Immigration Forum / USA / March 2010

Black of course. A white with such brazen imcompetence would be crucified
by the press.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100304/OPINION03/3040437/

Last Updated: March 04. 2010 6:07PM

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:

"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."

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.

"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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

"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."

Because of his struggles and perseverance, Mathis describes himself as a
role model.

But is he?

(snip)

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No, Ida, you stupid bitch. His job is NOT to represent the community. Is
the warden at a prison supposed to be a criminal?