must have conducted the study AFTER 5:00 pm. If it was done during work hours that percenatge would have been much lower but the commuters head home around 5:00.
May 5, 2011 at 9:53 am | | Report comment
Perhaps it’s true. But be assured 100% on the illiterates voted for and will vote again for Obama.
May 5, 2011 at 9:55 am | | Report comment
47% of Mexicans living in suburban area of Detroit or native rednecks can not read?
May 5, 2011 at 9:57 am | | Report comment
Who, exactly, would be “shocked” by this?
May 5, 2011 at 9:59 am | | Report comment
Who’s been running that city for 50-60 years now? What teacher union has been ascending in power for the same time period? Hmmmmm, a rational person might suppose Detroit would be a utopia by now…
May 5, 2011 at 10:00 am | | Report comment
Not a surprise, they are typical Obama voters
May 5, 2011 at 10:00 am | | Report comment
Who is surprised about this?
May 5, 2011 at 10:00 am | | Report comment
“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.”
May 5, 2011 at 10:02 am | | Report comment
Detroit, the Calcutta slums of the USA!
May 5, 2011 at 10:02 am | | Report comment
The Globalist plan to dumb down the US to make it easier to take-over is clearly working. Public schools are and always were a joke. Public schools that get money for putting your kids on pyche meds…that’s evil.
May 5, 2011 at 10:02 am | | Report comment
You surprised? The whole state has been democrat run for years. It easy to get people to follow you if you keep dumbing them down
May 5, 2011 at 10:04 am | | Report comment
That is shocking. 53% literacy in Detriot seems very high.
May 5, 2011 at 10:06 am | | Report comment
hehehe…baaa-zing!!
May 5, 2011 at 10:52 am | | Report comment
Report: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read – Makes Democrats wince
May 5, 2011 at 10:07 am | | Report comment
Liberalism at it’s best. If you can keep the people illiterate you can control them. They will be dependent on government and then do as you say. The people of Detroit need the break they chains of slavery that the dems have placed them.
May 5, 2011 at 10:07 am | | Report comment
Hope and change.
Obama’s gonna pay my mortgage and put gas in my car.
May 5, 2011 at 10:10 am | | Report comment
This isnt shocking to me. When you are focused on trying use the law to extort money out of those who do work and pay taxes why do you need to learn how to read? If they need to know something they can just ask their nearest community (agitator) organizer or democrat politician. ON a serious note this is exactly what leftism and liberalism is all about, creating a dumb ingorant populace, so the elites can control all.
May 5, 2011 at 10:10 am | | Report comment
You can thank your local teacher unions. Of course, we all knew that, except the local teacher unions.
May 5, 2011 at 10:10 am | | Report comment
We can thank the teachers for the students being lazy, and the parents not driving their kids to perform? Dont think so.
May 5, 2011 at 11:31 am | | Report comment
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Thank-you! Detroit Teachers Unions and illiterate parents on the dole! Thanks!!!
May 5, 2011 at 10:12 am | | Report comment
This is a surprise?
May 5, 2011 at 10:14 am | | Report comment
As taxpayers, we can’t allow those not paying taxes to demand we pay for their useless lives. You don’t need to read to get a government subsidy. The gov’t will pay somebody to do your reading and writing to get a government check. It’s called “control.” That’s why the Democrats came up with the social welfare system. They didn’t do it to “help” people, but to control them. Give out checks to women for having babies, eliminate the chance that these women will get off the social system by telling that they lose their money if they get married. Teach children that families and education are unimportant. The people in Detroit have learned the “How to be stupid and get a check” lesson the gov’t wanted them to get. Now the gov’t gets to dictate to them how they will live and how much money they get; and, let’s not forget the wonderful housing the gov’t supplies these useless pieces of flesh.
The ignorant are so easily led.
May 5, 2011 at 10:16 am | | Report comment
Seattle.
May 5, 2011 at 10:18 am | | Report comment
@Sna….Seattle NOT being in the toilet has little to do with the political affiliation of the mayor….it has more to do with those capitalist pig companies that progressives/liberals/Democrats like to demonize like Microsoft, Boeing, Alaska Airlines, and Starbucks, among others.
May 5, 2011 at 6:18 pm | | Report comment
The movie “Idiocracy” has come to life.
May 5, 2011 at 10:19 am | | Report comment
And with a vengeance it perpetuates itself
May 5, 2011 at 10:21 am | | Report comment
But who in Detroit can read the report?
They need to open the Derek Zoolander School for Kids Who Can’t Read Good.
May 5, 2011 at 10:22 am | | Report comment
And 54% of the students at the University of Michagan come from Detroit. Do the math.
May 5, 2011 at 10:30 am | | Report comment
Well, Mr. Reality, they cannot read this article, or your reply, and darn well cannot do the math. They would not care if they could, and neither do their liberal excuse-makers.
May 5, 2011 at 10:49 am | | Report comment
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Send in the seals and take out the unions and thugs. Start over with people willing to work for what they’re paid. That city is like having OBL living next door and looking the other way. And we think the rest of the world is incompetent? Clean up at home first……
May 5, 2011 at 10:40 am | | Report comment
I bet they know enough to find “Obama” or “Democrat” in the polling stations on election day (most likely, performed several times at different locations, for good measure, just like ACORN taught them to do).
May 5, 2011 at 10:40 am | | Report comment
Public Schools + Parents Who Don’t Care = Bad Results.
How does a remotely caring parent allow her child to even be illitereate? One would think an illiterate parent would be even MORE determined that her child avoid that fate. There’s a deep cultural sickness there.
May 5, 2011 at 10:42 am | | Report comment
There is some very racist comments here. We all now this is a result of the fat kat republicens shopping our jobs oversees so we have no money to teach our kids with. Our teachers need the tools to do there jobs.
May 5, 2011 at 10:46 am | | Report comment
Pretty much every Southern city. Red states are doing much worse academically than any blue state. California have 4 out of 5 of the best high schools in academic decathlons.
May 5, 2011 at 10:47 am | | Report comment
Just doesn’t seem right, after all the hard work the Union’s have put into that city. You know the Teachers Unions, the Police Unions, the Crack Dealers Unions, the Political Unions and less not forget the gutless Common Joe Unions that are afraid to take the city back from the UNIONS. You think it was unbeliveable that Bin Laden was living besides an Army Base? The cess pool of the United States is Detroit, Mich. but we are afraid to drain it. Send in the Seals and clean out the Unions and brotherhood thugs.
May 5, 2011 at 10:50 am | | Report comment
Sounds like another successful city that’s been run by Democrats for years! I’m sure this isn’t much different from Baltimore, Chicago, DC, Philly, etc. In fact Baltimore’s slogan used to be “The City That READS!” That has been changed to “The CIty That BLEEDS!”
