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Miles Bowman
Professor Hudson
Honors 1000 (Tuesday)
December 1, 2014
The Problem of Ignorance and Solution of Knowledge
Detroit Public Schools are among the bottom tier American schools, operating with 54%
of students functioning below basic in Reading and 76% in Mathematics, along with having one
of the lowest national graduation rates, according to the U.S Department of Educations
National Assessment of Educational Progress (2013 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report).
With a staggering crime rate, an unprofitable local economy, and corrupt-impoverish
government, the roots of a failing public education system intertwine with many of these
outstanding issues. I have found that by understanding the history of Detroit Public Schools and
addressing modern economic and social implications, one is able to understand the need for good
public education in urban areas. Additionally, by viewing governmental educational policies
through a critical scope one is also able to identify plausible solutions to this failing education
system. Of these solutions, my research took interest in the critique of the counterintuitive
answer of Charter schools. In addition, my research found that the faults in education lay in a
community as much as the education system itself, leading to an analysis of the very plausible
solutions of community programs. Specifically, in modeling the Big Brothers Big Sisters
program in Baltimore, Maryland, that has exemplified community program solutions in creating
a generation of youth that value education, and the respect of community that comes with it.

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To address this solution, one must first understand why the Detroit public education
system is in its current debilitated state. To do this, two historical facts must be kept in mind:
during the Great Migration period millions of African Americans from the south relocated to
northern cities in search of work and relief from southern racism (1910-1970) and the White
Flight movement was the mass migration of whites from mixed urban areas to the suburbs in the
50s and 60s (Martelle). In his book The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System historian
Jeffrey Mirel argues that the initial downfall of Detroit Public Schools began with the Great
Depression causing a lack of funding to public education and a dilution of the school
curriculum that devolved the former academic icon. The already struggling system was then
required to compensate for the Baby Boom generation, but was denied the needed funding due to
legislatures racist favoritism towards suburban gains and the White Flight movement over the
African American dominated city (Mirel). The school systems continued to fail throughout the
generations, and the inability for African American families to leave the city, whether that was
due to housing segregation or economic limitations (Martelle), forced the families to adjust to a
lifestyle lacking equality of education compared to its white suburban counterpart. Because of
this longstanding historical disadvantage towards those who could not leave the city generations
of individuals were created who devalued education because they were not privileged enough to
benefit as much from it. Thus, the problem remains because this culture was passed down to
younger generations, making it just as unlikely education would be valued by them (Thornberry).
Harboring feeble public education creates a community that devalues education which
hinders younger generations to solve their issues of poverty and add to the local economy.
During the time period of the White Flight movement, Detroit was $1.85 million in debt, and
because of the racially biased viewpoint of preceding legislatures, that debt only worsened

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(Desan). As of 2013, estimates of Detroits current deficit are between $18-$20 billion, the
largest municipal bankruptcy in American history (Desan). This incredible debt is mostly equated
to corrupt politicians, ill-spending, low local tax revenue, and vast reliance on social welfare
programs (Desan). Besides local government problems, 36.4% of adults and 60% of children live
in poverty and almost 30% of its willing workforce is unemployed (State of the Detroit Child).
The Alliance for Excellent Education has done multiple studies in proving the economic and
social benefits of education; in particular, its article Education and the Economy: Boosting State
and Local Economies by Improving High School Graduation Rates contextualizes the benefits
of successful education in terms of economics. In this article, Dr. Anthony Carnevale of
Georgetown University, conducted a study and found that if half of all the people to drop out in
2013 ended up finishing high school, the 650,000 of them would have made an additional $7.6
billion, collectively, on top of their already non-graduate profits each year. This annual extra $7.6
billion by itself then could have created roughly 52,000 jobs, turned into $2 billion worth of
investments, and increased tax revenue by $713 million (Education and the Economy:). In
Detroit, roughly 60% of students graduate within 4 years each class year (State of the Detroit
Child). By increasing graduation rates, many of the economic issues affecting Detroit are
assisted with a long term solution of a more capable work force able to add to the local economy
and government and remain above the poverty line.
In addition, without a reliable public education facet, children often times turn to crime
(Alliance for Excellent Education). FBI Preliminary data show that Detroit is the current leader
in national homicide rates and remains classified as one of the most dangerous cities in the
United States. The answer as to why the crime rates in Detroit are so high is due to the economic
problems infecting the city (Short). Poverty often brings forth crime due to an inability to

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provide for ones family or self, the fast and easy cash flow of drug culture and sex trafficking,
or the blindness of non-criminal solutions (Short). However, there lays a deeper meaning to the
acceptance of crime in poverty stricken areas, one best described by the Life Course Theory.
This long term study was executed by Robert Sampson and John Laub in their pursuit to study
the underlying factors of criminalitywhat drives people to perform criminal acts over legal
ways of life. In their findings, two of the strongest causes of delinquency were structural
background and attachment to school. Children growing up in poverty stricken areas, such as
Detroit, seemed to stray away from public education and go to the streets, causing them to lead a
life as a criminal. When considering that a large majority of Detroit households, due to history,
lack a strong enforcement for public education and live in an environment with an already high
crime rate, the continuation of criminal behavior seems to pivot on the quality of local education
and acceptance or rejection of education.
After researching the major economic and social issues in Detroit, it becomes apparent
that a high functioning public education system is a viable solution to the issues plaguing the
city. Of the many efforts to enhance public education, the governmental solution of Charter
Schools is the most publicized and well known, but simultaneously the most redundant and
useless (in terms of a solution for urban education)1. This solution of charter schools reflects
the way in which public education problems cannot be solved, and that way is by altering modes
of education rather than tackling the issue of the community. The differences between Charter
schools and public schools are that charter schools receive less public funding and are granted
more leniencies in their operations, but are held to higher standards in their performance.
1 It is wise to note that these schools, although unable to deliver on their promises of better education and an answer to failing
urban education, are not a threat to public education or meaningless (Forman). Many charter schools exist to assist particular
minority groups, such as the bilingual school Escuela Avancemos! Academy located in Detroit, and provide useful research in
education (Forman).

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However, only 17% of charter schools perform better than their local public counterpart, but
37% of schools perform worse than their local public institutions (Dicky). Charter schools are,
like community outlook on education, subjective to their surroundings (Dicky). Meaning, when
public schools and charter schools are closely related through geography, their performance
output is generally the same. In being able to compare separate institutions side by side (when
related through geography), and realizing that there is consistently minimal variation between the
two structure's results, it becomes apparent that school performance isnt so much based on
individual techniques, rather, the surrounding communitys outlook towards education.
Finding an answer to the core issue of education, being the Detroit community itself, one
does not have to look far for these solutions in the area, as the Big Brother Big Sisters program
has had major impact on many urban communities. For example, the Big Brothers Big Sisters
Baltimore charter documented its successes and failures and found that 80% of children
mentored showed signs of improved self-confidence, ability to express feelings, and ability to
make decisions and over 70% of children mentored showed improvement in academics
(Leon). These successes are attributed to relationship many littles do not experience with those
who are older than they, and cause a deep and lasting impression on the youth (Leon). In
contrast, a study was done by Carla Herrera and her team of researchers, that studied 1,139
students who were assigned to be either mentored or not. These students were monitored for 1.5
school years and found that academic progress among students who were mentored achieved
dramatically higher scores than the controlled non-mentor group (Herrera). However, this study
also claimed to find that academics were the only factor that improved greatly in the mentored
childrens academic lives (Herrera). However, it is arguable to say this study is not entirely
reflective of Detroit because of the difference in race, economy, and history of the cities used in

