Douglass High's decline illustrates crisis in black education

By Walter Williams
Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:11 a.m. MDT
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"Hard Times at Douglass High," is an HBO documentary that aired in June. It captured much of the 2004-05 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools.

Douglass' students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested proficient in reading, in math just 11 percent, and that's an improvement over previous years. Only one student managed to score above 1,000 on the SAT, and another student scored 440 out of 1,600. You get 400 points for just writing in your name. Out of its 1,100 students, 200 to 300 are absent each day. Many of those who do show up don't do so on time; they roam the hallways and leave the school during the day. Only one-half of the school's 500 incoming freshman ninth-graders return for their sophomore year and far fewer remain for graduation

Sixty-six percent of the teachers are uncertified. Even if there were no certified teacher shortage, I doubt whether many teachers with attractive alternatives would want to teach at the school. Douglass High School is not a place for teachers with high expectations for their students. English teacher Mr. McDermott resigned in the middle of the school year, saying, "Teaching becomes secondary, and discipline is the main thing that goes on. I don't feel like I'm making a difference anymore."

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Cameras followed then-principal Isabelle Grant on her visit to the home of a chronically absent student. The student who reads at the fifth- or sixth-grade level is promised that if she attends school regularly she'll be promoted to the 11th grade. It is impossible to eliminate such a reading deficit in a semester. Teachers are pressured into passing failing students. The documentary showed that within a few days of graduation time, the school went from having 138 eligible graduates to 200. Promoting and graduating students who haven't made the grade is nothing short of academic fraud.

Douglass High School teachers and staff appeared to be concerned and caring people, but the poor quality educational outcomes demonstrate that concern and caring is not enough. The virtually empty classrooms, filmed on back-to-school night, suggested little parental interest in their children's education. School day behavior demonstrated little student interest. Some students spent class time laughing, joking and tussling with one another. Others had their heads lying on their desks or appeared uninterested in the teacher's discussion. Many of those engaged in student-teacher exchange on academic topics showed very limited reasoning ability.

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No kid should be forced to attend such a school, and all students...

Student Rights | July 23, 2008 at 4:17 p.m.

I teach in a similar kind of school. There is no challenge. No...

MrH | July 23, 2008 at 2:16 p.m.

My friend, Welfare still exists and people still take advanatage...

Tommie | July 23, 2008 at 2:06 p.m.