Is Grosse Pointe stable, long-term? Still a U-M feeder?

Seriously though, its crazy that a school in Singapore is one of the Top 10 most admitted high schools to UofM.  I know that Raffles is one of the best schools in the world, and is fairly large, but the fact that a school on the opposite side of the world is #6 is crazy to me.

I live in Grosse Pointe, have my whole life. There is, yes, both subtle and unsubtle racism but it's honestly getting better as the Old Guard starts dying off.

Stats I've seen suggest that something like 15 percent of GP South and 30 percent of GP North students are African-American, which is much higher than when I was going to school back in the 80s. My son is in public elementary school and has a multicultural range of friends and classmates, and his Little League/community sports teams are a much healthier mix than I remember growing up.

The thing about the school rankings is that you've got more kids than we used to who transfer into the schools later in life and don't have the same K-6 or K-8 or whatever prep, so their test scores will inevitably be lower and that brings down the averages. That's not a complaint, that's just the truth, and the district's making a concerted effort to address what's a pretty new challenge for them.

What that doesn't do, though, is bring down the achievement of the individual students who have been in the Grosse Pointe schools their whole lives. In other words, a kid like my son who's lived in Grosse Pointe and been in its schools his entire life will do as well as he's going to do regardless of whether there's a kid from Harper Woods who didn't read until 3rd grade or a 9th-grade transfer from Detroit whose parents wanted to get him out of Denby or whatever. They don't affect his achievement.

So, to answer your original question, yes, the GP public schools are punching out just as many U-M qualified students as they ever have. They're just dealing with more kids at the lower end of the educational spectrum at the same time and that shows up in rankings.

Seems like you are asking quite a bit based on one source which is not very thorough. You are right that the Pointes defintely were like Shaker Heights and still that element remains.

I grew up in Detroit,  7 mile & Livernois during the 60's (talk about a neighborhood changing QUICKLY), and then went to GP schools, including GPN, before going to UM. My mom taught at GPN for 40 years and was very old school. She retired many years ago because the administration was lowering its academic standards. My folks still live in the Woods and I go back and visit frequently. My kids also play sports vs GPS and GPN so I still check those schools out on occaision.

Regardless of this survey Grosse Pointe is a great place to raise kids and I think getting into UM is up to the kid, not the school system. At UM , GPN, or most any school, kids can choose to have great AP/IB type classes or just skate by taking crap classes.

UM also seems to give an edge to legacy kids and GP is loaded with UM alums, so I 'm sure they still send boatloads to UM.

The elephant in the room few are talking about is the influx of families of all color and generally of lower socio economic background, that moved to Harper Woods to gain access to a good GPN school system. GPN does not have the make up of blue bloods that it once had. I probably would have enjoyed it more because I was shocked at the intentional lack of diversity when I moved there from Detroit.

If the auto industry continues to rebound, I believe the Grosse Pointes will continue to be strong. IMO the Ann Arbor/Saline/ Dexter/ Chelsea area dont take a back seat to too many school systems, so it doesn't surprise e to see them ranked higher than the GP schools.

OK, I live in Grosse Pointe, so, you can either take the word of people who live here or you can take the word of people who read the Freep comments sections and conclude "THATS RAYCISS."

GP is still, basically, GP.  As in, the schools and the area have not declined in any noticeable way in the past however many years.  Yes, the schools still feed U-M pretty heavily.  I graduated from South 15 years ago and the joke was that half the school was on the GP College Plan - apply to Michigan, MSU, and the directional school of your choice, and go to whichever was your best acceptance letter.  Still more or less the case as far as I know.

Yup, the schools in Ann Arbor, Northville, Rochester, Birmingham, etc. are all also quality schools.  No reason, though, that the GP high schools should be taken out of that league.

If you click on the schooldigger.com link above, the rankings shown of the public school districts is A LOT differrent.  For example, Ann Arbor Public is ranked 51st.  WTF?

Having grown up in the NW burbs in the Detroit area in the 60's and 70's, the obvious fact is that the economy of the whole metro area has declined significantly since then.  Back then, the auto industry was many times larger than it is now and had a big positive effect on everything.  GP has suffered like many of the the rest of the affluent suburbs.   My old district, Bloomfield Hills, is still rated pretty highly, but has a lot less student enrollment than it used to.  They recently had to combine the two high schools into one.  The population has aged quite a bit among other things. 

And trying figuring out where is a nice, safe neighborhood with a good school system? Or are you looking primarily at top UM feeder school systems to get into a highly selective college?

My oldest just got into UM from a school system that only 20 years ago was primarily "farmer/townie" based and most kids went to community college. I thought private school was a must but as more yuppies moved in, standards went up, parents demanded more and the school system responded. With strong AP and IB curricula many kids are now going to UM and more recently even more selective schools such as U of CHicago, Washington (St Louis), Stanford, and Ivy League schools.

The UM guidance counselor said to take the hardest clas list you can. Challenge yourself even if it means a lower GPA. Also show leadership in extracurriculars. And finally think long and hard about your essays. These are all more important than school system rank IMO.

I guess the moral is to forget stereotypes (good and bad) and silly surveys and see for yourself what the local high school system offers- you may be surprised in both ways.

Moving on past the GP haters versus apologists sideshow....

I think looking at state-wide economic dynamics is useful. Here's a simple indicator:

In 1960, Michigan was #1 in per capita income among US states. 

By 1980 its ranking had dropped into the mid-teens.

In recent years it has been ranked in the mid-to-high 30s.

While we can parse the relative merits of one Michigan community versus another, I think the larger historical trend afflicting the state speaks loudly. True, past performance is not a guarantee of future outcomes and there are reasons to believe (hope?) Michigan has turned a corner.  Nonetheless, I regrettingly find it hard to call anywhere in Michigan "stable".  

double post 

My three kids attended troy high.  I think its the top public school in Michigan.

I have a medical doctor, a CPA and a librarian 

Troy takes every color, religion and ethnic group with open arms.