May 5, 2011 at 11:01 am | | Report comment
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well put……most of the people commenting on this article dont even live in or anywhere near the city of detroit, and its almost like they read the headline and went from there. There are other cities listed in the article as well, so how about trying to turn all these negative comments and “suggestions” into passing on information that can be passed on to help. Detroit is not the only city and Michigan is not the only state going through this or have been through it .
May 5, 2011 at 11:03 am | | Report comment
A union town, controlled by parasitic unions that adhors holding teachers accountable and we find out no one can read…are you liberals ever going to get it?
May 5, 2011 at 11:04 am | | Report comment
Thanks to 40+ years of extreme socialist, left-wing and union domination by the Democrats, Detroit is now on par with Haiti and a host of other 3rd world dumps.
May 5, 2011 at 11:05 am | | Report comment
What happened? I thought our “gubermint” would just hand out the ability to read to these “gime sumthin for nothin” folks.
May 5, 2011 at 11:11 am | | Report comment
It takes a village to raise a child, and a union to destroy one.
May 5, 2011 at 11:12 am | | Report comment
Take away all the free money and make them have to earn a living for themselves and pay for their own high education and I think you’d see a sudden reverse in trends. With free money handed out through welfare…who needs to know how to read? You can just live off the system.
Remove the system, make them stand on their own feet.
I love how the people of Detroit blame everyone else for their own failings.
May 5, 2011 at 11:15 am | | Report comment
I remember sitting in a U.S. Labor History course in Grad School at the U of Minnesota in the very late 1960s, where it was asserted (without footnotes) that the high standard of living (including literacy) in the Twin Cities was due to the power and influence of Industrial Unionism. I recommend rethinking that assertion. If it were true, the influence of Detroit’s Unions would have made it a new Labor created “Shining City of a Hill” and a model to follow. Instead, Detroit is becoming infamous for what it has become: a social plantation and sad spiritual slum as its industries move elsewhere.
May 5, 2011 at 11:19 am | | Report comment
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Say what you want about Detroit. No, really. They can’t read it anyways.
May 5, 2011 at 11:22 am | | Report comment
Gonzales could go back to Mexico but he can’t find it. He is illiterate. So he lives in Detroit the town where the culture doesn’t value reading. Maybe we can catch him swimming back across and see if he’s a floater or a sinker.
May 5, 2011 at 11:23 am | | Report comment
Hey Mark, if your a teacher why are you on here showing your ignorance and shouldn’t you be working trying to get that 53% number of literates down?
May 5, 2011 at 11:25 am | | Report comment
Just another shining example of the RACIST policies of the Democrat party to keep the black man oppressed. Show me a city run by Democrat thugs and I will show you a city riddled with crime, unemployment and illiteracy.
May 5, 2011 at 11:26 am | | Report comment
In the westland suburb of Detroit (where kids are taught to read), the term “daddy” refers to one half of the parenting team, while inner-city Detroit calls the government “daddy”. One way slaves are kept ignorant is by the deliberate breakup of the family. Which political party has and still does support slavery, and which political party tried to end slavery? Detroit knows, ask a democrat, just don’t submit that question in writing.
May 5, 2011 at 11:28 am | | Report comment
Used to be illegal to teach slaves to read.
May 5, 2011 at 11:28 am | | Report comment
I venture a bet that there are two things in common with all of our failed cities and failed states. Unions and Democratic leadership. So, now I wonder when Americans who live in these failed areas, will wake up and see how they have been used? Unions and Democrat policies do not make your lives better, they destroy your families and they destroy your children by limiting their ability to leave poverty. Without an education you will be nothing.
May 5, 2011 at 11:29 am | | Report comment
This is exactly what you get from a Northern demorat city!
May 5, 2011 at 11:30 am | | Report comment
You Damn Yankees got us into this. Now, get us out of it!
May 5, 2011 at 11:32 am | | Report comment
LongBeau
Mississippi is 37 percent black, the highest percentage in the country. Alabama is 26 percent black. Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina are all approximately 30 percent black. It should be no mystery why these states have the worst statewide educational and health statistics. By contrast, Northern states like Minnesota and Vermont have the best. Wanna guess why?
—————————————————————————————————
I didn’t know Detroit was in Mississippi?/?????
May 5, 2011 at 11:33 am | | Report comment
But on the positive side, 53% can read. And 53% is a mandate these days, isn’t it?
There is always the possibility that while the study subjects were illiterate, the study authors were innumerate.
May 5, 2011 at 11:34 am | | Report comment
DETROIT (WWJ) – According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters believe that Obama threw Osama in the ocean.
May 5, 2011 at 11:34 am | | Report comment
Where are 47% of the parents??? Or 30% in Pontiac and 24% in Southfield. Did they not read even one bedtime story. Go ahead and blame the teachers 1:30
Stop blaming the Republicans or the Democrats for everything.
May 5, 2011 at 11:36 am | | Report comment
You don’t need libraries to hand out welfare payments. All the recipients have to do is sign their check with an “X.” Think about it…literacy is not necessary in our current society.
May 5, 2011 at 11:37 am | | Report comment
The left wanted a nanny state and they have one in Detroit. People who must rely on government for everything. America better be prepare for similar in all the big cities its coming.
Even though these people are illiterate, they have someone at the polls either showing them how and who to vote for or are doing it themselves but they know who is feeding them thats for sure
May 5, 2011 at 11:40 am | | Report comment
True dat my brutha.
May 5, 2011 at 11:46 am | | Report comment
The multi-trillion dollar “war on poverty” , Johnson’s own Great Leap Forward, has produced less than no results since most of the beneficiaries have been converted into reliable Democrat drones with no life skills. Permanently crippled and dependent on government. Just as the Marxian statist wants it to be.
May 5, 2011 at 11:44 am | | Report comment
How many illiterate people have a computer collecting dust in their closet? Oh, wait, they call it their porn machine. You can make as much fun as you want of the illiterate, because they can’t read what you are writing. FREE K-12 education, you should be reading in Grade 1 and you come out illiterate? LMAO. Don’t spend a time trying to teach these clowns any skills, just let them get by on however they get by and try to help the next generation. How many of these people have attended government paid adult education to teach them computer skills when they can’t even read. A lost cause.
May 5, 2011 at 11:47 am | | Report comment
To see what Detroit looks like and sounds like, watch the show Hardcore Pawn. It is really hard to watch sometimes and I need to leave it.
May 5, 2011 at 11:48 am | | Report comment
After serving my year in Kindergarten I moved to parochial school education for the remainder of my undergrad formal education in Detroit.
