Nearly Half Of Detroit's Adults Are Functionally Illiterate, Report Finds

Detroit's population fell by 25 percent in the last decade. And of those that stuck around, nearly half of them are functionally illiterate, a new report finds.

According to estimates by The National Institute for Literacy, roughly 47 percent of adults in Detroit, Michigan -- 200,000 total -- are "functionally illiterate," meaning they have trouble with reading, speaking, writing and computational skills. Even more surprisingly, the Detroit Regional Workforce finds half of that illiterate population has obtained a high school degree.

The DRWF report places particular focus on the lack of resources available to those hoping to better educate themselves, with fewer than 10 percent of those in need of help actually receiving it. Only 18 percent of the programs surveyed serve English-language learners, despite 10 percent of the adult population of Detroit speaking English "less than very well."

Additionally, the report finds, one in three workers in the state of Michigan lack the skills or credentials to pursue additional education beyond high school.

In March, the Detroit unemployment rate hit 11.8 percent, one of the highest in the nation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month. There is a glimmer of hope, however: Detroit's unemployment rate dropped by 3.3 percent in the last year alone.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder have been aggressively attempting to reinvent the once-great Motor City. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that then newly-elected Mayor Bing planned to tear down 10,000 of the city's 90,000 abandoned properties.

Comments

[Charles Bryan]

06:21 PM on 05/13/2011

A city ran by liberals. Makes you proud.

[Hlynn]

09:38 AM on 05/11/2011

I would like to know the ages of those who are functionally illiterate. Is it mostly younger people or older people? Did the survey go into why they weren't literate? Did the people want to learn, even as adults? If so, were there opportunities to learn they don't know of?

I think people need to be more than "functionally literate" anyway. If they have difficulty reading, they lose out on the ideas and adventures in the printed word. The joy of reading, thinking about words, and discussing ideas from books and other print is someting they may never experience.

I remember a business opportunity for making money my husband dragged me to early in our marriage and a man who had made a lot of money in this enterprise was talking about how he became rich despite being functionally illiterate. Others were oohing and ahhing over slides of his mansion, cars, and other possessions, but all I could think was how poor he really was because he couldn't read well and how much knowledge was not his--despite all the things that were--because he was unable to read and I felt sorry for him.

[Sean Taylor Teacher]

01:10 AM on 05/11/2011

Teach Them To Read?!
Raison d'etre is French for "reason for being," and students who can’t read feel
they have no reason for being in school. Students will start thinking school is a
prison and will behave and act institutionalized towards teachers, peers and
academics. Students get more cynical when the gold stars lose their luster,
and teachers' mendacity about their performance start showing through the
insight of their poor skills and inability to perform academic tasks. It’s a small
death suffered every day by these students, as they see their dreams crashed
on the rocks of reality. We ask students to come to school daily and give
100% to what they believe is an intolerable humiliation, and we get angry
when they don’t smile and take school more seriously. We scratch our heads,
wondering what we can do when half of our kids drop out of school. If
students can’t read, every thing else is moot. My raison d’erte is to never
let a student pass through my class without teaching them to read period.
Twenty days may not do the job; you may need forty or eighty to get the job
done. We can use the One Star Fish analogy, but that sacrifices too many
students to a devastating future. Students are not going to change unless we
devise an effective way to change their outlook.
Sean Taylor M.Ed
http://reading-sage.blogspot.com

[tinsldr2]

03:14 PM on 05/18/2011

Teach them that if you break up a paragraph on a computer forum it is easier on the eyes to read and can be digested faster. (just joking sort of)

Thank you for what you do, teachers are VERY important.

You can teach them to read but what you should not have to do, is teach them to WANT to read. That should be instilled by the parents.

It is unfortunate that some kids are just raised so poorly that they don't have the desire to learn. That is not the fault of the teachers and I don't know what the answer is, but is the root of the problem.

And MY SON had his last day of HS today and his graduation ceremony is Saturday. He will go to University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!!) next year and has always been an excellent reader since we first read Harry Potter together back around 2001. He was in the top 2% of the nation in reading comprehension on his SAT's (and yes I am bragging about him!!)

