Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Week of 10/31-11/04
Directions: Complete all steps below, which includes annotating, answering questions, and margin
notes. You should read this article multiple times before Friday. Be prepared to share your thoughts,
ideas, and opinions on Friday!
Step 1 : Read the article. Use the coding we practiced in class to annotate the article. You can use
the following options:
* important idea
+ you agree
X you disagree
! surprising idea
Notes on my
thoughts,
reactions and
questions as I
read:
provide them with at least an education that gives them the chance to learn
the most basic skills to succeed.
The obvious reason, as the court itself pointed out in 1982 in Plyler v. Doe, is
that illiteracy is an enduring disability that will handicap children each and
every day of their lives and take an inestimable toll on their social,
economic, intellectual and psychological well-being for the rest of their lives.
In Plyler v. Doe, the court voted 5-4 to hold unconstitutional a Texas statute
that excluded undocumented children from free public education.
But in the case of children who are attending a public school, how do we
know whether a state has denied some of its children even the minimal level
of education required by the 14th Amendment? That is the burden that the
plaintiffs in the Detroit case must meet. After reviewing their evidence, the
case seems to be open-and-shut.
As the plaintiffs demonstrate, decades of state disinvestment in and
deliberate indifference to the Detroit schools have denied these children
access to the most basic building block of education: literacy. At the
schools involved in this litigation, which serve almost exclusively low-income
minority children, the student proficiency rates hover near zero in nearly all
core subject areas. At one school, for example, 100 percent of the sixth
graders scored below proficiency in reading.
Why is this so? As the plaintiffs demonstrate, many classes lack even
minimally usable textbooks; classrooms are overcrowded and have
inadequate temperature controls so the students often suffer from extreme
heat and cold; classrooms are infested with vermin; the drinking water in
some of these schools is often contaminated; the bathrooms are filthy and
unkempt; and many of the teachers assigned to these schools are asked to
teach subjects for which they lack training or experience.
The simple fact is that these schools are a disgrace and they bear no
resemblance to schools elsewhere in the state schools that serve white
and middle-class children. As the plaintiffs note, these schools deprive their
students of even a fighting chance to succeed in society. Their existence
cannot rationally be justified by any legitimate state interest. They are a
disgrace to the state of Michigan and to our nation. One can only wonder
what Gov. Rick Snyder would do if his children were assigned to such a
school.
Geoffrey R. Stone is a professor of law at the University of Chicago.
Notes on my
thoughts,
reactions and
questions as I
read:
4. The author writes, At one school, for example, 100 percent of the sixth graders scored below
proficiency in reading. Why do you think that happened?
5. What changes need to happen in the Detroit school system? How could that get done?
6. What type of evidence does the author use to get his claim across?
7. How do the schools and policies in this article compare to NYC schools? Explain your answer.
8. EVALUATE: Do you think the author makes an effective argument? Do you spot any
weaknesseslike a bias or missing informationin his argument?
Rubric
Plan
Outcome Target
Not Yet
Meets Standards
Exceeds Standards
See below
on ways to
improve
Ways to improve this outcome:____ Complete all parts(steps) of the task, _____ next time hand in your assignment on time, _______
spend more time revising before handing in assignment , ____ other: