FAIL - Detroit Public School President can't write - SMH
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bornnraisedoffCMR
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Does DPS leader's writing send wrong message?
The president of the Detroit school board, Otis Mathis, is waging a legal battle to steer the academic future of 90,000 children, in the nation's lowest-achieving big city district.
He also acknowledges he has difficulty composing a coherent English sentence. Here's a sample from an e-mail he sent to friends and supporters on Sunday night, uncorrected for errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage. It begins:
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"I'm a horrible writer. I know that," says Mathis, 56, a lifelong resident of southwest Detroit. His difficulties with language were spotted as early as fourth grade, when he was placed in special education classes. His college degree was held up for more than a decade because he repeatedly failed an English proficiency exam then required for graduation at Wayne State University.
In another city, these revelations might be grounds for disqualification. But Mathis is liked and defended by many of his peers, who cite his collegiality, lack of defensiveness and leadership as more important than his writing skills. Even Winfrey, his defeated rival for the presidency, declined to criticize his qualifications.
But the story of Mathis speaks directly to Detroit's educational conundrum, as officials try to raise standards and the proficiency of its students.
Is Mathis a success story? A man who beat the odds to win political success and career opportunities on the strength of his personality and judgment? Or is he an example of the system's worst failings -- a disinterested student who always found ways to graduate, even when he didn't meet the requirements -- likely to perpetuate lax academic standards if the board wins its court battle with Bobb over control?
"It's kind of scary to even talk about," says Patrick Martin, 49, a Detroit contractor whose 12-year-old son is a student at Noble Middle School.
"If this is the leader, what does it say about the followers? It explains a lot about why there's so much confusion and infighting with the board and Robert Bobb."
Another e-mail
Here's another mass e-mail from Mathis, from Aug. 11, 2009:
"I told him just last week that he should have his e-mails read by somebody before he sends them out," said fellow school board member LaMar Lemmons Jr., who praises Mathis as a leader he can trust.
"I said, 'If somebody gets ahold of this, it will become an issue that you can't read or write. It will go around the world.' "
Can Mathis read?
"Yes, I can read. I'm capable of reading a lot of information and regurgitation," says Mathis, who told me he sometimes needs to read documents two or three times to fully comprehend their contents but then masters -- and memorizes -- them.
Engaging and honest
Mathis is an engaging man. When I asked him about the grammatical deficiencies in his e-mails, he didn't waffle or grandstand, instead honestly answering questions about his difficulties in school.
High school saw him bouncing back and forth between schools. "I was kicked out and kicked in and kicked out," he says with a chuckle. He credits a high school English teacher with encouraging him to graduate, getting him to attend school "once a week instead of every two weeks" by giving him an audio version of Alex Haley's "Roots," one vinyl record at a time.
He graduated from Southwestern High School in 1973 with what he says was a 1.8 grade-point average but was previously reported as a .98 average. After serving in the Navy, Wayne State placed him in a special program to help academically unqualified students move forward, on the G.I. Bill.
He stayed at Wayne for 15 years, as a student and a counselor, becoming a virtual "prisoner of Wayne," as he jokes, unable to graduate.
Mathis and another student unsuccessfully challenged the use of an English proficiency test as a requirement for graduation. In 1992, when the case went to trial, the lawsuit gained national attention. Mathis said then his failure to pass the test "made me feel stupid." The requirement was eventually dropped in 2007, and Mathis applied to get his degree the next year, after his election.
Understands struggling kids
Mathis, who can be a persuasive public speaker, retired from Wayne in 1995. He's served as a substitute teacher in Detroit schools, run a nonprofit and served on the Wayne County Commission.
In his career, Mathis has compensated for his rudimentary writing skills by seeking help from others and working on his listening and speech skills. "We picked him (to be president) because we thought he has the intelligence for it and the tolerance for disruptive behavior," says Reverend David Murray. "He has that type of calm."
Is it absurd for a man who cannot write a simple English sentence to serve as the board president? Or to lead the elected board of a district that ranks at the nation's bottom for literacy?
The questions are more likely to elicit complex answers than criticism of Mathis.
"I know he's a terrible writer. Oh wow, I've seen his e-mails," says Ida Byrd-Hill, a parent and activist who runs a nonprofit and is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ group.
"His job, though, is to represent the community. His lack of writing skills is prevalent in the community. If anybody does, he understands the struggles of what it's like to go through an institution and not be properly prepared."
Mathis and some of his supporters say his story is about someone who manages his limitations, just as others manage physical disabilities.
