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HomeHelene Horan Giving Students A Shot at Life
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 15th, 2010 4:22 PM |
During 2009, I wrote a few commentaries about a fabulous educational program in Stamford, CT called Domus. That program is truly saving lives. I felt so strongly about Domus and its head, Mike Duggan, I inducted him into the Sense on Cents Hall of Fame.
I am firmly convinced that our country’s greatest long term issue is education. Urban graduation rates are running at 50% and those figures are likely heavily manipulated. What are the ramifications of this reality? A future in which our nation has increasing numbers of unskilled workers and concomitant increasing social costs.
In the face of that reality, I am heartened by those like Mike Duggan who have dedicated their lives to helping others get educated so they can have ‘a shot at life.’
Today I came across another story of heartfelt dedication in the person of Helene Horan, an educational counselor in Worcester, MA. (more…)
Detroit Schools: “A National Disgrace”
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 21st, 2009 5:32 AM |
Our country is kidding itself if it thinks it can maintain a position of longstanding economic strength with an abhorrent urban education system.
I initially addressed this topic last October in writing, “Give a Man a Fish…”
I followed that writing in mid-May by specifically comparing and contrasting the dire state of the Detroit public schools with a fabulous academic/work/life program known as Domus in Stamford, CT.
I wrote Secretary of Education “Arne Duncan Visits Detroit; He Should Visit Domus.” Well, the Detroit school system is in the news again and it is not for good reason as the Wall Street Journal writes Detroit Schools on the Brink:
Detroit’s public-school system, beset by massive deficits and widespread corruption, is on the brink of following local icons GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy court.
A decision on whether to file for protection under federal bankruptcy laws will be made by the end of summer, according to Robert Bobb, Detroit Public Schools’ emergency financial manager. Such a filing would be unprecedented in the U.S. Although a few major urban school districts have come close, none has gone through with a bankruptcy, according to legal and education experts.
But in Detroit — where U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan dubbed the school system a “national disgrace” this spring — lawmakers and bankruptcy experts see few alternatives, given the deep financial challenges confronting the district and the state.
Those inside and outside of the Detroit system can easily find convenient excuses for the sorry state of the Detroit schools in particular and urban education in general. While macroeconmic developments are outside of our individual control, in my opinion, though, the fact that our urban education system has a graduation rate of 50% (Detroit’s graduation rate is 25%!!!) is an indictment of our entire society, including:
1. Men who father children without taking responsibility for their offspring.
2. Mothers who get pregnant without intention of starting a family.
3. The mass media which glorifies sexual promiscuity and degrades any semblance of moral values.
4. The media which does not highlight the pathetic statistics of urban education.
5. The teacher unions which put a stranglehold on politicians.
6. The politicians who cowardly will not more aggressively support school choice, via both charters and vouchers.
7. Those fortunate enough to help who turn a blind eye.
Is Detroit a unique situation? Anything but. The WSJ highlights:
Some experts say the Detroit case could be the first in a string of Chapter 9 bankruptcies among school districts and other public entities battered by the economic crisis, and it could help shape that area of the law. “Given the state of public finance,” says Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, “I think the wave is coming.”
Make no mistake, though, there is also significant fraud and criminal activity involved in this nationwide education debacle. The fraud must be rooted out and individuals held accountable. It would be excessively naive to think that the fraud does not cross into political offices. These individuals must be prosecuted.
Over and above these individuals, though, our nation as whole is collectively guilty for allowing the moral decay at the core of this situation to propagate.
Guilty as charged and we are all paying whether we know it or not!!
LD
Education is Everything
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 13th, 2009 8:15 AM |
Has there ever been a time when increased skills and education have not been vitally important to furthering one’s well being? As we move forward in developing our ‘new’ economy, education and advanced skills will be increasingly more important.