After fleeing Detroit in the exodus of the ’80s and working in productive Texas cities, I gained a Master’s degree and then moved to Tucson — now PHX, AZ.
Really don’t miss the daily bad news, crime and stupidity “up narth”…
May 5, 2011 at 11:50 am | | Report comment
No wonder RedWings fans are so stupid.
May 5, 2011 at 11:52 am | | Report comment
COmplaining will do no good at all, and neither will the facts. As long as there are liberals who are empowered to spend tax money, these failures will always exist. The only solution is at the ballot box, but unfortunately voting does not require a brain.
May 5, 2011 at 11:57 am | | Report comment
Well, THIS guarantees Democratic control of Detroit for perpetuity.
May 5, 2011 at 11:57 am | | Report comment
Sorry, I have thought about it for hours but can’t come up with one.
May 5, 2011 at 11:57 am | | Report comment
Gee, what a surprise.
May 5, 2011 at 11:58 am | | Report comment
I don’t like this report.
It gives the impression that black people are really, really, really stupid!
May 5, 2011 at 11:58 am | | Report comment
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I just think this is utterly ridiculous. I have lived in Detroit for the majority of my life, and it is very sad to hear that the majority of the city cannot read. But my family and I have witnessed firsthand people in the city that can’t even sound out a last name. So I do believe this story.
May 5, 2011 at 12:04 pm | | Report comment
What would it look like if you made all the illiterates and union members and bosses live in the same neighborhood?
May 5, 2011 at 12:05 pm | | Report comment
Yeh, those are the quoran readers lol……buffoons!
May 5, 2011 at 12:05 pm | | Report comment
I remember about 15 years ago schools wanted to teach the children in EBONICS. Yes, we can not dumb down our kids fast enough.
I recently read that 47 % of the working class don’t pay any income taxes, is there a correlation here,. I think so.
May 5, 2011 at 12:06 pm | | Report comment
This story be berry sad.
May 5, 2011 at 1:46 pm | | Report comment
They’re all just preserving their “heritage”.
May 5, 2011 at 12:08 pm | | Report comment
It’s never too late to educate yourself, regardless of where your from, what you do and your age.
May 5, 2011 at 12:09 pm | | Report comment
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Keep voting Democrats into office and this is what you get. When was the last time Detroit had a Republican Mayor??
Is this a surprise to anyone?
May 5, 2011 at 12:18 pm | | Report comment
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But they sure can “Talk dat Talk n’ Walk dat Walk”.
May 5, 2011 at 12:24 pm | | Report comment
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The government provides evveryone with the opportunity for an education. Still, an opportunity presented is often not taken. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
We make it seem like its a failure of the government that these people cannot read. The only failure of the givernment is that we have removed many of the consequences for being stupid and lazy in society.
This is a reflection on the people in Detroit. To have a 50% illiteracy rate, and then wonder why your city is a wasteland is laughable. Perhaps Detroits main role at this point is to merely serve as an example to others of how not to run a society.
May 5, 2011 at 12:31 pm | | Report comment
“Detroit what!” – Eminem
May 5, 2011 at 12:39 pm | | Report comment
Bring back corporal punishment. Institute immunity from legal prosecution for doing so. Require uniforms to be worn and provide them if necessary. Instill strict disciplinarian codes of conduct. When all else fails, fear and intimidation are very powerful motivational tools. Sound harsh? You betcha. However, these actions pale in comparison to the dismal results and consequences of our current programs. Very simple/effective fix.
May 5, 2011 at 12:43 pm | | Report comment
GREETINGS from Los Angeles (home of the 57% functionally illiterate populace)
I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to Detroit on its fine academic performance.
Let’s continue to support our Democratic leadership in their lust to make both our fine cities the shining stars no one could have ever imagined!
May 5, 2011 at 12:44 pm | | Report comment
“Wha’ fo’ we wanna’ reed?” “We got Obamas stash!” “Jes’ keep dem’ food stamps and weffare comin.”
May 5, 2011 at 12:45 pm | | Report comment
Nobody is listening or paying attention. Over 50 years ago the commies laid out their agenda.
First and foremost was the goal of dumbing down the USA. To do that they needed the unions. I suggest you read a teacher union contract. There is absolute zero in such that actually addresses teaching.
Why work anyway. The government will give me more money than I could make on my own anyway.
Welcome to the consequences of Socialism folks.
Bummer is this: Obama is here to take us to the next step….
Communism.
May 5, 2011 at 12:55 pm | | Report comment
Don’t worry, Robocop will save them.
May 5, 2011 at 12:58 pm | | Report comment
Forty-seven percent illiterate in this heavily democrat city? And I thought libs were really smart…….
May 5, 2011 at 1:06 pm | | Report comment
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Pingback: Half of Detroit Can't Read | I Just Want to Fit In
How can these people vote? If they cannot read how do they know which candidate they are choosing? I can see it coming now, there will be an outcry for pictures on the ballots so the illiterate can know who they are voting for.
May 5, 2011 at 1:26 pm | | Report comment
Keep crying out to God for Detroit!
May 5, 2011 at 1:31 pm | | Report comment
Houston
May 5, 2011 at 1:36 pm | | Report comment
Cheryl…we have a democrat mayor (well, I guess technically in Houston we have a non-partisan mayor, but we all know) and a budget that is completely out of whack. HISD has one of the worst graduation rates in the state. We’re certainly not hurting as bad as Detroit, but I wouldn’t say we are a glowing example of what others should aspire to.
May 5, 2011 at 2:49 pm | | Report comment
If only we would spend more money on these students, who already cost more per student to educate then many good private schools we can make the parents/guardians of these kids care enough to make sure these kids actually learn in school. Not! The problem starts in the home and that can not be fixed with $$$$$$$$$. That is what the liberal does not understand. When you have a child going home to a unwed crack addicted mother with a drunk abusive boy friend good luck with that kid ever having the proper encouragement or motivation to learn.
May 5, 2011 at 1:44 pm | | Report comment
This just in, Democrats have lock on at least 47% of Detroit vote.
May 5, 2011 at 1:46 pm | | Report comment
As a software engineer, in order to address a problem you must identify the ‘root cause’. Let’s see how this works -
Root cause – Non-existent family unit (where children used to be raised).
Until the re-emergence of the familty unit, this will continue to get worse. If there is no one in a child’s life to provide tutelage, what does anyone (Liberal or Conservative) expect?
Our current options to fix this are -
Liberal view – spend more (which Conservatives hate because it’s another form of wealth redistribution)
Conservative view – be a parent (which Liberals hate as it implies values and principles).
So don’t expect any changes in the future.
