WHAT A DISGRACE – AT 9:25 P.M. ET:  This is a heartbreaking story, but one that should raise the caution flag when someone announces that we need to spend more money on education.

DETROIT (WWJ) – According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.

“I don’t really know how they get by, but they do. Are they getting by well? Well, that’s another question,” Tyler-Ruiz said.

Some of the Detroit suburbs also have high numbers of functionally illiterate: 34 percent in Pontiac and 24 percent in Southfield.

“For other major urban areas, we are a little bit on the high side… We compare, slightly higher, to Washington D.C.’s urban population, in certain ZIP codes in Washington D.C. and in Cleveland,” she said.

Tyler-Ruiz said only 10 percent of those who can’t read have gotten any help to resolve it.

The report will be used to provide better training for local workers. 

COMMENT:  I'm glad they're getting better training.  But isn't there something called a school system?  And where were the parents of these illiterates as they were growing up?

Why don't I ever read these stories about Asian-American communities?

What we really need is far better education reporting that will get to the bottom of these colossal failures.  The problem is, such reporting will be politically incorrect, and not good for journalism careers.  So it will probably never be done.

But you can be sure that the cry for "more money" will rise loudly from Detroit's political class and the teachers' unions.

May 5, 2011