I would only wish that the dirty little secrets embedded in urban education were more widely disseminated so that ‘real’ progress can be made. I see evidence of these secrets again this morning in reading the New York Times. The lead article in the right hand column of the front page highlights, Black-White Gap in Jobless Rate Widens in City:
Unemployment among blacks in New York City has increased much faster than for whites, and the gap appears to be widening at an accelerating pace, new studies of jobless data have found.
While unemployment rose steadily for white New Yorkers from the first quarter of 2008 through the first three months of this year, the number of unemployed blacks in the city rose four times as fast, according to a report to be released on Monday by the city comptroller’s office. By the end of March, there were about 80,000 more unemployed blacks than whites, according to the report, even though there are roughly 1.5 million more whites than blacks here.
Across the nation, the surge in unemployment has cut across all demographic lines, and the gap between blacks and whites has risen, but at a much slower rate than in New York.
Economists said they were not certain why so many more blacks were losing their jobs in New York...(LD’s highlight)
What? Not certain? Once again, economists and public policy analysts are not being honest on the disastrous state of urban education. I highlighted this point the other day in my call for total transparency and honesty on this topic. In writing Warren Buffett: “Wall Street Owes the American People”, I called for:
1. honesty on where we currently stand across all aspects of our economy and society. Publicize our successes and, more importantly, our failures so we can properly address them.
Do not allow urban education dropout rates of 50% to be swept under the rug. Promote the correlation between those figures, single parent birth rates, income levels, and criminal behaviors. BE HONEST ON THESE TOPICS!!!
While economists and the New York Times itself may not want to publicize education statistics, the fact is New York City’s public schools, like most major urban schools, are disproportionately filled with minority students.
For New York City, that breakdown is: (more…)
The Future of America is Now
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 1st, 2009 3:29 PM |
Last week I wrote The Future of America to highlight a treatise put forth by Clinton administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. In that post, Reich put forth – and I totally concur – that our future economy will be known as the Technology Revolution. In order to participate and prosper in that revolution, one needs to be increasingly well educated.
Reich wastes no time in writing further on this topic and I am pleased to access his work at the highly regarded financial site, Wall Street Pit. Reich writes, The Future of Manufacturing, GM, and American Workers (Part II). In this piece, Reich reiterates the critically important need for education beyond the secondary level. I concur. Reich touches on the shortcomings and failures within the educational experience for lower-middle income and poorer families. He asserts:
America’s biggest challenge is to educate more of our people sufficiently to excel at such tasks. We do remarkably well with the children from relatively affluent families. Our universities are the envy of the world, and no other nation surpasses us in providing intellectual and creative experience within entire regions specializing in one or another kind of symbolic analytic work (LA for music and film, Silicon Valley for software and the Internet, greater Boston for bio-med engineering, and so on).
But we’re in danger of losing ground because too many of our kids, especially those from lower-middle class and poor families, can’t get the foundational education they need. The consequence is a yawning gap in income and wealth which continues to widen. More and more of our working people finds themselves in the local service economy — in hotels, hospitals, restaurant chains, and big-box retailers — earning low wages with little or no benefits. Unions could help raise their wages by giving them more bargaining leverage. A higher minimum wage and larger Earned Income Tax Credit could help as well.
Not all of our young people can or should receive a four-year college degree, but we can do far better for them than we’re doing now. At the least, every young person should have access to a year or two beyond high school, in order to gain a certificate attesting to their expertise in a particular area of technical competence. Technicians who install, upgrade, and service automated and computerized machinery — office technicians, auto technicians, computer technicians, environmental technicians — will be in ever-greater demand.
I totally agree with Reich’s assessment of our situation, but I think he otherwise falls woefully short in his analysis. Reich points toward the effects and outcomes of the educational output for the lower-middle income and poorer groups in our social construct. However, Reich immediately points toward the necessity for public intervention and public obligation in providing access to education beyond the secondary level.
I strongly believe the ultimate success – or the continued failure – for those involved in the education for our lower middle-income and poor has to start at home and with the family structure. Reich regrettably does not take this issue on and plays to his strong liberal base in the process.