May 5, 2011 at 1:51 pm | | Report comment
Hilarious when people blame things on Democrats or Republicans. Seriously?? ALL politicians are power hungry, money grubbing, arrogant people who care only about how to further themselves….duh
May 5, 2011 at 1:53 pm | | Report comment
This information was provided a few months ago in the Detroit News. This is old news!
Few people have mentioned the IQ gap that has persisted over the past 100 years (ever since such data have been gathered). Sadly, many blacks just cannot function in a society that is based on literacy and complex thinking. Just take a look at Africa, the Caribbean and Haiti, for example. Haiti has been an independent society for about as long as the US. No slavery or “discrimination” to blame, just the capacities of the people!
Almost all cities and enclaves in the US with similar demographics (i.e. heavily black) have nearly identical statistics.
The question is, for how long will “white America” continue to subsidize this fiasco?
May 5, 2011 at 1:54 pm | | Report comment
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And what did they expect?
May 5, 2011 at 2:03 pm | | Report comment
Give Detroit to Canada!
May 5, 2011 at 2:06 pm | | Report comment
A direct result of the welfare state. You take away the incentive for people to work and they don’t.
WMO rats have been keeping poor people illiterate through these handouts for generations. It’s the only way for them to insure a bought and paid for voting block that is too stupid to see how these policies Continue to hurt them.
May 5, 2011 at 2:09 pm | | Report comment
Voters not being able to read or write was ideal when we had ACORN to fill-out their voting ballots, but with ACORN on the ropes, we will need new community organizers to help with this pronto before the 2012 election. Obama is counting on these Detroit illiterates, so something has to be done soon. Are there any OBAMA supporters, who can read and write, who could help out with this?
May 5, 2011 at 2:13 pm | | Report comment
I thank all the stupid parents that didn’t take responsibility for their children’s education. It will be much easier for my kids to find jobs!
That’s what people get when they rely on the government to take care of their kids. Then they grow up into such productive people, draining our system of tax money due to their inability to fill out a simple job application.
As a person that reviews job applications in my company, I automatically throw away applications that have mistakes on them. Make a mental note all you 99-weekers! Employers are no longer looking for bodies to fill cubes in the economy, they want brains too! Who would have thought…
May 5, 2011 at 2:15 pm | | Report comment
Who cares as long as American Idol stays on the air? In this New World Order, you don’t need to read, THEY will read it for you.
May 5, 2011 at 2:24 pm | | Report comment
That’s what 60 years of Democrat leadership gets you…a third world country.
May 5, 2011 at 2:25 pm | | Report comment
That is a conservative estimate is it not? I was expecting the figure to be somewhere in the 70% range. It is such a tragedy that almost 100 years ago, heck 40 years ago, Detroit was a giant center of technology, productivity and a beacon to the positive nature of American Capitalism. Now, along with that piece of Socialist Elitist “Egalitarian” Offal George Bush’s “No Child Left Behind”; Detroit, like the rest of America, has become a shining example of Second or Turd World status…. Lowest common denominator. Churchilll, Powell, McCarthy and many others were entirely correct.
May 5, 2011 at 2:26 pm | | Report comment
And, I bet 90% of them don’t know that 47% is less than half……
May 5, 2011 at 2:27 pm | | Report comment
Uh, Minneapolis and its surrounding cities? We only score in the top .. every .. living quality/education/jobs/health lists released annually.
May 5, 2011 at 2:29 pm | | Report comment
Yes we do, Adam, but remember only the actual cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul only account for about 650,000 out of 2,800,000 in the entire MSP metropolitan area.
We are largely a suburban city.
May 5, 2011 at 4:25 pm | | Report comment
The only “shock” here is that 53 percent CAN read.
May 5, 2011 at 2:29 pm | | Report comment
Lansing
May 5, 2011 at 2:38 pm | | Report comment
For centuries, parents taught their children how to read at home, and Detroit spent millions (or tens of millions) annually for expensive teacher salaries and fancy schools, and this is the result. It’s shocking and terrible. Parents need school choice: private schools or religious schools. Teachers’ unions in the public schools have a stranglehold on your poor kids’ education unless you OPT OUT!
May 5, 2011 at 2:41 pm | | Report comment
Wow! great improvement! it used to be 99%
May 5, 2011 at 2:44 pm | | Report comment
Nope. We already know why. Got sumpin ta due wit pigment.
Nice picture of a White girl at the top of the page. Kinda gives the reader the idea that White’s in Detroit are illiterate. Someone must have forgotten to tell the writer that Detroit is almost all black.
May 5, 2011 at 2:45 pm | | Report comment
Literacy rate is low.
Crime rate is high.
Detroit is majority black.
Similar stats for any other majority black city.
/End of subject
May 5, 2011 at 2:47 pm | | Report comment
Which seems to describe every large city in the U.S.A. The “minority” is the majority in any county that contains a large city. That is why democrat machine politics run the large cities.
Minorities need to wake up to the fact that their enabler democrat representatives are their worst enemy, and to stop voting for them.
May 5, 2011 at 2:59 pm | | Report comment
Detroit Schools requested an $88 million benefaction from the Detroit Schools’ Teachers’ Union to help with the $105 million shortage to its $1.36 billion budget and to help keep teachers employed which was refused by the Union.
Well Detroit Federation of Teachers? You’re now all out of a job.
Also, anyone catch HGTV last night? A California School Teacher flies to Italy
to purchase a vacation home! No joke…and pass this one around.
http://www.hgtv.com/video/second-home-in-calabria-italy2-video/index.html
The California Teachers Association is blitzing the airwaves with bunnies, babies and lollipops to vote for a tax increase with the same ole, same ole, it’s for the children. They might as well safe the ballot paper. It’s not gonna pass.
May 5, 2011 at 2:49 pm | | Report comment
Here in The People’s Republik Of Kalifornia have a saying when taxes are mentioned… BOHICA (bend over, here it comes again)!
May 5, 2011 at 3:05 pm | | Report comment
Get rid of tenure so you can fire bad teachers, and get back to basics, also if you get rid of tenure, you can get rid of teachers who are more interested in liberal marxist indoctrination of the kids instead of teaching them….someone asked what unions have to do with it……the answer is…..TENURE!
May 5, 2011 at 2:53 pm | | Report comment
Holy cow! We need to get more money to the teachers union as soon as possible so the can get the rate down by half a percentage point. How can these people possibly call themselves teachers with a straight face. But in a honesty, I live in L.A. and the favorite major in out high schools is “Community Art Forms” (otherwise known as graffiti/vandalism) and how to choose the right gang to suit your needs. Society has a real sick problem and it’s only going to get worse until the union’s are gotten rid of and we get some REAL teachers aboard!
May 5, 2011 at 3:01 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: Shocking (SHOCKING, I tell you) New Poll: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read So Good » UrbanGrounds
Here’s a partial solution, though the Unions will not like it. Say a state spends 10k a year to educate a student (much more actually). Allow qualified home school moms and dads take in as many kids that CHOOSE to sign up. Pay the home school teacher 6k a year, give 2k to the school the child was going to attend and the state saves 2k. Testing can be done with proctors like we had when we took our SATS. If a child grauates early, as home schooled children often do, give 5k to the child to apply to college or a vocational school. Or does this make too much sense? Also, allow home school children participate in extracurricular activities like band and sports. Transportation would be the parents responsibility.
May 5, 2011 at 3:10 pm | | Report comment
So everyone seems to think it’s the government’s fault or wait…no… it’s the teachers…nope, unions…oh wait it must be the music industry… or no, it’s a race issue… has anyone consider who is ultimately responsible for the education of children? That would be the parent’s and/or guardians. They themselves can teach their kids to read, or get someone to help them. They also can demand better education or even make sacrifices to help their kids get the best education possible. There are tools and opportunities out there to help; you just have to actually make an effort to find them.
May 5, 2011 at 3:18 pm | | Report comment
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Nor will they feel bad about being so stupid since they can’t read about themselves. But I’ll bet most of ‘em know how to beat the welfare system…
May 5, 2011 at 3:26 pm | | Report comment
I know you don’t like Democrats but you should know that we’re the party of elitist. We don’t like illiterates. They don’t belong w/ us. Please, call up Rush or Sean and have them straighten your story out. btw, a lot of us don’t belong to unions and can’t stand unions also. Love, from fellow American.
May 5, 2011 at 3:34 pm | | Report comment
50 YEARS of Democrat Rule sure has worked well there.
May 5, 2011 at 3:35 pm | | Report comment
Of course race is the reason… just like it’s the reason every town in America is getting destroyed. Blacks and Mexicans. Ignorance allows it to continue.
May 5, 2011 at 3:39 pm | | Report comment
Whachu meen we bees illiberate. Why me an la’darius be fixin to hed down da skreet an shoot sum hoops.
May 5, 2011 at 3:53 pm | | Report comment
If they can not read THEN HOW CAN THEY VOTE ??? If someone shows them that is against the law. I wonder how many times this has been done & the people at the poles do nothing ????????????
May 5, 2011 at 3:55 pm | | Report comment
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Just one word to describe my amazement not because of the “47% can’t read” but that this reporter thought it was some astounding discovery he made worth writing about. Next he’ll write an article about the sun setting tonight. Skip the obvious. It would be news if Detroit was some thriving metropolis instead of the cesspool it already is . . .
May 5, 2011 at 4:06 pm | | Report comment
They all be gud dumbo-cRATs who voted fer obamer.
May 5, 2011 at 4:14 pm | | Report comment
And Detroit votes Dem 95%. I am not shocked
May 5, 2011 at 4:14 pm | | Report comment
SO SO glad I left! Higher literacy rate now? CHECK. Higher employment rate now? CHECK. Not in Detroit? CHECK!
May 5, 2011 at 4:41 pm | | Report comment
I suppose this is what 50 years of Democrat rule gets a city. Are they going to rest on their laurels now or are they going to finish the job and go for 100% illiteracy?
I guess it saves a lot of money for campaign signs since half the people there can’t read them anyway.
May 5, 2011 at 4:43 pm | | Report comment
THIS IS THE BIGGEST LIE I HAVE EVER HEARD!!!!! I’M FROM DETROIT AND I CAN READ VERY WELL THANK YOU AND SO CAN MY KIDS! MY DAUGHTER IS IN KINDERGARTEN AND SHE CAN READ ON A 4TH GRADE LEVEL AND MY SON HAS BEEN READING SINCE HE WAS 3!!! KISS MY A*S*S!!!!!!!!!!!
May 5, 2011 at 5:33 pm | | Report comment
That’s why the article said 47%. You must be in the 53 percentile. Reading comprehension is a another matter.
May 5, 2011 at 8:33 pm | | Report comment
LaLa313,
You might want to study up on statistics.
May 5, 2011 at 8:38 pm | | Report comment
Q) Why are all of the Black peole moving to Detroit?
A) They all heard that there are no jobs there!
May 5, 2011 at 6:07 pm | | Report comment
Q) Why are all of the Blck people moving to Detroit?
A) They all heard that there are no jobs there!
May 5, 2011 at 6:09 pm | | Report comment
Give LeRoy a chance!
May 5, 2011 at 6:15 pm | | Report comment
This is sad but true. Our government both state and local waste / steal our money right in front of us and laugh at us then we as “the people” stand by and let them.
So much corruption. I am saying we need to tear it down and start over again from the bottom up. Start with state / city government first then move to federal.
Just like a operating system for a computer. when it gets scrambled and becomes inoperable we wipe it out and start over with a fresh install.
All these changes to fix a broken system only worsens the problem.
You have to start over from scratch to have effective systems.
How about the people who don’t have kids who still get raped by taxes for public schools. Last year I paid 12 thousand dollars in property taxes.
May 5, 2011 at 6:30 pm | | Report comment
Had to just drop by and say that Finland has about the highest literacy rate in the world.
Almost all the schools are run by the state.
Most of the teachers belong to their union.
May 5, 2011 at 7:02 pm | | Report comment
@Just a finn…..how many people did you think you would fool with the assumption that Finland excels academically because “Almost all the schools are run by the state. Most of the teachers belong to their union.” Finland’s success rate is due to many other, vastly important factors than your erroneous simplified reasons.
Read up people: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8601207.stm
May 6, 2011 at 12:14 am | | Report comment
Well, sure, but at least they vote.
May 5, 2011 at 7:16 pm | | Report comment
Yep
May 5, 2011 at 7:35 pm | | Report comment
Pingback: REPORT: Half Of Detroit Can’t Read » American Glob
Its interesting how some of you are “experts” regarding the problem.Enrique said it best…it’s the parents. If you have a society where children are having children, only to continue that trend, tell me: who in that family ever got a decent education who can therefore express the importance of learning to their offspring? Even if you took away the handouts, you’d have a brand new batch of problems. Many of these people never knew a life of being independent. And to those of you who comment from your throne of high and mightiness, be careful. Because God or karma always finds a way to bring you down a peg. It’s one thing to acknowledge a problem but it’s a totally different animal to use caustic humor like “they’d use it on shiny rims and cars.” As a psychology major, I’ve learned that there are different ways to prove a theory. Pulling an unproven theory out of your ass was never in the textbooks I read.