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the teams research (Herrera) and that Detroit is more reflective of Baltimore due to the
similarity in urban struggles, such as the intertwinement of Detroit Public schools and many
local success stories of the Detroit Big Brothers Big Sisters Charter (Its not Brain Surgery).
There is, however, an improvement that can be made to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to
solve those issues: higher standard expectation among mentored youth. To change the course of
younger generations of urban youths in a direction in which they value education and the
community it resides in, Big Brother and Big Sisters should be trained to have their littles
strive to do their very best (Lee). Whether thats pushing the child to join an extracurricular
activity, or tough love by doing community service with the child to make up for his or her
history of property damage, the Big Brothers Big Sisters program must do this first to instill long
lasting positive academic habits and sense of community, so that a new education-positive
community perspective may be sculpted and passed down to younger generations. Studies such
as Kati Haycocks Closing the Achievement Gap support the claim that by pushing a child to
succeed in one aspect of his or her life, other aspects will follow suit with lasting improvement,
verifying that this technique, combined with the Big Brothers Big Sister program, will carve a
new cultural identity of young Detroiters (Lee).
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is one of the few programs left to help the illaddressed community aspect of education. In creating a generation of individuals aware of the
need for education and value of their community, crime, social welfare burdens, and poverty will
decrease while the local economy and government grow. If the Big Brothers Big Sisters program
solution is not employed and promoted within struggling urban districts, nor improved through
higher standards, the efforts to solve these struggling school systems will continue in their
unprogressive fashion and a culture without care of education will continue to propagate.

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Works Cited
"2013 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report (Reading and Mathematics)." National Assessment
of Educational Progress, 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
<http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/dst2013/pdf/2014467xr8.pdf>
<http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/dst2013/pdf/2014468xr8.pdf>.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2003a, November). FactSheet: The impact of education on:
Crime. Washington, DC: Author.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2003, November). FactSheet: The impact of education on:
Personal Income & Employment. Washington, DC: Author.
Desan, M. H. "Bankrupted Detroit." Thesis Eleven 121.1 (2014): 122-30. Web.
Dickey, Kathleen, M.S, comp. "National Charter School Study 2013." Credo: Center
forResearch on Education Outcomes (2013): Credo at Stanford University. Stanford
University, 2013. Web. 2014
Education and the Economy: Boosting State and Local Economies by Improving High School
Graduation Rates. Washington D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education, June, 2011.
Forman, James. "Do Charter Schools Threaten Public Education? Emerging Evidence from
Fifteen Years of a Quasi-Market for Schooling" Georgetown Law Faculty
Publications. Georgetown University, Oct. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2014
Herrera, Carla, Jean Baldwin Grossman, Tina J. Kauh, and Jennifer Mcmaken. "Mentoring in
Schools: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters School-Based Mentoring." Child
Development 82.1 (2011): 346-61. Web.

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"Its Not Brain Surgery." Big Brothers Big Sisters Detroit. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

<http://www.bbbsdetroit.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=clKXIlOVIcJ4H&b=6499
89&ct=9031453oc=1>.
Lee, James O. "Implementing High Standards in Urban Schools: Problems and Solutions." Sage,
2003. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
Leod, Henry. "SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING: Big Brothers Big Sisters." Education
Digest 74.5 (2009): Web. 27 Nov. 2014.
Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. Print.
Mirel, Jeffrey. The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1907-81. Ann Arbor: U of
Michigan, 1993. Print.
"Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June 2013." FBI, 12 Dec. 2012. Web.
28 Nov. 2014. < http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/preliminarysemiannual-uniform-crime-report-january-june-2012>
Short, James F. Poverty, Ethnicity, and Violent Crime. Boulder, CO: WestviewPress, 1997. Print.
State of the Detroit Child: 2010 Data Driven Detroit. August, 2011.
Thornberry, Terence P. "A Life-Course Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage and the Stability of
Delinquency." Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction, 1997. 133-45. Print.
Webster, Colin, and Sarah Kingston. "Anti-Poverty Strategies for the UK."Poverty and Crime
Review (2014): Centre for Applied Social Research. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.