"Instead of telling them that they can't write and won't be anything, I show that cannot stop you," Mathis says. "If Detroit Public Schools can allow kids to dream, with whatever weakness they have, that's something. ...It's not about what you don't have. It's what you cando."
Because of his struggles and perseverance, Mathis describes himself as a role model.
But is he?
Laura Berman's column runs Tuesday and Thursday in Metro. She can be reached at (313) 222-2032 or lberman@detnews.com.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100304/OPINION03/3040437/Does-DPS-leader-s-writing-send-wrong-message#ixzz0iLjlNVFb
The president of the Detroit school board, Otis Mathis, is waging a legal battle to steer the academic future of 90,000 children, in the nation's lowest-achieving big city district.
He also acknowledges he has difficulty composing a coherent English sentence. Here's a sample from an e-mail he sent to friends and supporters on Sunday night, uncorrected for errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage. It begins:
The rest of the e-mail, and others that Mathis has written, demonstrate what one of his school board colleagues describes, carefully, as "his communication issues." But if these deficits have limited Mathis, as he admits they have, they have not stopped him from graduating from high school and college. In January, his peers elected him president by a 10-1 vote over Tyrone Winfrey, a University of Michigan academic officer.If you saw Sunday's Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason's he gave for closing school to many empty seats.
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"I'm a horrible writer. I know that," says Mathis, 56, a lifelong resident of southwest Detroit. His difficulties with language were spotted as early as fourth grade, when he was placed in special education classes. His college degree was held up for more than a decade because he repeatedly failed an English proficiency exam then required for graduation at Wayne State University.
In another city, these revelations might be grounds for disqualification. But Mathis is liked and defended by many of his peers, who cite his collegiality, lack of defensiveness and leadership as more important than his writing skills. Even Winfrey, his defeated rival for the presidency, declined to criticize his qualifications.
But the story of Mathis speaks directly to Detroit's educational conundrum, as officials try to raise standards and the proficiency of its students.
Is Mathis a success story? A man who beat the odds to win political success and career opportunities on the strength of his personality and judgment? Or is he an example of the system's worst failings -- a disinterested student who always found ways to graduate, even when he didn't meet the requirements -- likely to perpetuate lax academic standards if the board wins its court battle with Bobb over control?
"It's kind of scary to even talk about," says Patrick Martin, 49, a Detroit contractor whose 12-year-old son is a student at Noble Middle School.
"If this is the leader, what does it say about the followers? It explains a lot about why there's so much confusion and infighting with the board and Robert Bobb."
Another e-mail
Here's another mass e-mail from Mathis, from Aug. 11, 2009:
Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row's, and who is the watch dog?
"I told him just last week that he should have his e-mails read by somebody before he sends them out," said fellow school board member LaMar Lemmons Jr., who praises Mathis as a leader he can trust.
"I said, 'If somebody gets ahold of this, it will become an issue that you can't read or write. It will go around the world.' "
Can Mathis read?
"Yes, I can read. I'm capable of reading a lot of information and regurgitation," says Mathis, who told me he sometimes needs to read documents two or three times to fully comprehend their contents but then masters -- and memorizes -- them.
Engaging and honest
Mathis is an engaging man. When I asked him about the grammatical deficiencies in his e-mails, he didn't waffle or grandstand, instead honestly answering questions about his difficulties in school.
High school saw him bouncing back and forth between schools. "I was kicked out and kicked in and kicked out," he says with a chuckle. He credits a high school English teacher with encouraging him to graduate, getting him to attend school "once a week instead of every two weeks" by giving him an audio version of Alex Haley's "Roots," one vinyl record at a time.
He graduated from Southwestern High School in 1973 with what he says was a 1.8 grade-point average but was previously reported as a .98 average. After serving in the Navy, Wayne State placed him in a special program to help academically unqualified students move forward, on the G.I. Bill.
He stayed at Wayne for 15 years, as a student and a counselor, becoming a virtual "prisoner of Wayne," as he jokes, unable to graduate.
Mathis and another student unsuccessfully challenged the use of an English proficiency test as a requirement for graduation. In 1992, when the case went to trial, the lawsuit gained national attention. Mathis said then his failure to pass the test "made me feel stupid." The requirement was eventually dropped in 2007, and Mathis applied to get his degree the next year, after his election.
Understands struggling kids
Mathis, who can be a persuasive public speaker, retired from Wayne in 1995. He's served as a substitute teacher in Detroit schools, run a nonprofit and served on the Wayne County Commission.
In his career, Mathis has compensated for his rudimentary writing skills by seeking help from others and working on his listening and speech skills. "We picked him (to be president) because we thought he has the intelligence for it and the tolerance for disruptive behavior," says Reverend David Murray. "He has that type of calm."