[insidious]

01:44 PM on 05/10/2011

This is a cultural problem. It seems that Detroit (and many other towns/cities across the US) finds ignorance acceptable. In fact, ignorance is not only acceptable but expected in order to "belong" to the group. People in many of these towns and cities prop up "role models" who were lucky at best for being somewhat successful: parents find it easier to be intellectually lazy than supporters of logical deductive reasoning/research. This is a sad state of affairs for our country...

[WujiUIBe]

09:58 PM on 05/14/2011

"parents find it easier to be intellectu­ally lazy than supporters of logical deductive reasoning/­research"

Do you not have to know what that means in order to apply it, and if you the parent are illiterate -- then the words utilized amount to noise, they have no bearing?

"It seems that Detroit (and many other towns/citi­es across the US) finds ignorance acceptable­."

I cannot agree that they find it acceptable. I think they find it -- and are unable to grasp ways to stem the tide; Thus they (the community at large and the individuals) drown in the overwhelming nature of the problem.

[capeman2]

10:57 PM on 05/09/2011

Thanks the democrats and the unions for the state of public education in Detroit and all over.

[giacomino8]

12:36 AM on 05/12/2011

Michigan is one of the many States in this nation with a very weak teacher union. It is also a red state. A red state is common vernacular for a Republican state. Where I live (a blue state) we have very strong unions and excellent schools. In fact I worked in the second ranked public school in the state. You can continue to blame ridiculousness and stick to your guns on your beliefs but they are incorrect. The real reason for problems in Detroit are poverty from the consistent off-shoring of jobs, which both Republicans and Democrats have allowed to happen. Now instead of playing some sort of wanna-be redneck inspired sporting event of Red versus Blue, lets try and solve these problems.

[Charles Bryan]

06:22 PM on 05/13/2011

That's funny. How do you explain Washington dc?

[WujiUIBe]

11:25 PM on 05/16/2011

I am not a Democrat and I cannot stand the ways and means of the inglorious GOP. The problem of poor results in aggregate education spans multiple Presidents and multiple congresses. I wrote of this on another thread. The Democrats, they at least talk the talk. Where the GOP -- they are totally lost. When you want to cut PBS I must confess that being pro-education is not the first thing that comes to mind. This issue of illiterate American citizens is not a partisan issue, until someone steps forth -- to make it one.

Let us look at the word union or the joining together of the people. Why is the Right so opposed to this concept. Oh, that's right -- rugged individualism; now I remember Spanky, or is it Alfalfa? (Buckwheat? Stymie? Nah... probably not.) Anyway, the GOP embraces this rugged individualism only to abandon it where it concerns -- what they want. Tort reform is anti-market, and anti -- fend for yourself...dog-eat-dog, which is the GOP mantra. Citizens United is the ultimate insult to rugged individualism and America (this country where I live that the Right supposedly loves), but many of the rank and file Right bent over as that decision occurred. The Right is wrong. The Democrats -- weak, not strong. Thus we have a problem that lasts forty or fifty years. But then, the problem actually started at inception and conception where some were already - less than.

[WujiUIBe]

02:20 AM on 05/18/2011

"inception and conception", even there it was not rugged individualism, but more cooperative, even though some of that which was tolerated or cooperated upon was unconscionable (theft of the land, theft of the people, killing and enslaving the native, killing and enslaving the kidnapped from Africa, etc...). I realize when I write like this it ticks many people off. That is never a concern. What remains a concern is the damage done, the price paid, and the lingering effect. Screw another's comfort zone in the face of that. "White guilt" is not my goal and it is a ruse used by the fools on the -- other side! As they say "People are scared of revolution." Why? Because it causes them to abandon so many false premises that inform their lives...that are their lives. I have said before -- this before us is another's -- wet dream. Shall you frolic in the pool provided?

...Oh, when I say revolution, I am consistent as a pacifist. The posting I abandoned as ThruSpaceandTime would have reflected that fact had I not become so discouraged by the reality that is the hearts and minds of those who live and moderate.

Rugged individualism -- "What you know about rugged individualism?" What do you know about total survival where it is up to you and you only in a world set against you. Military background may come the retort. Me too! Streets of Chicago -- twenty year tour.

