Part of what you're supposed to do in high school is re-create the world. You start breaking away from the rules adults put on you, and you make the world new. That's your job. Your community, meanwhile, is supposed to give you a safe place to go to school and a decent education when you get there. You study, and they make it possible for you to learn.
Deal, right? Like so many other basics of life in Detroit, education is breaking down. On hearing that the schools emergency manager would use his unilateral authority to close nearby Southwest High School, a couple of hundred kids last week walked out of Detroit's Western High (Mark Maynard's got video). The students were suspended, so instead, on Friday they started a "Freedom School" across from Southwest. They plan to study Civil Rights history, among other subjects, while they're barred from their regular classes.
You can follow the Freedom School on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. This morning it sounds like they're dealing with lousy weather, getting help with classes and looking for help with lunches. After the jump, the speech given by one of their leaders, junior Raychel Gafford, about the walkout. She has the temerity to argue that schools are supposed to be assets to the community -- maybe we're supposed to invest them.
The speech:
Hi my name is Raychel Gafford. I’m 17 years old and i am in the 11th grade. We are the students of Western International standing in solidarity with the students of southwestern. We are here not only in solidarity with southwestern but to draw the line and take a stand for our education.
We are walking out to fight for quality education and to protect our public school system. We are here demanding better education and that our voices be heard. Our school system should work WITH US not against us. I’m sick and tired of being pushed around. WHAT ABOUT YOU??
All I hear when I hear about DPS schools is closings, chartering, MONEY MONEY MONEY and LACK OF MONEY! To be honest, I don’t think our education should have a price tag. I thought schools are supposed to be about educating students so we can be the best members of the community and grow to be successful adults.
Schools are assets to the community. What’s going to happen when all our assets are privatized?? 80% of charter schools are for profit. THAT’S NOT WHAT OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS. Schools are not supposed to be ran as businesses, education is a long term investment. We should not be making money off of our students. We are children, WE ARE PEOPLE! NOT—DOLLAR SIGNS!
The solution is not to close public schools. It’s not a quick fix. It only does long term damage to our neighborhoods. (When schools close, our families, and our neighbors leave the community so that their kids can have access to quality schools and opportunities elsewhere.) We need to improve the public school system here, not shrink it down or sell if off to charters until it disappears completely.
Our community thrives off of public education. Without our proper education we are less prepared for life. We are the future! WE ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF ADULTS! WE’RE HERE TELLING YOU THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM! We’re done choosing the lesser of two evils, or accepting solutions that are not good for our communities. This time we’re leading the way. We are demanding respect!
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I hope the leaders of the Michigan Politbureau are paying attention.
They aren't, because they're working from a different set of facts.
The Politbureau is not only working from a different set of facts, they know that their facts have no need to be factual. The only requirement for their facts is that they support the conclusions that were reached before they went looking for the facts to support their conclusions.
No Child Left Behind and Michigan politics are living proof that the KKK is alive and well in the Republican party.
This is how theocratic dictatorships begin.
Brava!!! Now if only the the garden tools in the political class could hear this with understanding!! Sigh....
You know what their response will be. This girl is just "passionate" and not to be taken seriously, like the other Rachel.
And I believe I hear more than a hint of Occupy in that speech. Good.
Oppression and injustice are a great motivator! These kids seem to understand far better than the State of Michigan what it means to live in a democratic society. More power to them!
On the bright side, there are plenty of highly qualified- and recently fired- teachers available.
Not to mention lots and lots of vacant buildings.
In the Days of Yore parents pooled resources, hired a schoolmarm, and built the school. All without the help of a government of any sort.
Let's hope these kids go viral!
Yes, but back then, all that was required to be "well educated" was the ability to do basic math and read competently. Today's education requires more in the way of technology and resources.
While they are at it, maybe the freedom school kids can plant trees in every vacant lot they can find. By all means, sudy the civil rights movement. Call on Occcupy wall Street for help. Maybe the OWS guys can donate trees, mulch, water, etc. along with books and paper for the students.I guess I am getting ahead - too fast. The kids deserve an education - a right denied to people in third world countries.
Sometimes I think that certain groups (fundamentalists, for instance, do not want people to be educated because they don't want them to think.