May 5, 2011 at 8:02 pm | | Report comment
@Simone…..for being a “psychology major” you have over simplified the problem drastically. Though “children having children” may have an impact on the problem, it is most certainly only one factor. There are many people that have had children at a young age and yet have managed to raise to raise intelligent, productive children. Have you NEVER heard a mother or father say “I want my child to be well educated and have a chance for a better life than me”??? That statement usually comes from the people belonging to the lower portion of the income level….poor folks, in other words.
There are many factors that have caused the problems with our education system…….parents, teachers, unions, government, administrators, society as a whole.
It is very obvious that the only theory, proven or otherwise, you have pulled out of your ass HAS been taken from textbooks and not the real world. Which is a major problem with most of you “academics”….you do not live in the world, just the one created in your own minds. “They’d use it on shiny rims and cars” is not caustic humor – it is a reality….”they” spend it on those things along with $200.00 Nike’s, gold jewelry, fancy clothes, and not least of all drugs and alcohol.
May 6, 2011 at 12:49 am | | Report comment
See, the thing is I do live in the world. I know a bit of both. I know moms who had kids at a young age who are making something of themselves, despite what society may think they’re situation is. I do know one or two people who are always dressed to kill but have different kids with different women and don’t have a career. I am not a high and mighty student who is not in touch with the world. I am a parent and a wife, and I do know that anyone can beat the odds if they are willing to put up the fight but my point is, although there are people who put a high priority on things, its not a widespread cultural phenomenon. I do appreciate your opinion though. I would also like to add, it may be an American thing. My family is from Trinidad and all the trappings that America has-many of these other countries don’t. My parents were brought up education minded and they passed that on to me, as I pass it on to my children. The issue is how we handle things in America.
May 6, 2011 at 10:36 am
No Simone, you clearly do not get it. It isn’t just a person or two that are “dressed to kill and have different kids with different women and no career”. It is a complete subculture in Detroit and other inner cities. We are talking about many that would kill each other to rob the other of their tennis shoes. We are talking about streets that even the cops won’t go down because of the gangs. We are talking about women with 5 children and each child has a different dad. We are talking about heavy drug trafficking and heavy drug use. We are talking about gang violence, guns, knives.
That is what the sentence “They’d use it on shiny rims and cars” really means.
But that is not the only thing wrong with our education system. And our education system in the United States is primarily a failed system. Detroit just happens to be one of the worst and the focus on this article.
The biggest problem is that so many Americans – particularly those who could really do something to change things – either just wah, wah, wah about it and do nothing, or they like the way things are – namely the government and unions and far too many teachers.
May 7, 2011 at 3:52 am
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It looks bad on this country having people walk around illiterate.
So corrupt higher ups ignore basic education and health care for the elderly. You get a job at 16 and work for 50 years then retire and have to go back to work to support yourself? Where’s the money going!!!
May 5, 2011 at 9:26 pm | | Report comment
This makes me feel so good about the parents and schools in Kentucky.
May 5, 2011 at 9:27 pm | | Report comment
And yet these people get to vote…
May 5, 2011 at 10:30 pm | | Report comment
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The passing of the buck and a lack of personal responsibility is the problem. Teachers can’t make up for poor parenting, uneducated parents or communities who don’t value life basics like reading. I’m stunned that so many comments jumped on teachers without taking into consideration the home life of students/residents.
May 5, 2011 at 10:46 pm | | Report comment
Reading this ridiculously racist comments it’s obvious to me that a majority of you also went to public school.
May 5, 2011 at 11:49 pm | | Report comment
Not thant bad, actually. In Africa they do even worse
May 6, 2011 at 2:45 am | | Report comment
No wonder my books aren’t selling there.
May 6, 2011 at 3:19 am | | Report comment
…..but, they’ve only been trying for 45 years to close that achievment gap.
The Libs just need more time and then we’ll all live in that multicultural/racial utopia they keep telling us about….right?
May 6, 2011 at 3:39 am | | Report comment
I don’t understand the comments about the parents being the fault. I have a 6 year old and I’ve noticed that he learns more from the wife and I than he does at school. Now this bothers me, because our tax dollars are being used for the schools and teachers pay to TEACH. So, if my child is learning more at home than what my money is being payed to someone to teach him, than my money is being thrown out the door. I might as well just burn my money, I’ll get the same feeling inside, you know the feeling of damn! what’s wrong with this picture?
May 6, 2011 at 8:32 am | | Report comment
Now I see how that mobster mayor got s/elected.
May 6, 2011 at 9:21 am | | Report comment
How great our cities, and this Nation, would be if we did not have this black underclass holding us back (and captive) at every turn. Think of all the Trillions (yes, trillions) of dollars we would have had for other things, of how much safer our Nation would be, and how great it would be to actually have large cities that are safe to live in!!
May 6, 2011 at 9:22 am | | Report comment
What I love most about the internet is its ability to allow people to grow balls. Blame white people? The average black person isn’t thinking about white people, unless they say or do something stupid like so many of you are. Reading not being a cultural thing amongst blacks? Really? That’s a funny one. The truth of the matter is, you people peck peck peck at what you THINK are the reasons for failure in the black community but as you do that, people from other countries are coming here and excelling at rates that would make your head spin!! While you’re speculating, folks from Africa and Asia are coming here and getting degrees and becoming productive citizens. I tell you, America is a joke. We’re the only ones that tear down our own every chance we get. Keep typing away, talking heads. You swear black people are the root of the problem but 1) you’ll never have the balls to say it to an actual black person’s face. I know that much and 2) groups of blacks may not be making strides, but many are. And you’ll never talk about that. Every group has a set of people who just won’t get it. No, it’s not the system. Much of it is generational.Generations of people who just won’t get it because no one in their family taught them the value of a decent education. I know people who came from nothing who are orthodontists,doctors, engineers. Probably doing better than many of you!! But hey, let’s kick people while they’re down. The crazy thing about that is, eventually we all fall.
May 6, 2011 at 10:26 am | | Report comment
It does sound like there are allot of society issues going on in Detroit, but isn’t Detroit heavily polluted as well? Could this be a combination of a bad school system, and exposure to damaging chemicals? If chemicals are not the main culprit, then a complete and total overhaul of Detroit’s school system, and local governments maybe in order, since if everything is true about this, Detroit’s educational system, and it’s local governments are a complete failure with such a high illiteracy rate.
May 6, 2011 at 10:33 am | | Report comment
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Almost fifty percent (50%) of the residents in Detroit can’t read but over seventy-four (74%) voted for obama..
It looks like obama had a lock on the illiterate
I wonder how many of the illiterate got their rent paid and gas for their car ?.
May 6, 2011 at 2:34 pm | | Report comment
Why minorities cannot see just what the Democratic Party has done to them over the years is unbelievable. They are the modern day slaves of these politicians. I have nothing against minorities, I wish they could see this. Wake up America.