I have attempted to highlight the horrendous urban graduation rates (50%) and excessively high rates of single parent families (currently 40% nationwide, with rates as high as 70% within the African American population) in my post from last Fall, Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him for a Day. I have also attempted to highlight a program supported by both private and public funding that addresses the academic, community, and family structure needed to promote success for lower income people. On the heels of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visiting the inner city of Detroit to take the pulse of “the worst school system in the country” (a graduation rate of 25%!!!), I wrote Arne Duncan Visits Detroit; He Should Visit Domus.
I am in total agreement with Reich’s assessment of our global economy entering into a Technological Revolution. I am in total agreement with him on the need to focus on education. I think he falls woefully short in his analysis of the glaring holes in our urban settings, and the costs these holes are incurring on our social fabric and nation as a whole. Regrettably, not unlike the Obama administration remaining beholden to the UAW in the ongoing developments within the automotive industry, Reich is also beholden to the strong, liberal base within the teachers’ unions. As such, he lacks the courage to prescribe the necessary medication to address our national urban education plight. Our nation deserves better.
LD
Arne Duncan Visits Detroit; He Should Visit Domus
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 16th, 2009 9:04 AM |
Our nation faces many huge problems but none greater than the issues in urban education. President Obama has experience in this area during his time in Chicago. Not surprisingly, he went to his roots and brought Arne Duncan from Chicago to Washington to head the Department of Education. Let’s check in with Mr. Duncan.
Duncan recently paid a visit to Detroit, home to the worst public schools in the country (based upon graduation rate). The Washington Post offers insights on his visit, Duncan Delves Behind Grim Statistics.
While this article asserts the graduation rate for 9th graders in Detroit is 38%, it fails to address that there are plenty of students who drop out prior to 9th grade. The actual graduation rate in Detroit is an abysmal 25%!! The overall graduation rate in urban schools is a paltry 50%.
Duncan has been given a massive checkbook to address education issues in our country. Rest assured, money is part of the problem. However, in my opinion, money is not the critical issue. As the Washington Post’s article highlights, many students in urban settings are involved in gang activities. Regrettably, gangs have replaced traditional families. Why? Well, I am not a sociologist nor a psychologist but I have to believe when so many newborns enter this world into single parent families (70% of newborn African Americans enter this world into a single parent family, 50% for Hispanics, 30% for Caucasians), they have one strike if not two against them before the game has even begun. These kids will look for structure somewhere. Regrettably, the gang becomes the structure.
I addressed this sensitive, but critically important, topic last Fall. Please allow me to go to the archives and revisit, “Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day…”
My point in writing that article was to highlight the cold but sobering reality of graduation rates in urban settings and the correlation with incomes. I also wanted to address the hurdles presented by the bureaucracy embedded in teacher unions.
My article back then elicited much feedback from readers, business associates, friends, and family. Often, the question was raised as to what could be done to address the core problem – the lack of family structure in urban settings.
As fate would have it, I had the good fortune of meeting an individual this week who for the last 26 years has been doing miraculous work in this area. Mike Duggan, who graduated a year ahead of me at Holy Cross, started his career in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1990s, Mike was recruited to Stamford, CT to overtake a program called Domus, which “helps over 600 children and their families experience academic and life success through educational, residential, and community programs.” At the time Mike joined Domus, it was $300k in debt and hanging on by a thread.
Domus is now a thriving organization with an $11 million annual operating budget. Duggan has worked magic in the face of extreme challenges. The Domus program is all encompassing. Ultimately, the foundation is based on “tough love” with the emphasis much more on the love than the tough. In my meeting with Mike, he offered that he does not allow his students to view themselves as victims. The mayor of Stamford has publicly praised Mike and Domus for the profound impact they are having on the Stamford community.
I asked Mike if there are other programs similar to Domus in the country. He offered that there are two. As I recall, one is in Texas and one in California.
Plenty of naysayers may believe our urban education problem can’t be solved. Plenty of educational bureaucrats may say urban schools simply need more money. I say there is a third path. Our country needs to promote Mike Duggan and his work at Domus on a grand scale.
