Alex P. Kellogg, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009
Public school districts across Michigan mobilized Wednesday to boost attendance for Count Day, the annual fall roll call that largely determines how much money each district receives under the state’s per-pupil funding system.
Students in Detroit were treated to free meals, ice-cream parties, T-shirts, celebrity visits and a chance to win iPods and a plasma-screen TV— just for showing up for class.
Districts received an average of $7,810 per student last year, but that could decline by more than $200 a pupil this year as Michigan looks to close a $1.7 billion budget hole. Every student in class Wednesday represented funding for the school year.
The stakes were especially high for the Detroit Public Schools, where Wednesday’s carnival atmosphere masked grim financial realities. Enrollment has plummeted roughly 50% in the past decade, contributing to a $259 million deficit this year that has put the district on the brink of bankruptcy.
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Detroit schools this summer launched a $500,000 campaign aimed at keeping students that included ads by Bill Cosby.
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In recent weeks, Detroit schools have been touting signs that its enrollment campaign—dubbed “I’m In”—was working. The effort includes radio and TV ads featuring Mr. Cosby, door-to-door visits by him and other DPS boosters, as well as a separate security initiative led by Mayor Dave Bing’s office that will see hundreds of abandoned buildings and homes near schools torn down.
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Dress codes were relaxed, and at several schools, prizes were awarded to classrooms with 100% attendance. Giveaways included movie tickets, snacks, school supplies and extra-credit points. Breakfast and lunch were free to every student. Many of the costs were covered by private donations.
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Original article
(Posted on October 1, 2009)
Comments
Was it even possible to relax the dress code in Detroit’s public schools? The only way to do that would be to let the students come to school practically naked.
This sort of bribery is all over, but Detroit’s and Michigan’s is pernicious because it only necessitates one day. In most states, per capita per district funding is based on yearly averages. St. Louis’s equivalent to “I’m In” back when I was going to school was called “Be There,” and they had prizes for the first day, perfect attendance for a quarter, for a semester and for the whole year.
Education no longer is.
Next year wait and see how much LESS they will be awarded per pupil, but especially, watch the year after that. They could be looking at less than $3000 per pupil and school only 3 or 4 days per week.
Tax riots will be in full swing. Big brother needs more taxes, but the electorate have none to give.
What a shame. Looks like they might have to go back to schooling the old fashioned way by requiring reading, writing and arithmetic, instead of social engineering and singing songs to dear leader.
$7,810 per student from K-12 equals 101,500 dollars spent by the state. That doesn’t include the constant gifts, grants and endowments from the feds, charities and benefactors. The results speak for themselves. All that for a city with 30% unemployment and 80% under employment.
Pathetic. Maybe they should pass laws that say anyone who drops out of HS is automatically disqualified from any government aid. Maybe then they would start to appreciate the free education this country tries to give them.
All of this has become surreal. We need to institute apartheid. We can not afford to let our country go down the toilet because we are too PC to state the truth.
Here in Chicago, all sorts of rewards were offered to get students to come to school. What is the point? If they don’t want to come to school, why force them? Best of all, they will not distract the students who want to be there. That is how it was done in the old days- and it worked.
Given the amount of damage they do to the education of white children , through creating a hostile and violent “learning” environment, the smart move is to coax them all to go home and stay there all day.
I’m telling you all, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are just some races that have it ingrained in their DNA to not be able to achieve anything of any creative or intellectual note. I imagine Whites are the only ones, evident even from just comparison of artwork (this fellow being an example: http://www.alloilpaint.com/alma/) that have any creative capacity. Asians have technical abilities, but lack any sort of type of art that even comes close in its profound beauty.
That is why it is very, very, very important to screen your mate or your children’s potential mate for non-White blood. It’s been mentioned before by someone on this site, and through study and observation I’ve come to realize it as true. Even 1/32nd amount can affect performance.
If they don’t want to go to school, don’t make them. Let their welfare mamas put up with them at home all day; they’ll soon make them go to school! Or if they hang out on the streets? Well, what happened to truant officers? When I was a kid we were afraid to skip school because of the dreaded truant officer. What about trade schools? Teach them some kind of trade. Not everyone is cut out to sit in a classroom until age 17 or 18, learning history and algebra. Used to be, in England you could leave school legally at age 14-1/2 if you had an apprenticeship. Makes sense to me. The schools and teachers are mere babysitters now, and these thugs DON’T want to be there and they just disrupt things for the students who do want to be there. Stop pretending that blacks are exactly like whites. Let them quit school if they want to, teach them to perform some sort of job, and if they refuse, lock ‘em up. Enough is enough.
Democrats always find the wrong solutions for problems that they created. The money that they send goes to members of the teachers union that donates money to democrats.
I have taught high school science for 20 years I don’t consider myself a racist but I can tell you this. When the blacks start to roll in the trouble is just beginning. The majority seem to have zero respect for anything, whether it’s learning, taking care of tools or school equipment or the rights of other students or teachers. They are for the most part destructive, agitators and aggressors toward the weakest whites (boys and girls) they can find. Their disrespect and filthy talk is often directed toward young white females and in today’s world no white male seems to be willing to stand up to these creatures when they physically and mentally and sexually abuse the meekest of white females. I plan to retire in 2010 and that is not a day to early for me. I pity the new people coming into teaching today.
As someone that went to high school in Australia in the 80s (and I can tell you people, there was hardly any misbehaviour, no violence, no weapons of any kind and certainly no drugs at the school) the reports I read here on AMren; from the forced integration of schools back in the day, to the latest ridiculous attempts right now to bribe these ingrates to actually go to school really boggles my mind!
It is traditional [??] for black folks to miss the first week of schoo’. It is traditional [??]! They are not only doing it, but are the habit of doing so and have always done so. And it is a tradition [??]! Is there a black person out there that can comment on this?? Anyone? I have heard and read that this tradition is so! Comment anyone?
“free meals, ice-cream parties, T-shirts, celebrity visits and a chance to win iPods and a plasma-screen TV”
Please note too the prizes that are offered. Bling they call it? Is that the correct term? I am so out of it! An old-fuddy-duddy white guy that does not understand these terms. What if they offered a BOOK as a reward? What would be the reaction? I think I know!
I wonder how many of these non-attending students will then be force fed into the university system via affirmative action? They can claim that their low grades were due to “racism” in grade and high school.