Why trees? They need something resembling physical education. It's more egalitarian than school yard baseball, and just before I read the article, I was trying to think of a way to get some group to plant a million acres of trees - to combate the climate change and upheavals we are having.
why trees - trees breathe and the air is cleared and minds work better - that's investment in the community future as well as the gift trees bring to the present.
Invest in baseball? Play baseball when all is well and you've got nothing to do. When trying to grow planting is physical education, the nurturing time and attendance instructive, the growth can be measured year after year, and the achievement over a life time rewarding. So sit under the tree you planted, watch the game in the cool shade, and if need be take some of those trees for a rocking chair and there will be enough left for a few baseball bats.
Exactly what is there to be afraid of? The world turned green, the wood land made productive, the scenery welcoming, would little a hardwood furniture turned by crafty hands be valueless, would the fiber be good for paper, can we read in the cool shade from the printed word? Why should anyone work for better world, when the can suck the one we have dry.
Or are we to teach that if you do anything productive, you will be wasted, some corporation will own you, or maybe the future will be so full of new problems and the old problems that we might not have lived at all. Sure you have a bad attitude, but who gave that to you, and you want to live life with the bad attitude, to what end, will the constant lies you are told worth believing, now and how about the future, bitterness in old age over not having tried something else.
michigan is a test state to see if local dictatorships installed by the republican governor can be affective. i wonder why all those "right-wing, freedom-loving, constitutional-rights" patriots, are so silent on this. oh right, the citzens of those cities are mostly minority, so they deserve no right to vote for their local leaders...silly me.
Even if your assessment is true, the current system certainly has not be working. The poor quality of the Detroit public schools is not a new problem, it is not a Bush problem, it has been going on for over 20 years according to Nolan Finley a columnist with the Detroit News.
Just look at this observation from Mr. Finley that the school district had stockpiles of unused resources as the students were struggling for basic supplies and people drawing paychecks and benefits that did not even work for the school system.
Maybe the students should consider why they have to do this in the first place. No money. After years of Democrat rule, Detroit needs an unelected city manager imposed on them to get their bills paid.
Detroit Public Schools is separate from the City of Detroit. DPS had an emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, who increased the District deficit by hiring many "consultants" who charged up to 450.00 per hour for their "services" - they were the same people who went into DC, New Orleans and other distressed places - they left with hefty bank accounts, recommend closing schools, privatizing services and ignore the needs of struggling or handicapped students. They have ties to Eli Broad Foundation and the Right Wing Republican agenda. Do some research.
Oh, God, seriously? You really think that a dictatorship is the solution to all our problems? That is absolutely disgraceful.
Oversimplify much? What was Detroit's population in 2000? What is its population now? How many homes have been foreclosed in the past five years? There is no money b/c there are fewer jobs, less home ownership resulting in a lower tax base, which means far less money for schools and other government services.
Protesting by walking out for a day calls attention to an issue and begs for problem solving, not suspending students indefinitely or for however long enough for them to set up an alternative school. Most high schools would give a mild consequence and get students back into classes within a few days. What is the normal consequence for a day's truancy? While not directly stated, this punishment doesn't seem to fit the "crime". Another reason why emergency managers and those who are not trained to provide education ought not be placed in charge.
Totalitarian rule ought never to be touted over democratically elected leaders, S242. Neither Fascism or anarchy is an acceptable course of action. Why have so many citizens of Michigan turned away from democracy?
Please. The emergency manager is roughly equivalent to a bankruptcy judge deciding who to pay with remaining assets. Do you think that's totalitarian? Detroit's politicians bankrupted the city, someone has to be the adult there.
The emergency manager has absolute power to strip the elected officials from making any decisions. Basically, that takes the power away from all of the people who put the officials in office in the first place. This is a broad over-reach and goes beyond getting the bills paid. This isn't about fixing what's not working, it's about setting up a system to one person's liking while destroying anything that looks like democracy.
Oh brother. This isn't a coup, it's a bankruptcy. Cities actually have to pay their bills unlike the Federal Govt.
Sorry, Shooter, you're wrong. It's the Governor taking away the power from the people to elect their leaders. Let the city declare bankruptcy and do it legally. But when someone steps in and tells you that you have no say anymore in what happens to your city, it's time to revolt.