Mr. Duncan, please visit Stamford, CT and replicate the Domus model nationwide.
LD
FDIC . . . For Doing It Correctly
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 19th, 2009 2:41 PM |
Sense on Cents is very judicious in selecting our Economic All-Stars (highlighted in the left sidebar). These individuals continually display a level of professionalism, maturity, consistency, and integrity which are not commonly found in our financial or political spectrum. I deeply appreciate their insights and perspectives and enjoy sharing them with our audience at Sense on Cents and No Quarter USA.
I thank Susan and Andy for tipping me off to remarks made earlier today in which Sheila Bair Says “Too Big to Fail” Strategy for Financial Institutions Must End. The administration and other political pundits are trying to make the case that the Federal Reserve should serve as the systemic risk regulator. In my opinion, Sheila Bair should occupy that role. There is a major political battle developing over this turf. Make no mistake that how this battle plays out will have deep and longstanding implications for our financial system as a whole and for individual consumers. (more…)
Housing Index Revisited
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 18th, 2009 1:11 PM |
A week or so ago, I introduced two indexes that track the outlook for housing in our country. The S&P/Case-Shiller Index is released on a monthly basis. The ABX is an index that can be traded daily by institutional money managers and thus allows them to reflect their opinions on the outlook for housing. The ABX is a very broadly defined index that tracks housing by the underlying year of origination of the mortgage.
Yesterday, the monthly housing starts number surprisingly jumped 22%. The government program TALF (Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility) to restart the consumer finance markets is set to launch next week. Hopefully that program will bring added liquidity to our consumer finance markets and support housing as well. The mortgage modification program to support housing is underway. (more…)
Let’s Meet David Darst
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 14th, 2009 6:00 PM |
David Darst may not be a household name for the general public, but for those involved in the world of finance he is held in very high regard. In fact, I think so highly of David that in the Sense on Cents Reading Room, I included his book:
The Complete Bond Book: A Guide to All Types of Fixed-Income Securities
by David Darst
– the Wall Street insider’s Bible to all types of fixed income securities.
David was interviewed yesterday on Bloomberg News. He touches on issues I have recently addressed here at Sense on Cents. I appreciated his commentary on the fact that the equity market rally this week was a “psychological” bounce in the context of a bear market. I addressed the particulars of the current market psychology in my piece, Is the Market Oversold? UPDATE.
Darst also offers enlightening color on overall market outlook, inflation, and places to hide amidst this turmoil. I know you will not be disappointed in viewing Morgan Stanley’s Darst Sees Psychology Driving Stocks. It’s a 5 minute clip from a man with a lifetime of experience!! I am happy to bring it to you as we collectively navigate the economic landscape.
LD
Sense on Cents “Central Station”
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 13th, 2009 6:30 PM |
I am pleased to relaunch our weekly departure from “Central Station” on Saturday mornings. This endeavor here at Sense on Cents is a few hours of written Q/A with your resident host. I like to utilize the theme of a ride on the rails, so please allow me to expound.
With so many cross currents at play in the markets, economy, and world of global finance, where can one go to develop a framework of understanding, enjoy the company of friends, and make sense of the madness? Welcome to Sense on Cents “Central Station.” Our ride departs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with an expected return at 12 noon. While we traverse the curves along our track, we can address a wide range of issues, including: Obama’s economic plans, Secretary Geithner’s outlook, the market performance this week, month, and year to date, developments overseas, the outlook for our financial regulatory structure, issues of personal finance, or anything else on your mind.
Our ride is most productive with as many people participating as possible. Please bring not only your questions, but also your views. Invite friends, neighbors, and colleagues along for the ride as well.
Your conductor is not a professional financial planner. I recommend that you consult with a licensed, qualified professional before making any investment decisions. I am merely a Wall Street veteran looking to help you navigate the economic landscape!!
Come on back tomorrow morning at 9, submit your questions in the comments section, and away we go.. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall Aboard!!
LD
