Backstory:
As a first-generation student, I often pause to reflect on the generations that came before me, and I am truly humbled to be standing where I am today. My great grandparents were immigrants from México, who migrated to Texas to find work. My grandmother was born in Texas, and from the tender age of five, she found herself working alongside her parents in varies fields to help provide for their life necessities. Being the eldest meant my grandmother had to forfeit her education to take care of her younger siblings while their parents worked to provide.
As a Psychology and English major, I do a lot of writing for my courses. Often my hands are smeared with ink from writing essays and I cannot help but compare the labor of my hands to my ancestors. Their hands caked with dirt, while mine, a few decades later, are smeared with the privilege of education. I do not take for granted the sacrifices my family has made from generation-to-generation.
Defining Moments:
Throughout life there are life choices that create pathways that shape our present, future, and our family generations to come. Decades ago, when mi bisabuelos (my great grandparents) decided to migrant to the U.S., unbeknown to them, they were shaping my life through the sweat of their brows and with inhumane conditions of hard labor that robbed years from their individual lives. Education, which saves my life, was never made an option for them to obtain, and yet their actions and longing for a safer future for their children, has placed me here.
Statistics:
- 93% not proficient in Reading
- 96% not proficient in Math
In the Detroit Public School district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading.
- 77.35 % Graduation rate
- 8.74 % Dropout rate
News article reads “Detroit Has Worst High-School Graduation Rate”.
- 1/3rd of failing schools in Michigan are in DPS
More than 120 schools in Michigan rank among the worst performing in the state; On that list 47 are in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD).
Relevant Article:
Detroit schools to cut dozens of administrative jobs, invest savings in schools
“He seems to be getting rid of the old structure. He’s removing layers…”
All eyes are on DPSCD new superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, as he takes on the challenges of DPS. My hope for superintendent Vitti, as he begins to make executive decisions for Detroit schools, is that Vitti holds Detroit students’ as he would his own four children. That he keeps in mind that most Detroit students’ lack privileges he affords to his own children.
Connecting the Thoughts:
There is no substitute for a good education. Providing our children with the right chances from the start needs to be a top priority. The fundamentals in education should be a given, not a massive fight to obtain.