May 6, 2011 at 3:45 pm | | Report comment
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Hopefully, before you comment, you’ll watch “Waiting for Superman” and “Precious”, otherwise you’re probably not qualified to comment. There was an old saying by the Democrats regarding blacks in the big city, “Keep ‘em young, dumb and full of rum and they’ll vote for you every time”. has anything changed? Does “concrete plantation” mean anything to you folks?
May 6, 2011 at 7:31 pm | | Report comment
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Is there a process for filing a complaint and requesting a retraction on this article? The facts of the article and the headline clearly misrepresent the data in the presentation. The author failed to read the material, is incompetent, or has a personal agenda. Whichever the case, CBS should remove this article, and print an retraction and possible censure the original author. This isn’t reporting and should not be acceptable in a news organization.
May 7, 2011 at 3:07 pm | | Report comment
Why don’t we start with the critical thinking and reading comprehension skills off 98% of the people commenting on this article and the Author?
First ask yourself the question “Is it likely that 47% of a major city, is functionally illiterate?” And when you say well that would be pretty where is nearly 1 in every 2 people couldn’t read well enough to read a book/newspaper fill out a form or their taxes, hmmm. I’m not actually sure a city could work in modern times america if half its citizens couldn’t read at all. The realize the author is lying to you.
Then click on the link and read the actually material. I’m assuming I’m about the only person who has done this at this point because I haven’t seen anyone else point out. The 47% number is of one small neighborhood in Detroit and represents 200,000 people and is not about the city or the metro area at large. And they break it down of those 200,000. 100,000 have G.E.Ds and 100,000 do not have a G.E.D or a diploma. None graduated high school.
Now ask yourself why do they keep using the term “Functionally” illiterate. Because this allows you count every adult immigrant who does not read English. I am extremely literate, but I’m functionally illiterate in Spanish, French, German, etc. I can even speak and read and write Spanish well enough to get by in the language, but I would still be considered functionally illiterate because I would have a hard time filling out a government form or reading a book in Spanish. This isn’t the same as saying I couldn’t do it, just saying that it would be hard for me to do it. So they are pretty much counting everyone who is English as a second language.
Also ask yourself how they got a G.E.D. if they can’t read and write? It isn’t like they just give it away, Please tell me you remember taking the SATs it is like that except for graduation rather than college entrance. So either Detroit is allowing people to take G.E.D tests orally now and there are a whole bunch of people who are smart enough to pass a G.E.D but somehow failed to learn how to read and write or this comes back to language and Detroit allows students to take the G.E.D. in multiple languages but the “functional” literacy only counts English.
So the material tells you that in 1 neighborhood of approximately 410,000 people, 200,000 of them none of which graduated from a highschool, half of which were able to pass a G.E.D. cannot read and write English as at level defined by this literacy group as functional.
Is that bad? Yes. Yes that is bad and money and effort should be done to help with adult education. Does it have anything to say about the effectiveness of the Detroit education system? Not in itself. Root cause needs to be found and it is particularly important to determine is this is about level of education or language. It is possible to be extremely well educated and not know English.
May 7, 2011 at 4:16 pm | | Report comment
John, you are to be forgiven for your poor spelling and English because, as with me, it is obviously your second language. Think of the millions of illegal Hispanics in CA, TX, AZ. You state “If the cities are running, the people must be literate; therefore the author is a liar.” This is a logical fallacy known as “Denying the antecedent.” Those 3 states function in spite of their high Hispanic rate of illiteracy; you should focus on the first word of “functional illitracy.”
Given the natural proclivitiy of races to congregate, you make a good point about the area described in the link–it is likely heavily Black w/some Hispanic. It skews the literacy rate for the whole of Detroit…unless it is representative of the rest of Detroit. Otherwise, dad extrapolation.
Mr. Bill Cosby’s experience of the general area is that English is a 2nd language for most residents, Black and Brown. The Ebonic Plague has hamstrung many Blacks in their job search and there’s only so much room in your American Thug NBA and on your Rap stages. They would do well to meet the standards required by businesses.. Now to the point we agree on: $ spent on adult education.
Since few youth of any stripe make wise decisions, they need a way to correct their youthful mistakes. Adult edcation is for those serious about pulling themselves out of the ghetto…and it works. Why? Because it pulls the ghetto out of them.
May 7, 2011 at 6:16 pm | | Report comment
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The first reply to this post is the most troubling that i took the time to read. I disagree whole heartily. I went to public schools until I could no longer take their bull, then I dropped out at age of 14. Yes it is against the law now and it was then as well. I was in and out of truancy court but never got in trouble then when I turned 16 they left me alone. I struggled some and trust me there is a better road to take, however, I am proud to say that I am about to graduate medical school at the age of 35 years old. I had to fight and claw my way back I have worked harder than most of my peers because I was behind from the start. But lets not pretend we don’t make our own reality. I was told by the authorities in my school I couldn’t do anything and I would end up in prison if I gave up on the school system and at times I thought they were right. But I kept my fight because I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE. The school system or even the government doesn’t have the power you want to credit them with. They can’t make or break your life, that is ridiculous! How come every kid who goes to private school doesn’t run for president if that is all it takes? I don’t think that has much to do with it at all rather personal desire and belief. I think you need to really think about what you believe and see as the truth stop regurgitating the Fox news talk shows. Use your own mind. I can tell you are not illiterate because you made a decent post on this blog. Please don’t give other people the power to decide where you or the youth we need to raise strong and bright will end up. The government and the school system only have the power you believe they do. So believe that you are stronger, that we are stronger than them. I know I won the fight, for now anyway.
May 8, 2011 at 6:42 am | | Report comment
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100% of Gypsy’s are illiterate, by design. Education is not permitted; they understand that they would then lose children to the larger culture. But there is a great difference in that Gypsy’s not helpless because they are very intelligent.
May 9, 2011 at 11:24 am | | Report comment
THIS “47%” IS FROM A FEDERAL STUDY DONE IN 1993!
1993.
The report was produced in 1998… if anything, the only news here is that Detroit data is outdated.
May 9, 2011 at 1:19 pm | | Report comment
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Time to do your homework, guys: these “new” stats are from a report from 1998, with data collected in 1993. That’s EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO. This is NOT “news”.
