  Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 401 Registered: 05-2008 |
http://www.wxyz.com/news/story .aspx?content_id=969907c2-3e0c -47da-a05c-16a4269c1caf | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1825 Registered: 04-2006 |
This is a long time coming. It is programs such as these that attract families into the school district and increase parental involvement. $500,000 does not seem like a lot, but it is a good start. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1827 Registered: 04-2006 |
LodgeDodger, its been hours since you posted this. I am amazed that people choose to comment only on flash, not substance. Ya think folks would be up for something that would keep families in the City and attract others. | ||
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 403 Registered: 05-2008 |
I was really excited to hear about this! Detroitplanner is correct, you start offering free college to students, and they'll think about coming back. Once a large group of parents become involved, there's no stopping the school system! In everyone else's defense, maybe they're all at work today. I'm sure there will be more commentary on this in the evening. ;-) | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 472 Registered: 04-2008 |
Hey, some of us got work to do. Can't hit every thread at once. Anyway, yeah, looks like a wonderful idea if they can get it off the ground. Obviously a half-mil endowment is nowhere near enough to fund such an ambitious plan---scholarships for every Detroit HS grad----which makes the $40K they have at the moment look even more paltry. (And that's pledged, not cash on hand.) Hopefully they can get some bigtime corporations behind it before they launch next year. As a nonprofit, they're also able to hit up the big foundations. They'll have to demonstrate some success first, of course, which is why the pilot program is crucial to their efforts. It's something anyone could get behind, though I think there should also be some kind of program to get those HS grads prepped for college. They may have a diploma but it's no big secret that a lot of them read, write, and do math at the 6th-grade level. It's nice that all degree and certification programs in state-supported community colleges are included, but I think it should be extended to include private apprentice programs. | ||
Youngprofessionaldetroiter Member Username: Youngprofessionaldetroiter Post Number: 179 Registered: 07-2008 |
^ I don't think it's gonna be for every Detroit HS grad...only the ones who meet certain GPA criteria and what not. But either way, this'll be nothing but good for the city. YPD | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 478 Registered: 04-2008 |
You're right, that's what I meant to say----eligible grads. Thing is, there's a lot of grade inflation in DPS as they move the kids down the assembly line and out the door...a kid with a 3.4 GPA often comes out not doing nearly as well as if he or she had been in a better school system. That means remedial classwork once they get to college. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 12098 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Always sad that talk of a new bar/restaurant or a building rehad gets hundreds of posts but stuff like this is mostly ignored. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2448 Registered: 12-2003 |
Because education is downplayed in this region. | ||
Foxyscholar Member Username: Foxyscholar Post Number: 201 Registered: 12-2007 |
I heard this on the radio and I think it's a great idea. It's better than paying students for getting good grades (there's a program in Atlanta that does this...foolishness!) And education got/gets downplayed in this region for one big reason: generations thought these automobile manufacturing jobs would be around forever. It's great deal if you can get it: go to school up to the 8th-10th grade, drop out and go get a job on the line.... Throw in some racism, classism, elitism, laziness, procrastination, victim mentality, and (some of us--not me) are living in the aftermath. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 12099 Registered: 10-2003 |
Let's compare the number of posts on this thread compared to a thread that asks: quote: There is nothing wrong with that thread but appalling that it has 3 times the posts of this in the same amount of time. | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 480 Registered: 04-2008 |
Still, offering a free college ride is a carrot that just doesn't work with a lot of kids, particularly those who come from an environment that doesn't put much value on book learning. There's no mom or dad or sibling in the house to look to as an example. I still think this program, if it happens, should include private apprenticeship programs. Not everybody is cut out to be a teacher, nurse, whatever. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 8288 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have posted in this thread, thus legitimizing it further, since apparently reading it was not sufficient. | ||
Detroitteacher Member Username: Detroitteacher Post Number: 1352 Registered: 06-2006 |
I'm all for a program such as this one. I have many kids in my classes who can't go to college because of financial reasons (and mom and dad won't fill out the FAFSA because they don't want to give up that SSN). However, I do see many kids return after a semester (or less) at college who are unable to function in that particular setting or who run out of money. I would also like to see this program extended to vocational type training. DPS does have the COMPACT program that offers scholarships (funding) for grads who meet the 95% attendance, GPA of 3.0 or higher, and certain scores on the MME or Terra Nova tests. Kids can choose from select Community Colleges and Universities in Michigan. More often than not, kids don't take advantage of this program because they don't fill out the required paperwork! | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 12100 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Do you have any stats to support this? It certainly won't apply to all but knowing the opportunity is there will play a vital role in how seriously kids take their education. The K-zoo promise seems to be doing great things and many people said the same about the kids there. | ||
Youngprofessionaldetroiter Member Username: Youngprofessionaldetroiter Post Number: 182 Registered: 07-2008 |
^ JT1, I'm with you. Tom Friedman wrote a great Op-Ed in the NY Times about how kids from inner-city neighborhoods look at the opportunity to go to good schooling. I'll let his words do the talking... ------------------------- http://edreform.blogspot.com/2 008/05/hope-in-unseen-harlem-s uccess-academy_26.html "Every once in a while as a journalist you see a scene that grips you and will not let go, a scene that is at once so uplifting and so cruel it’s difficult to even convey in words. I saw such a scene last weekend at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore. It was actually a lottery, but no ordinary lottery. The winners didn’t win cash, but a ticket to a better life. The losers left with their hopes and lottery tickets crumpled. The event was a lottery to choose the first 80 students who will attend a new public boarding school — the SEED School of Maryland — based in Baltimore. I went along because my wife is on the SEED Foundation board. The foundation opened its first school 10 years ago in Washington, D.C., as the nation’s first college-prep, public, urban boarding school. Baltimore is its second campus. The vast majority of students are African-American, drawn from the most disadvantaged and violent school districts. If you think that parents from the worst inner-city neighborhoods don’t aspire for something better for their kids, a lottery like this will dispel that illusion real fast. Ms. Lewis said she’s seen people on crack walking their kids to school. “We had parents who came into our office who were clearly strung out,” she added. “They could not read or write, but they got themselves there and said, ‘I need help on this application’ for their son or daughter. Families do want the best for their children. If they have a chance, they don’t want their kids to inherit their problems. ... These aspirations are so underserved.” Ms. Lewis said that she and her colleagues would meet with parents begging to get their kids in, help them fill out the applications and then, after the parents left, go into their offices, shut the door and cry. Tony Cherry’s son Noah, an 11-year-old from Baltimore County, was one of the lucky ones whose number got pulled. “His teacher said if he got picked they’re going to have a party for him,” said Mr. Cherry. “This is a good opportunity. It’s going to give him a chance. ... Wish they could take all of them.” ---------- Let's not take our eye off the ball, here. There are lot of competing interests...wanting to make the city attractive to outside investors...taking care of the safety of all the people here...spending money on education today so we have a great place tomorrow...spending on money on infrastructure today so we can function tomorrow. Where to spend our dollars is a matter of some tough choices, sometimes, and I don't profess to know all the answers. But I think we should give people the benefit of the doubt and know that there are some universally human conditions. And one of them is that parents want their kids to live a happy, healthy, and successful life. So let's at least give people the benefit of the doubt in that regard, yes? We aren't that much different from each other. YPD (Message edited by youngprofessionaldetroiter on August 19, 2008) |
