Detroit High School Protest: Students Suspended After Demanding 'An Education'

About 50 students were suspended Thursday from the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, Mich. for walking out of classes in protest, demanding "an education."

Among their complaints: a lack of consistent teachers, the reassignment of the school principal, educators who abuse sick time and a shortage of textbooks.

"We've been wronged and disrespected and lied to and cheated," senior Tevin Hill told the Detroit Free Press. "They didn't listen to us when we complained to the administration. They didn't listen to the parents when they complained to the administration, so I guess this is the only way to get things solved."

One math teacher, parent Sharise Smith tells WJBK-TV, has been absent for more than 68 days.

The students marched outside the school and chanted, "We want... education! When do we want it? Now!"

Students and parents became increasingly alarmed when Frederick Douglass was no longer listed as an application school in the district -- current students had to apply to attend. Smith told the Free Press that her son was given an A in geometry without taking a final exam.

"It was by default, just for showing up. It wasn't because he earned an A," she said.

The Frederick Douglass boys are just some of many students in a city that proved to be the worst-performing urban school area among 21 surveyed across the country. Despite its national rank, Detroit's overall performance increased on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in 2009 branded Detroit "ground zero" for education reform, but changed his tone to a more optimistic one last year. Still, the district is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and faces dwindling enrollment -- the first day of academic year 2011-2012 saw a 55 percent attendance rate.

Detroit Public Schools spokesperson Steve Wasko noted that Frederick Douglass teachers who abuse sick time "will be reprimanded," and the district aims to keep the school open while adding new courses like debate and engineering.

The 17-year-old Hill told The Detroit News that so many teachers have been simultaneously absent from school that dozens of students had been forced to gather in the gym or other common school areas. Students also went for long periods without homework, and Hill said he struggled on a recent placement exam at Bowling Green State University, where he's been accepted to attend next year.

"I literally couldn't answer a question on there," Hill said. "Right now, I'm not going to be as successful as I should be because I haven't been properly taught."

Comments

[lele215]

02:09 PM on 05/11/2012

I will say this again. If those students taken the initiative to go to the library, check out the great books and form their own study groups they would be miles ahead of their peers.

Instead they decided to follow the futile track of protesting. Now they are out of an "education" and suspended from school.

[KnowledgeAyAa]

04:04 PM on 05/18/2012

yea they can do that all they want, but America recognizes paper ! Diploma, Degree, Recommendations. The shouldn't have to go out and educate themselves, that is our job as the adults of this country and the job of those teachers at that school. No excuse for this. Your comment is a selfish one. They have the right to demand the service of constitutional right. At least they are being peaceful about it and organized. Other schools, the students protest by not showing up, dropping out and lashing out onto the surrounding community. WAKE UP Lele215! If it was your son would you simply say , "its ok son, lets just go downtown and study ourselves with the bums at the library and the dated books, no need for a quality school and diploma well earned."

[lele215]

08:11 PM on 05/19/2012

Actually, that's exactly what I did. I was the first person in my family to complete college.

[unique]

02:40 PM on 05/10/2012

Here we have students that want to learn and have no teachers.
I note these students are not wearing hoodies.
At another school we have students that are dissruptive and do
not want to learn and teaches use unauthorized methods to
make them learn.
Does anyone see anything wrong here.

[SynergisticPen]

04:50 PM on 05/06/2012

I suppose they would have rather have the boys vandalize the joint, huh?

[Nettrice]

11:12 AM on 05/06/2012

I just read "How to Destroy Education While Making a Trillion Dollars" in Common Dreams and, with the U.S is ratcheting up the societal-level war on public education, this issue is more critical than ever. Americans spend almost $1 trillion on public education every year and with so many low performing schools I can't help but to think that there are those (who want to privatize education) that care more about making a profit than supporting quality education for all citizens.

[kyramizuno]

03:25 AM on 05/03/2012

So... let me get this straight:

We have kids who obviously don't want to be in school and thus do everything in our power to MAKE them be there to get an education they will probably go out of their way to not use...

Yet, when we get kids who are DEMANDING a quality education, we kick them out of school?

[Setthemfree]

12:05 AM on 04/22/2012

Why did Bowling Green accept a student who was clearly not ready for college level work?

[Nettrice]

11:16 AM on 05/06/2012

It happens more than people would like to admit. Colleges are businesses and so many college-bound students are ill-equipped to handle the work. So what would you (as a college administrator) do?

[Setthemfree]

11:49 PM on 04/21/2012

I wonder why this article never interviewed any teachers? I wonder what is going on in this school? Why didn't the person who wrote the article try to do an investigative report?

[KnowledgeAyAa]

04:09 PM on 05/18/2012

I think they refused to talk to them.