May 9, 2011 at 4:44 pm | | Report comment
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What’s sad about illiteracy in the United States is not the schools that failed these children, but the community that they live in, parents inability to help or encourage children to better themselves and stay away from the streets. The fact of matter is we Americans put our blinders on and blame the school system, the government, the wealthy and social injustice. Education starts at home, parent(s) teaching children to be better than themselves and teaching them that to get out of poverty is to get educated. I understand rough neighborhoods and what children go through everyday because I lived in one too. I know quite a few success stories about African Americans and Hispanics that despite the hardship they were in became successful and moved out of poverty. Many African Americans and Hispanics impacted my point of views and thoughts, and I firmly believe that ghettos and barrios can be better place to live if the children wake up and say “I am not going to repeat the past that my families and friends have been doing for years I will do better get educated and move on to be successful.” I agree, easy said than done. I would raccommend that those few individuals that broke those chain and are successful to go back where they came from and educate the children. I am not a gambling man, but I bet in about 20 or 30 years these ghettos and barios of today will strive and be more successful, that is if successful people that moved out go back invest on rebuilding and educate the children. One thing is true, crime, drugs, being so hard and hot headed with one another will never solve anything but suppress and keep generations uneducated. Sometimes I feel that suppression is self inflicted.
I am not sure if anyone remembers the Italian and Irish ghettos they existed for a very long time, but eventually their children were educated and moved on to be successful. Yes, these individuals were once involved (some still are) in crimes, drugs, poor, suppressed and uneducated. Success is for anyone who wants it, no matter race ot ethnic groups. It’s not the Government but educating and going to school.
I leave in a nice neighborhood where a significant numbers are military families. Although it has a majority of white people I feel that the town is mostly safe and people are friendly. Sometimes people that are up to no good take that 30 minutes ride to the town and start crimes or gangs activities I can’t wrap my mind around this. I do feel sorry for these mislead childrens because their minds are so wrapped up in crime that when they travel the 30 minutes to a nice neighborhood instead of learning what they can do to change their neighborhoods and assimilate their neighborhoods to others around. Instead of thinking why is this neighborhood more successful and in harmony and how to implement changes to their neighborhoods by assimilate, instead they just commit crimes. Why? Because as someone told me that it’s a soft target and there is money to be made (unlawfully). I am not being a racist but bluntly telling how it is. If the Irish, Italians, Jewish and etc… can change so can anyone else whether you are African American or Hispanics or any other ethnic group . It takes the children to turn the tables through education and being innovative and that will stop the vicious cycle.
May 10, 2011 at 11:53 am | | Report comment
@MrNeedToKnow………while understanding what you are getting at there is something you may not be aware of. Your speaking of those that have “made it” in life and how they should go back and mentor others – that has been done time and time again in Detroit. That is one of my big beefs about Detroit in particular. Reading article after article over the years about this person or that person that has gone back and given their time and money to help those less fortunate. There have been programs after programs initiated to help out Detroit citizens – and I am only talking about the private citizens help, not government help.
The sad part is that over the 40 or so years, with all that has been done to help, look at where Detroit is at today.
Talking about the different ethnic groups….here is a question that came up the other day in a conversation with my son. We were discussing the different “neighborhoods” in Seattle as he was giving me a tour of the city. He was talking about how the Black, Mexican and Asian gangs get into fights with each other. I asked him about white gangs…..he said that essentially there are none – other than maybe the old “biker gangs”. Why is that? Anyone know? Are there “Caucasian gangs” in other cities? I am very well aware that there are many Caucasian people that could be considered “white trash”, but what about gangs?
Unless it is that those that would be predisposed to being in a gang are the ones that join more organized type of groups/gangs such as the Aryan Nation, etc. Anybody have any thoughts on that?
May 11, 2011 at 3:12 am | | Report comment
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Well, judging by the recent gormless usa! usa! celebrations at the announcement of a long dead boogey man, half of americans cant think either.
May 11, 2011 at 8:34 pm | | Report comment
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Ummm…aren’t blacks the majority in Detroit? Then, how is this a surprise?
May 12, 2011 at 10:15 pm | | Report comment
If you are and adult illiterate , you’re not reading this so I don’t care. You are a drain on society and should be removed and turned into fertilizer. You’d be more useful that way.
May 14, 2011 at 2:05 am | | Report comment
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Wow, the answers are not easy. There are so many things that have happened in the past 40 years, that you can not give a simple answer. People have lost pride in themselves. Wether it is the way they dress, or present themselves. I think people don’t expect enough from themselves, or give themselves enough credit. They are always willing to blame someone else, or rely on someone else to give them something. I remember watching a PBS special on Detroit in the 1950′s. Even though black people were discriminated against, they still had pride, and they kept their home well kept, and their community was important to them. This has to do with any nationality, not just black people. It seems people have lost the sense of respect and pride. I have seen this in many neighborhoods, even white neighborhoods. Until people have respect for themselves, there will be not respect for anyone. Morals have been lost, they really have. As you can see with the demise of our society.
May 18, 2011 at 8:56 pm | | Report comment
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Calvin Hooper, 7, of New Market (back right) watches a baseball game on Monday near the remains of an equipment shed that burned down at the Four County Little League field near Mount Airy. Citing an increased push to expand student financial aid at Cornell during the recent economic downturn, President David Skorton highlighted efforts to increase the affordability and availability of a Cornell education during a town hall discussion organized by WVBR-FM’s “Sunday Forum” and broadcast April 10 in the Willard Straight Hall Browsing Library. BROOKINGS — Individuals and families seeking ways to stretch their food dollars can get science-based information at a seminar in Renner on April 20.
June 21, 2011 at 7:12 pm | | Report comment
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“Spend billions more on the Education system”, say the Gore Vidals and thousands of other filthy rich,clueless,detached-from-reality White & Jewish Leftists – despite the facts that it never works.
October 14, 2011 at 10:46 am | | Report comment
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Get rid of the teachers union and you will see a major improvement in public education.
October 14, 2011 at 11:43 pm | | Report comment
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A nice post with nice ideas.
December 12, 2011 at 3:25 am | | Report comment
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Detroit sucks because its entire economy relied on manufacturing, which Republicans intentionally destroyed nationwide and pieced out to China
December 26, 2011 at 2:39 am | | Report comment
Republicans say: “We have to pay CEOs and bankers top dollar! Obscenely high pay is the only way to retain the best talent!
But then they also say: “Pay teachers less and they will get better at teaching! Take money out of education and more people will be educated!”
Yall are clearly brainwashed.
December 26, 2011 at 2:43 am | | Report comment
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I am totally delighted with strong your blog greatly that warned me! God bless you “There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.” – Hippocrates
January 29, 2012 at 3:09 pm | | Report comment
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harood, I would blame the loss of the auto industry to free trade and our insane immigration policies.
Over 1 million Green Cards are issued every year to people from all over the world. We’re exporting jobs and importing poverty.
May 4, 2011 at 7:29 pm | | Report comment
The courts are corrupt too. Now what do we do?
May 4, 2011 at 7:34 pm | | Report comment
Yes, if only those kids had been disciplined, then they would have learned to read. Hahahahahah.
October 12, 2011 at 12:10 pm | | Report comment