Is it absurd for a man who cannot write a simple English sentence to serve as the board president? Or to lead the elected board of a district that ranks at the nation's bottom for literacy?
The questions are more likely to elicit complex answers than criticism of Mathis.
"I know he's a terrible writer. Oh wow, I've seen his e-mails," says Ida Byrd-Hill, a parent and activist who runs a nonprofit and is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ group.
"His job, though, is to represent the community. His lack of writing skills is prevalent in the community. If anybody does, he understands the struggles of what it's like to go through an institution and not be properly prepared."
Mathis and some of his supporters say his story is about someone who manages his limitations, just as others manage physical disabilities.
"Instead of telling them that they can't write and won't be anything, I show that cannot stop you," Mathis says. "If Detroit Public Schools can allow kids to dream, with whatever weakness they have, that's something. ...It's not about what you don't have. It's what you cando."
Because of his struggles and perseverance, Mathis describes himself as a role model.
But is he?
Laura Berman's column runs Tuesday and Thursday in Metro. She can be reached at (313) 222-2032 or lberman@detnews.com.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100304/OPINION03/3040437/Does-DPS-leader-s-writing-send-wrong-message#ixzz0iLjlNVFb
Comments
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lmao WHAT THE ? !?!?!
Detroit Lost. -
Detroit, the whole city, is a cess pool of ignorance. There is a reason why the education system is down the drain, why Kwame K got elected/relected, why Monica Conyers is going to jail, and half the city council is under investigation for corruption.
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lol @ my city
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Kwame got re-elected because the people saw he was for them unlike his opponents who were backed by outsider money.They outspent Kwame and still lost. Kwame was trying to make sure Black people were included in the economic development side.
Sure he had personal issues. But what politician doesn't? Bill Clinton lied about his tryst to the American Public and he got re-elected. -
Kwame got re-elected because the people saw he was for them unlike his opponents who were backed by outsider money.They outspent Kwame and still lost. Kwame was trying to make sure Black people were included in the economic development side.
Sure he had personal issues. But what politician doesn't? Bill Clinton lied about his tryst to the American Public and he got re-elected.
SMH @ ? still puttin their faith in politicians in 2010 :td -
Kwame got re-elected because the people saw he was for them unlike his opponents who were backed by outsider money.They outspent Kwame and still lost. Kwame was trying to make sure Black people were included in the economic development side.
Sure he had personal issues. But what politician doesn't? Bill Clinton lied about his tryst to the American Public and he got re-elected.
Kwame put Detroit back 20 years fam. He didn't do a good job. -
Kwame put Detroit back 20 years fam. He didn't do a good job.
Right. Kwame is still under investigation by the federalies for bribery. I remember watching Kwame's mom go into some black churches talking about how the white man was trying to tear Kwame down and how you know that you doing right when people persecuting you. SMH! The whole city was corrupt under Kwame and it isn't much better now. The school board is awful, the kids can't read, write, or do math. You drive through the D and its no joke. Property values are through the floor, abandoned houses line the blocks because of foreclosures and there isn't any space for people in jail. Kwame got re-elected because people were too ignorant to vote otherwise. Kwame ran a ? campaign based on people's racial insecurities. -
Detroit Sold For Scrap
DETROIT—Detroit, a former industrial metropolis in southeastern Michigan with a population of just under 1 million, was sold at auction Tuesday to bulk scrap dealers and smelting foundries across the United States.
"This is what's best for Detroit," Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick said. "We must act now, while we can still get a little something for it."
Once dismantled and processed, Detroit is expected to yield nearly 14 million tons of steel, 2.85 million tons of aluminum, and approximately 837,000 tons of copper.
The decision to demolish and cull Detroit for scrap was approved last month by a 6-3 City Council vote after a cost-benefit analysis revealed that, as a functioning urban area, it held a negative cash value.
According to scrap dealers, Detroit is an aging city in fair-to-poor condition, with "substantial wear and tear." It also bears the marks of extensive fire and rust damage, and it may not comply with current U.S. safety and emissions standards.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/detroit_sold_for_scrap
Detroit Lost -
Kwame got re-elected because the people saw he was for them unlike his opponents who were backed by outsider money.They outspent Kwame and still lost. Kwame was trying to make sure Black people were included in the economic development side.
Sure he had personal issues. But what politician doesn't? Bill Clinton lied about his tryst to the American Public and he got re-elected.
He stole 10 million from the city, did countless backdoor deals with "outsiders" that produced no benefits, and some say even killed stipper. So he can do all this and still get love? Man you dudes need stop rooting for the Nino Browns of the world and watching gangster flicks. "Sure you can sell drugs, ? our kids, infect the streets, but all is good as long as you hand out a few turkeys to the neighborhood on thanksgiving."
