<p>The International Academy in Bloomfield Hills was the top school one year. The International Academy now has at least three campuses that I know of. Anybody that wants to go there can. The schools in cities like Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Rochester, Plymouth-Canton, and Grosse Pointe are still excellent. </p>
<p>I’m not saying Michigan has the best schools in the country, but I am certain they are not as bad as intparent said they were.</p>
<p>As a parent of a child that went through all years of public school in Michigan, I can promise you his education was much better than what I received in Texas. We live on the opposite side of the state from Detroit (much closer to Chicago than most major Michigan cities) and the whole state is not like Detroit. Our public schools have far better qualified teachers than many schools in Texas. Like most states, there are great, good, bad and horrible.</p>
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I’m going to do my part and spend a week’s vacation Up North in August.</p>
<p>I grew up in the Detroit suburbs and didn’t move back after college because of the recession in 1980. Most of my grandparents’ generation worked in the auto industry, but thank goodness my parents and my generation went into the service industries. Luckily all are still employed and my father is happy that he sold his drug store to a chain 20 yrs ago.</p>
<p>I think that my education in Michigan was pretty good, but my sister is an elementary school teacher in Michigan and I too am amazed at the short school year. I am also surprised at high school graduation requirements in her district/town. My nephew is not required and so not planning to take a foreign language in high school (guess he’s not looking at UofM for college) but he does get credit for gun-safety, boating-safety and (I think) a snow-mobile safety course. Weird.</p>
<p>That is odd.</p>
<p>I know now two years of a foreign language are required to graduate, as are four years each of math and English and three of science.</p>
<p>The idea that my nephew would not take a language always bothered me, so I just now searched for graduation requirements for Michigan. Sure enough, the requirement to take at least two years of a world language goes into effect for the high school class of 2016. He’s class of 2011 and so will get away with it in terms of hs graduation, but I’m guessing it will seriously limit his choices for college.</p>
<p>[Michigan</a> Merit Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/New_MMC_one_pager_11.15.06_183755_7.pdf]Michigan”>http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/New_MMC_one_pager_11.15.06_183755_7.pdf)</p>
<p>The GCs should have encouraged your nephew to take the languages. The College prep curriculum has always been more rigorous than the minimum required for graduation. That was true in the 70’s when I graduated from one of the “best” high schools in Michigan and was still true when DS graduated on the other side of the state in 2006.</p>
<p>Many states have less rigorous programs a suggested college prep. IMHO there should room for a HS diploma for kids not going to college.</p>
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<p>Ann Arbor isn’t totally “insulated” from the economic downturn, but things aren’t nearly as bad there as in other parts of southeastern Michigan. In April of this year, unemployment in the Ann Arbor MSA (about 350,000 people) stood at 7.8%, a bit below the national average. That’s up from 4.6% in April 2008—so there’s definitely a recession in Ann Arbor, too, but a relatively mild one. nothing compared to the Detroit MSA where unemployment stood at 13.6%; or Flint at 14.2%. In fact, Ann Arbor’s unemployment rate is by far the lowest in the state.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: Ann Arbor’s largest employer is the University of Michigan, a stable $2.3 billion-a-year enterprise which pulls in nearly $1 billion a year in research grants and anotehr several hundred million dollars a year in tuition revenue, roughly two-thrids of it from out-of-state (because over a third of the students are OOS and they pay OOS tuition that’s approximately triple the in-state rate). Plus, the University Hospital and medical system is a huge and relatively recession-proof economic powerhouse in its own right. Ann Arbor also has some high-tech industries, most of which continue to do well even during the recession. So right now its the brightest spot in an otherwise pretty dismal state economy. But Ann Arbor’s not big enough to power the economy for the whole state. I suspect if you live in Ann Arbor and hold a tenured faculty position, the recession doesn’t impact your life very much on a day-to-day basis.</p>
<p>And once again, my Teflon BIL sails through life. His wife has a day care in their basement and only caters to the wealthy, sort of a mothers day out program that she charges a pretty penny for because she has a masters in ECE. Their daughter will enter high school next year, and she was up for a really good school and a not so good school. She got the not so good school. That’s the price you pay when you choose public over private school. But she’s okay with it. Most of her friends are going there as well, except for the one whose mom teaches at the great school. She gets to go to mom’s school. Ah, the perks of teaching.</p>
<p>Kettering University is actively pursuing my son, even calling him on the phone today. I’m making him answer all the college calls that come in, now that he’s between his volunteer position and class starting next week. It’s really funny. He doesn’t know who they are, because mom has been doing the sifting through the piles of catalogs every day. </p>
<p>Anyway, Kettering is probably a fine institution, but I imagine they’re probably having a lot of trouble getting students, being that they are in Flint, Michigan. I still can’t hear that city’s name without thinking of that horrible Michael Moore movie, where the people had to stoop to selling bunny rabbits for food. I’ll never get over that. If they had BME, we might take a look, though, so he could be near his only cousin.</p>
<p>A not so good school, as long as it is safe, can be ok for the well motivated child. The child will likely get a higher rank, and can always take a few classes at local CC in the summer.</p>
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<p>According to a 2008 study**, in Detroit’s public schools, only 24.9 percent of the students graduated from high school. This means that the kids who sat in front of you, to your left, and to your right when starting Grade 9 would not be sitting next to you at your graduation. </p>
<p>Can it get any worse than that?</p>
<p>** A 2009 study shows a graduation rate of 38% in the principal school of Detroit. This report has been criticized for overstating the graduation rate.</p>
<p>xiggi,
<p>Xiggi, mafool is correct on both counts. I am very familiar with Detroit public schools, and they are so far inferior to the suburban schools it can take your breath away. There are several Michigan cities with horrendous schools - but I believe that is the case in many states. It’s not unique to Michigan. The state PSAT NMS cutoff isn’t the lowest around - and I know of quite a few districts that really encourage all their kids to take the PSAT, so they aren’t cherry-picking. I don’t think the statement that MI schools are some of the worst is supported by facts (although maybe you have them).</p>
<p>The International Academy is not a charter school. It is a public school academy (like a magnet school, I guess) offering an IB program. It is no longer #1, but it is still in the top 1000. My S’s high school is also in the top 1000 - and the best part is, he goes there under Michigan’s district of choice program. It’s not our home district, but he is able to go there. Our district is a mixed bag socio-economically. Many families do not share our view of what is important in the educational process. The schools reflect the community’s values, not ours. I think that this happens in many areas. My SIL is a teacher in the metro Atlanta area. She moved to a school in her district this year that has a high number of free/reduced lunch kids. She is a kindergarten teacher, and she sees a huge difference in the kids she has now compared to the kids she had when she worked at a school in a “rich” area. </p>
<p>As for Michigan, we are bleeding jobs. It’s NOT low paying jobs that are falling by the way side … MANY, MANY well educated professionals have lost their jobs & cannot find new ones. Even if they were to find jobs in another area, they can’t sell their houses. It’s very, very bad here. When I hear the pundits say that economic recovery is just around the corner, I could scream. When I hear about the wonderful new jobs coming to Michigan, I wonder how $8-10/hour can be considered a good job. </p>
<p>One of the frustrating things about Michigan kids, though, is that so many resist moving away. Only a couple kids I know were willing to leave after graduation - the others are living with their parents & trying in vain to find a decent job. </p>
<p>Michigan is a beautiful state. Our shoreline is incredible. Come visit - it’ll help our economy & you’ll enjoy yourself!</p>
<p>P.S. Re: Kettering — I went to school there & worked there. Flint is not a terrible place - Kettering is in a very nice residential neighborhood, not in the city. It is worth checking out.</p>
<p>Mafool: I went to high school with Madonna. Are you from that area?</p>
<p>In regard to the education dilemma in Michigan, is the No Child Left Behind program being implemented in schools?</p>
<p>Yes, it is. The new rigorous high school program is in response to that mandate. Unfortunately, it does not allow for the fact that not every child should/will go to college - and thus makes it difficult to take career prep classes that might actually be of benefit to those who will not go to college.</p>
<p>“One of the frustrating things about Michigan kids, though, is that so many resist moving away. Only a couple kids I know were willing to leave after graduation - the others are living with their parents & trying in vain to find a decent job.”</p>
<p>Not in my part of the state - many to most of the kids leave. The north side of Chicago is practically a colony of Michigan expatriates.</p>