Education in Detroit

[edub]

You know, any time a topic like this comes up, it inevitably degrades into the brain dead accusation that people are fallaciously accusing every single member of a given ethnic group of the conduct being discussed. I really can't think of an argument that is more stupid.

Nobody is accusing every black person on the planet of being an irresponsible parent or every child of being incapable of learning. The fact that this needs to be stated every time a discussion like this comes up is pathetic.

It so happens, that in this thread, we are discussing those that are. Now, obviously, when we are discussing Detroit, this includes a pretty large chunk of the city's residents. Right now, less than 20% of youth in Detroit graduates high school. Those are the people we are discussing.

The traditional approach has always been to stay out of family business and let people raise their kids the way they see fit. I generally agree with this approach, but in the case of Detroit it just isn't the right way to deal with it.

In Detroit, a great many homes (80% evidently) are so dysfunctional that their children are not graduating high school. We have two choices. Either we get involved and do something about how these children are raised, or we spend a lot more money on prisons to house them once they break the law, or we just allow Detroit to crumble until there is nothing left and the problem spreads to the surrounding cities.

In my mind, the most ethical thing to do is to get involved with the raising of these children and break the cycle of dysfunction. We need to take a good hard look at the situation and create new legislation that defines standards in which a child can be raised. And we need to change the standard for removing a child from immediate danger to simply sub-standard. If a parent is on crack or is arrested for anything above a simple misdemeanor, that should be enough. If the child is obviously maladjusted, that should also be cause.

A lot of this seems Draconian, but unless we draw some kind of line and create a split to prevent the dysfunction of the past generations from being handed down, things will keep getting worse.