[Connor Alexander]

08:40 PM on 05/09/2011

Take every dollar we are spending on wars and funding foreign militaries and start spending it here on education, infrastructure and jobs. We have no business making illiterate Americans work and pay taxes so that roads can be paved in Afghanistan with American blood.

[by-the-sea-]

06:14 PM on 05/09/2011

You could not pay me enough money to live there.

[BeautifulWorld]

05:19 PM on 05/09/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJoCfgAEuE&feature=player_embedded#at=51

[ABraut]

05:11 PM on 05/09/2011

The high performing education systems in Europe and Asia are very different than ours. They don't teach to the lowest common denominator. Students pass or fail. 'No diploma for you! Next!' They can do this primarily because they don't suffer from the level of disciplinary problems we do. This is largely cultural in nature, but when they do have children with disciplinary problems, they get kicked out of school.

Some of the biggest differences, that would never fly here, is that high school is more like junior college or vo-tech than high school. Students get separated early based on aptitude. Smart kids get higher education. Average kids learn a trade. Dumb kids just fail. Someone has to do the dirty jobs, but we already have plenty of illegal solutions for that.

If we were to implement this type of system, professional race-baiters would go ballistic. They are dead-set on continuing the 'School is for Fools Authentic Culture' while blaming their cultural shortcomings on everyone else, including people of their own races who abandon such self-destructive attitudes. Immigrants who assimilate or already have a strong desire for success tend to do very well, regardless of race or ethnicity.

2007
Operating Cost Per Student (Avg=$7,341) avg SAT
191 Under $6,870 1016
227 $6,870 to $7,596 1004
225 $7,597 to $8,393 950
218 $8,394 to $9,811 900
209 Over $9,811 972

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/research/pdfs/sat-act_2007_supp.pdf

[WujiUIBe]

09:25 PM on 05/09/2011

It's too bad that life for you concerns money and pecking order. Your whole dialogue is based on worth being determined by ones earning potential. Life definitely entails earning a wage to pay your own way. However, if that is all life is -- making money and buying what other people interested in making money have made, then life, at least that version of it sucks, is lacking, and this individual shuns it as he shudders to think about such limited approaches to being alive. I have had lots, and then very little. Always happiness remained an internal matter. You equate happiness with a job and someone else's idea of an education and I say, when will you learn to think for yourself. First off, what is an education. Is it in the schoolbooks coming out of Texas? Is it in the mouth and mind of the professional race hatred deniers? Who sets the standard?

Lowest common denominator? Its all over your comment.

"cultural shortcomin­gs on everyone else"

I should adopt the cultural shortcomings of the people who hung others from trees for surely that is a higher standard.

[WujiUIBe]

10:43 PM on 05/09/2011

On education in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvQmGyhy4Zk&feature=related

Disclaimer: I watched the entire video and definitely did not agree with some of that presented as fact. I do not do the conspiracy theory treadmill for I see no benefit in investing in such theories unless there is a path to proof, exposure, prosecution, and eventual atonement by the perpetrators of whatever alleged conspiracy, as well as healing and renewal of those victimized, brutalized, and traumatized. However, this video is powerful in that it highlights the point I chose to make which is, be careful what you label education. A lot of that posing as education is in fact – the problem.

Straight out of Texas – your education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piUyuOWwglY

Here is a young valedictorian telling it like it is! This young sister delivered a powerful expression of the point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD17aDBVhX8

[mggwa]

03:45 PM on 05/11/2011

"First off, what is an education."

Let's hope you are not on the school board ;-)

[mggwa]

03:46 PM on 05/11/2011

Fine business -- actual data!

[Kiffanik]

04:31 PM on 05/09/2011

See what 30 years of not INVESTING in education gets you? Yet instead of fixing it, both sides just want to stand and shout at each other. This is an economic ditch and a national security issue, how are these people supposed to contribute to society? Yes, we need to streamline and be more efficient, there are too many administrators and not enough teachers and there needs to be more accountability. On the other side, teachers should be better paid, curriculums should be changed to reflect a technological society and we need to get back to really teaching the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. This can't keep being about partisanship, if we lose generations to the epidemic of ignorance, this country is doomed.

[ABraut]

05:10 PM on 05/09/2011

2006 Elementary and secondary per pupil spending (OECD)
#1 Luxembourg $15,440
#2 Switzerland $11,129
#3 Norway $10,448
#4 United States $10,267
#5 Austria $9,910
OECD average $7,283
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2010/section4/table-ifn-1.asp

"Per pupil spending in Detroit as of 2008 was $13,000, which is higher than some people pay for private schooling in other parts of the country."
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/study-finds-47-of-detroit-residents-are-functionally-illiterate/

[Kiffanik]

02:47 PM on 05/10/2011

What is your point? Investment isn't just about education and I didn't say spend more money, I said become more efficient, get rid of so many administrators, and pay teachers better. Continually pointing out how we spend more money to get less quality in education, healthcare, and overall quality of life isn't productive. This isn't partisan, this should be common sense. I don't have children, but if this is what the US is going to look like then I'm glad I don't and won't until I can move to a country that values education.

The other things those countries have that we don't is an educated populace and a nationalized education standard. What good does it do to have smart kids in one state and not smart ones in another?

[Mechelle Argento]

11:42 AM on 05/12/2011

That doesn't mean the money is equally spread. There are several affluent schools still in Detroit that receive more than enough money per student. Also, that cost doesn't necessarily include educational improvements. It could be to transport students (which Detroit desperately needs since the public transportation system and the locations of schools is insane), or to pay for new flooring. While these are great day-to-day requirements, it has little effect on what goes on in the classroom.

You also have to remember that the majority of our school districts are from rural areas, where funding per students dramatically brings down the nation's average spending number.

[Jimbo53]

06:55 PM on 05/09/2011

Well Said!

[NoBamain12]

03:33 PM on 05/09/2011

how many billions of dollars have been wasted on public education? time to cut administration costs (too many vice principals, etc) and return discipline to the classroom.

[Morena]

03:20 PM on 05/09/2011

Many of these comments imply the problem stretches beyond Detroit.

Some many here are consumed with partisanship they cannot see the forest for the trees.

[porscheguy]

04:06 PM on 05/09/2011

Maybe they lack critical thinking skills.

[BeautifulWorld]

03:09 PM on 05/09/2011

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/multimedia/paradox.mp3

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

[SpeakupNation]

02:27 PM on 05/09/2011

Are they referring to more than half the GOP?

[JBDenver]

03:51 PM on 05/09/2011

Oh no you di-in't!

[Jimbo53]

01:44 PM on 05/09/2011

The most startling factoid in this article is that roughly half of the illiterates in Detroit have High School Diplomas. How can you get a HS Diploma if you can't read? Obviously a whole lot of people in the Detroit educational system were not doing their jobs. Unfortunately, this problem is growing in our major cities. Here in NYC, the time needed to get rid of non-performing teachers in the public schools is measured in years. And the administrations that agreed to these insane work rules also need to be held accountable. Teaching is an honorable profession; should be highly valued and compensated by our society, and concurrently should also allow for rapid removal of administrators and teachers who can't produce results. Otherwise, we are just going to see more and more "Detroits".

[eceresa]

09:15 PM on 05/09/2011

Teachers, typically, want to teach. But when you discipline a teacher for failing too many kids, even if those kids deserve to fail, standards are going to come down. And when you've got kids coming in from homes as devoid of culture and learning as many of those in Detroit, you're going to have to fail a heck of a lot of them if you're trying to enforce reasonable standards.

If you were disciplined for trying to do your job, you'd start trying a bit less hard. Because you're human. Teachers are human too.

[giacomino8]

12:45 AM on 05/12/2011

What are results? Id like to know! I guess its like an assembly line. Brilliant! You have solved the educational problems in this country. I do hope you go get your degree and get out there teaching as you are so wise!

[Jimbo53]

02:21 AM on 05/12/2011

Results are being able to read, genius! You think it's acceptable for half of the HS graduates to be functionally illiterate? Can I assume from your comment that you are a teacher?...and further assume that you are one of the teachers who makes excuses for the failures of their students rather than understanding that you didn't do your job effectively? Yep... we need more people with your mindset in education!