Ruin of The Youth
Gangs
The gangs in Detroit are a major problem for the city. Youths join the gangs in search for a group of people they can call a "family". Growing up without a secure family to be there for them they look for what they don't have in a gang. Most leaders range in age from 17 to 20 and they normally have a long criminal record. To keep themselves safe, the leaders send the younger lower status members out to do the crimes so if they do get caught they will only be prosecuted as juveniles and not as adults. The younger members try to rise up in their status by showing heart- evidence by an act of violence against a victim or a rival gang member. Because of all the violence between the rival gangs residents of the city are afraid to go out and enjoy the day without being scared for their lives.
Education
For youths in Detroit, education can be either a big accomplishment for some and a waste of time for others. About 30% of 18-24 year olds don't have a high school diploma or GED. That is a big percent of young adults who do not have a proper education and are going into the working world without the knowledge they need. Parents aren't sending their children to school anymore because of multiple reasons. Some reasons are they may not have enough money to send their kids to school or they are worried about their child's safety being out in Detroit. About 54% of children did not attend pre-school at all in 2011-2012.
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The performance of each school is not at achieving level. Only 4 percent of Detroit's eighth-grade students can read and perform math at grade level. One parent, Arlyssa Heard, says that her 8 year old son Judah, a third-grader, could only write the first two letters of his name. This is way under the level of normal educational standards. In third-grade, students should be able to read and answer questions regarding the text such as; determining the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details.
Schools in Detroit are constantly closing and opening. There are more than 200 schools with roughly 50 different enrollment processes and almost no standard for performance. Since the state first took over the city's schools in 1999, almost 200 Detroit Public School buildings have closed and 81 sit vacant. Today there are only enough children to fill about 60% of all classrooms with roughly 30,000 empty seats citywide.
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Poverty
Poverty is a big issue in Detroit especially for youth. According to the Detroit news, more than 59 percent of Detroit children lived in poverty in 2012. According to the World Socialist Web Site, nearly 1 in 4 children lived in families with incomes below the official poverty line in 2013. This is a big increase compared to 2006 when it was 1 in 5 children. That means about 80,000 more children were poor in 2013 compared to 7 years earlier in 2006. A quarter of a million families live in extreme poverty, with annual income below half the federal poverty level. These families live on an income of less than $4,500 annually for a family of three. This amount isn't even enough to satisfy basic needs for a family.