Also, why not bring in "legit" outsider money. Sometimes your people are not ready to own businesses and create economic development. Seeing that Detroit has a 25% HS grad rate, they simply are not ready to take on that responsibility, no way! -
getchamoneyrigh wrote: »he stole 10 million from the city, did countless backdoor deals with "outsiders" that produced no benefits, and some say even killed stipper. So he can do all this and still get love? Man you dudes need stop rooting for the nino browns of the world and watching gangster flicks. "sure you can sell drugs, ? our kids, infect the streets, but all is good as long as you hand out a few turkeys to the neighborhood on thanksgiving."
also, why not bring in "legit" outsider money. Sometimes your people are not ready to own businesses and create economic development. Seeing that detroit has a 25% hs grad rate, they simply are not ready to take on that responsibility, no way!
damn!!!!................. -
getchamoneyrigh wrote: »He stole 10 million from the city, did countless backdoor deals with "outsiders" that produced no benefits, and some say even killed stipper. So he can do all this and still get love? Man you dudes need stop rooting for the Nino Browns of the world and watching gangster flicks. "Sure you can sell drugs, ? our kids, infect the streets, but all is good as long as you hand out a few turkeys to the neighborhood on thanksgiving."
Also, why not bring in "legit" outsider money. Sometimes your people are not ready to own businesses and create economic development. Seeing that Detroit has a 25% HS grad rate, they simply are not ready to take on that responsibility, no way!
Kilpatrick's controversies started from a wild party alleged to have occurred in the fall of 2002, involving strippers at the official residence of the mayor—the city-owned Manoogian Mansion. It is alleged by former members of the mayor's Executive Protection Unit that the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, came home unexpectedly and upon discovering Kwame with the strippers began to attack one of the women.[22]
Tamara Greene was a 27-year-old exotic dancer who went by the name "Strawberry", and who allegedly performed at the 2002 Manoogian Mansion party, where she was allegedly assaulted by the mayor's wife, Carlita.
In April 2003, while sitting in her car with her boyfriend, Greene was shot multiple times with a .40 caliber Glock pistol. Although an official statement by Detroit Police Department claims that Ms. Greene was shot three times, sources from the department's Homicide Division claimed that she was shot 18 times.
On March 1, 2008, a ten page sworn affidavit by former Detroit police lieutenant Alvin Bowman was filed by Yatooma in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In that affidavit, Bowman states that "I suspected that the shooter was a law enforcement officer, and more specifically, a Detroit Police Department officer."[23] Bowman contended that the high number of .40 caliber bullets that hit Greene but not her boyfriend would indicate that the shooter had firearms training. In the document, Bowman explains how the highest levels of the police department, including then-police chief Jerry Oliver and his successor, Ella Bully-Cummings, deliberately sabotaged his investigation. He claims that files were deleted from homicide computers, reports were removed from the homicide file, and the Greene murder file itself was locked up so Bowman could not access it. Bowman states that eventually he was transferred out of homicide because he had asked too many questions about the Greene murder and the Manoogian Mansion party.[23]
Damn, son! Did Kwame ever drop someone off a bridge? "Money talks, ? runs the marathon." Things that make you go hmm.... -
luckily for the people, he repaid them with competency and sincere concern for the people of DetroitKwame got re-elected because the people saw he was for them unlike his opponents who were backed by outsider money -
you can be a smart guy and a good administrator without being able to write well as long as you have other means of communication at hand, but i dont understand how you can graduate from college without being able to write a paper
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bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »SMH @ ? still puttin their faith in politicians in 2010 :td
LOL, not really,I haven't voted in years. I could care less. But I have property and lived in Detroit, and I know most of you ? know nothing about what really goes on. You all get your news from mainstream news media. You don't know the whole story. Many tried to block and sabotage a lot of good things Kwame wanted to do, because unlike previous administrations he wouldn't give suburban white dudes carte blanche and wanted to include black people more. It wasn't racial insecurites. It was historical precedence. Detroit is in terrible shape, has been for years. Blaming it on Kwame is misguided and manifestly ignorant of Detroit's history since Coleman Young was there. -
LOL, not really,I haven't voted in years. I could care less. But I have property and lived in Detroit, and I know most of you ? know nothing about what really goes on. You all get your news from mainstream news media. You don't know the whole story. Many tried to block and sabotage a lot of good things Kwame wanted to do, because unlike previous administrations he wouldn't give suburban white dudes carte blanche and wanted to include black people more. It wasn't racial insecurites. It was historical precedence. Detroit is in terrible shape, has been for years. Blaming it on Kwame is misguided and manifestly ignorant of Detroit's history since Coleman Young was there.
Hey, your right, I dont know ? about Detroit. But Im from a smaller town just like it called New Orleans. We've had black politicians for decades, all they did was ? the public. And Im not saying white pol's wont do the same, ? , they most likely will.........thats why u cant put your faith in none of them sons a ? . -
BOSS KTULU wrote: »you can be a smart guy and a good administrator without being able to write well as long as you have other means of communication at hand, but i dont understand how you can graduate from college without being able to write a paper
good question. How exactly did he pass english composition class? -
getchamoneyrigh wrote: »He stole 10 million from the city, did countless backdoor deals with "outsiders" that produced no benefits, and some say even killed stipper. So he can do all this and still get love? Man you dudes need stop rooting for the Nino Browns of the world and watching gangster flicks. "Sure you can sell drugs, ? our kids, infect the streets, but all is good as long as you hand out a few turkeys to the neighborhood on thanksgiving."
Also, why not bring in "legit" outsider money. Sometimes your people are not ready to own businesses and create economic development. Seeing that Detroit has a 25% HS grad rate, they simply are not ready to take on that responsibility, no way!
See this is what I mean. Under Kwame's administration there was more outside money coming in than the two previous administrations. More conventions, The Superbowl, etc. Kwame's personal problems are a smokescreen. He just didn't want to play by the rules that they set up for him, like Archer did. Coleman Young refused to be a lackey, so they did the same thing to him.
For you to say that your people aren't ready to own business is hogwash and really shows a slave mentality. There are plenty of black business men in Detroit. They actually wanted to link up and magnify their efforts through cooperative economic mechanisms in the creation of Africa Town. Kwame supported that. Whites and other ethnic groups didn't. They saw this as a threat to their own economic interest. So they fought it with the aid of a few house ? on the council.
And ? HS grad rates. Secondary education as it stands for black people is nothing more than a control mechanism. Most Black businessman in the Detroit after the great migration were not college grads. Mainly because they thought outside the box. -
its slave mentality to admit kwame kilpatrick broke a whole bunch of laws and got caught like corrupt politicians should be?
you just one of those classic "turn every single discussion toward whitey and his tricknology" type dudes
"nice hat, And Step"
"thanks, but its the white man thats coming down on top of me, nahmean?" -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Hey, your right, I dont know ? about Detroit. But Im from a smaller town just like it called New Orleans. We've had black politicians for decades, all they did was ? the public. And Im not saying white pol's wont do the same, ? , they most likely will.........thats why u cant put your faith in none of them sons a ? .
Most likely? Where you think the black politicians learned it from? Mistakes black politicians make is they think they can do what the white boys do. But they don't realize politicians are linked up with the judicial and law enforcement branches. White politicians got corruption on lock. A silly ****** putting a few thousand in a freezer is kindergarten stuff. They ? government treasuries.
Hell ? Cheney walked away with Billions from the American public for his company and himself. This is known. Nobody did anything.
So excuse me if I sound a little jaded, but for people to act like Kwame is so terrible when standing politicians are doing way worse is silly to me. -
Most likely? Where you think the black politicians learned it from?
black people invented politics
blacks are the original corrupt politicians
blacks was committing fraud and extortion when whites was in the caves, nahmean brotha man? -
Nah, capo, I just believe in telling the whole story and not leaving out bits and pieces that don't fit an agenda. I admitted his wrong doing but, I also know people use that to justify something wrong there about to do.
Like I said, I don't vote so it really doesn't matter to me. I have business interest in Detroit. So I look at all angles.
Anything else would be strictly homotional.
Besides you don't know me, white boy.
"nice hat, And Step"
"thanks, but its the white man thats coming down on top of me, nahmean?"[/QUOTE] -
BOSS KTULU wrote: »black people invented politics
blacks are the original corrupt politicians
blacks was committing fraud and extortion when whites was in the caves, nahmean brotha man?
Actually this is mostly true. -
BOSS KTULU wrote: »black people invented politics
blacks are the original corrupt politicians
blacks was committing fraud and extortion when whites was in the caves, nahmean brotha man?
Typical hypocritical patronizing Jew. They play the blame game for millineums and get paid for it, and want to act like black people complaining for a few decades somehow is so egregious. (Rolling my eyes, while I turn my chair to watch Sanford and Son). -
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Typical hypocritical patronizing Jew.
im not a jew, you just assumed that because i didnt cosign your elder protocols of zion rants about the jewish menace