[abbitha7]

07:34 PM on 04/11/2012

Oh man. This is horrible! No good teacher would behave like this. It's great that the students are recognizing the poor education at their school and wanting to do something about it. You don't always see that with high schoolers.

[oldwolf49]

03:19 AM on 04/10/2012

I think they have every right to sue and I think the ACLU needs to get involved.

[William Lin]

09:20 PM on 04/09/2012

This is a civil rights issue that is worth fighting! Denying our children an excellent education is a travesty, and the cost to our society and our nation is a great one. We need stronger schools and quality teachers! For a free video library of great teachers and ebooks on classroom management and student engagement, please visit http://www.lulu.com/alastingwill. Read. Grow. Thrive.

[Good to know]

01:22 PM on 04/08/2012

Bravo Tevin Hill! You are more a man than those who pretend to lead the country.

[justin sane]

12:54 PM on 04/08/2012

Close the school. It's a lost cause. Fire the principal, fire all the teachers who have illegitimately skipped work, and send these students to a school where the teachers teach and the principal leads.

[Bob Soper]

04:26 AM on 04/08/2012

The GOP are deliberately starving these low-income districts of funds. Equal access to a quality education is a thing of the past in the US.

[abbitha7]

07:35 PM on 04/11/2012

NCLB is one of the worst things to happen to education in our country. Pull funding from schools with poor performance - can they really be expected to improve?

[Dragoon]

03:07 AM on 04/08/2012

Jesse and Al should be marching with these young men against this school's administration and teachers. Obama should condemn these same "professionals" for failing these young men.

[robert carman]

11:44 AM on 04/08/2012

this city and state has been run by democrats most of my 43 years and the city of detroit my entire 43 years so do some research befor you try to blame republicans it is over paid teachers and pure theft from these students adults and parents have failed these kids not republicans they have nothing to do with running this city.

[Setthemfree]

11:58 PM on 04/21/2012

You don't even know what has been going on in this school. The article did no investigative journalism to find out. Aren't you suspicious when you hear they can't keep a principal and teachers are absent. Something doesn't sound right. I wonder what is going on? The article said it is an alternative school. Why didn't they interview any teachers?

[LBam]

01:12 PM on 05/06/2012

My guess is none of the teachers wanted to or could be put on record without permission, which, if I were the administration, I'd tell my teachers to keep their mouth shut or suffer the consequences. Not ethical, of course, but from what this article shows, immorality isn't really a concern of the administration. What you SHOULD be asking is why aren't any of the administration/school board/local government interviewed in this article. I'm not really interested in what the teachers have to say for themselves, I'm more interested in what the administration that let this happen have to say for themselves.

[Emily Waddle]

12:03 AM on 04/08/2012

All you people blaming these incredible kids for their teachers' poor behavior are being disingenuous at best. I work at a testing center, and I administer the test that is required for teacher certification in my state. I talk to a lot of these future teachers, and almost all of them say they want to become teachers because they will "get summers off" and it will be "easy". None of them care about your kids; some of them express open dislike of children but think the benefits of working for the state will outweigh the disadvantages. Many of them fail the test multiple times, proving their unreadiness to educate others.

This is a large part of who we put into the workforce and the children cannot be blamed for it. I am not saying necessarily throw money at it, but there should be MUCH higher standards for teacher certification. It should be an incredibly difficult task to get certified, so that only those who really want to do it will be able to make it.

[mikew39]

09:05 AM on 04/08/2012

As an inner city teacher that loves kids, just not so much many parents, I take offence to "None of them care about your kids;". I can tell you that I care about some of 'my' kids as much as the parents.
As for making it more difficult to become a teacher, getting any college degree takes work and dedication. I'm sorry to hear what you hear them say about summers and it being easy, but that is far from the truth.
It sounds as though the administration for this school or the union needs to step in and hold teachers accountable for the absenteeism.

[akonoskegraf]

05:36 PM on 04/10/2012

I am a high-school teacher in an inner-city school, and I appreciate Mike's comment. Teaching at a school in which the students have been disenfranchised for so long is challenging for a plethora of reasons, and I go to work everyday with the weight of the world on my shoulders. Many of the teachers who teach at my school do the same. To do it well requires dedication, patience, and (most importantly) love. Generalizations should be avoided. All teachers should not be blamed for the apathetic and irresponsible actions of a few.

I agree that higher standards must be set in order to achieve teacher certification, but it will be difficult to attract the most ambitious and well-educated educators without providing them the emotional, professional, and monetary support that is required to FIGHT every day for our students' success. If you want to raise the standards for students (as Mr. Hill is advocating), raise the standards for teachers. But both accountability and compensation are paramount.