You keep using that word...
Lack of access to public education or not, that young woman has a very bright future ahead of her. Even if she has been suspended from school for her civil disobedience, her parents should be very proud of her.
I'm proud of her.
YES!!!
That's what I'm talking about!
Years of low taxes on corporations and the wealthy have gutted infrastructure. Letting property taxes stay incredibly local, instead of sharing them state-wide or nation-wide, has gutted schools in poor areas. Pretending that the Democrats in Detroit are somehow to blame for these facts is absurd.
Education is the only way to rebuild our economy, to make the next generation employable, innovative, and competitive -- and the only way to give them faith in this project called America. Killing education kills America -- and not just for the poor. In the end, it will destroy the country as a whole, economically, socially, and politically.
Sign the Petition to Defend Western and Southwestern Students Against Retaliation!
Sign the Petition to Defend Western and Southwestern Students Against Retaliation!
Bravo to all the students who walked out. They are taking their futures into their own hands because the adults that are supposed to be looking out for them haven't the class or guts to do so. Bravo!
Woah.
She shouldn't have been suspended. Actually, she shouldn't be going to high school, period; she should be running the country.
Wow that student was created in a dying (sorry Detroit) city in a I'm assuming poor neighbourhood. The teachers must be very good. I'd be proud to be a parent of such a student and so should the school.
I totally agree there are some things that should NOT be part of the free market economy, not if we want all the children of America to have a future. Rich people can afford to send their kid's to private school but for nomal Americans it's hard enough paying the mortgage every month. The GOP talk about destroying the future of our kids with our spending, how about spending some on our kids so they can at least read the word future.
if they need a free website for the school i can help. i may help them in some of the legal stuff in regards to starting new one (unfortunately only option would be private or charter), but i know tx laws more than mi
Civil disobedience - someone's gov't teacher did a great job:)
Here's a change-the teenagers are taking the long-view and the adults are being short-sighted. I agree that accessible education is crucial for a strong community. The first thing that despots & dictators do is limit access to education/what can be taught because when you do that, then you control the populace.
I agree with the earlier poster that their civics teachers should be proud.
I hope these kids have success in bringing attention to problems not only in Detroit, but throughout the US. I'd like to see more huge companies sponsor inner-city school districts, not just the oil companies sponsoring the math-science initiative to make PR commercials, but companies making significant investments, as I believe is happening in Newark. I would also like for school districts to stop giving kids out-of-school suspensions, and rather provide them the tools they need to make positive changes while in in-school situations. I hate it that kids already having trouble get sent out on the streets to get in more. Truth is that many kids feel very bullied by staff and administrators, and with short resources it's understandable that the schools are about creating robots who are easy to handle, not creative thinkers who might make some noise. Good work, students! You're being noticed, and you ARE making a difference!
I hope these kids have success in bringing attention to problems not only in Detroit, but throughout the US. I'd like to see more huge companies sponsor inner-city schools, not just the oil companies making PR commercials, but companies making significant ongoing long-term investments in their/our communities. I would also like no more out-of-school suspensions. Keep kids in school and provide them with the tools they need to prosper; don't send them out to find trouble - or become social activists! Yay! Truth is many kids feel bullied by staff and administrators, and with short resources it's understandable that the schools are about creating robots who are easy to handle over creative thinkers who might make some noise. Good work, students! You're being noticed and you ARE making a difference!
I hope that colleges across the country will take note of the initiative that these students are taking to complete their educations against seemingly impossible odds. If colleges are looking for the next generation of leaders, they would do well to start recruiting in Dteroit.
THIS is what the students of today are capable of doing. They are worth so much more than a standardized test score! BRAVO FREEDOM SCHOOL!!
"schools emergency manager would use his unilateral authority to close their high school"
Is this an immediate action? Where do all the kids go when they close the school? If it's all going to be privatized, is the idea that if families can't afford what the profit-motivated schools charge, those kids just lose out?
Everything is for sale. With the elected officials you have in Michigan you will experience more and more short comings. But if you notice this will not happen in the more affluence neighborhoods. This is a concerted effort to take more away form the poorer and give to the wealthier. It is time to vote wisely remember you only have one vote so don't waste it or you will live to regret forever..............