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Two Cities: Students Speak DETROIT AND NEW ORLEANS (Michigan Radio) - For the past two weeks, we've been hearing experts and adults weigh in about school reform. We want to wrap up our series Rebuilding Detroit Schools by talking to some students in Detroit and New Orleans. We starts our story with this profile of Dennis Black, who will graduate from Detroit's Cody High School in a couple of weeks.

SARAH HULETT: A few years ago, Dennis Black was one of those kids the adults worry about. Because Black flunked his first year of high school.

DENNIS BLACK: I kind of slacked off. I did more than slack off. I wasn't prepared, nor did I care how important school was.

SARAH HULETT: Black had gotten into the prestigious Renaissance High School in the Detroit Public Schools system. And he expected success would come easy.

DENNIS BLACK: I went in there real arrogant, kind of cocky, thinking I was going to get all 4.0s, things like that. And because of that arrogance I was off track and I didn't understand how important high school was. Missing assignments. And this is what led to me getting kicked out.

SARAH HULETT: Now, a lot of experts will tell you that ninth grade is a make-or-break year for kids. It's when many of them - far too many in Detroit - decide school's not for them, and they drop out. And Black says he thought about dropping out. But he was still close with one of his middle school teachers, who helped talk him out of it.

DENNIS BLACK: He told me after I told him about Renaissance that it doesn't matter how hard you fall, it matters how quick you pick yourself back up. So I just focused on picking myself back up.

SARAH HULETT: But Black says he knows plenty of kids who didn't recover from similar setbacks.

DENNIS BLACK: The students I know that dropped out, I talk to them every now and then but not that much because I got to keep myself around positive people that influence me positively. So when I do talk to them, they're either in a bad situation, need some money, or if I see them in the streets they'll be like "What up, you got some change? You got some money?"

SARAH HULETT: Black avoided that scenario. He repeated the ninth grade at a charter school, and got his grades back on track.

And dropping out wasn't the only trap he avoided. Violence, both in and out of school, is something that many Detroit kids know. Four of the kids Black knew in childhood have been shot to death.

DENNIS BLACK: One of my friends Avandre, he was killed on Dexter. He was shot on Mother's Day. No one knows why he was shot, they just say a man was shooting and Avandre caught a few rounds, and he died in the hospital that night.

SARAH HULETT: Black says the violence on Detroit's streets made him appreciate school, and how an education could keep him out of trouble. And he also found something that helped him get engaged with school again: he joined the Cody High School debate team.

DENNIS BLACK: Debate was one of the after-school activities that I found that interested me and kept my attention. Everyone in the world has one of these activities that can keep their attention. Every dropout you know, they always wanted to be something when they were little, but they never had the classes in high school that you could achieve these goals.

SARAH HULETT: Black says Detroit Public Schools should have more extracurricular activities like debate. He says more needs to be done to encourage parents to get involved in their kids' education. And he says teachers need to up their game too.

DENNIS BLACK: Teachers should do more to relate to their students. They should not so much have a smaller amount of work, but have more focused work where they actually learn something.

SARAH HULETT: And Black says another group that could do a better job when it comes to Detroit's schools is the media. He says there are plenty of good stories that don't make their way into the newspapers or onto the airwaves - like Cody's debate team winning championships, or the chess master at Mumford High School who's ranked among the top players in the nation. But we can at least give those accomplishments a mention here.

JENNIFER GUERRA: Exactly. Hi Sarah.

SARAH HULETT: Hi Jen.

JENNIFER GUERRA: So what's next for Dennis?

SARAH HULETT: Well, he's competing in the world debate championships in the Netherlands in July. Then he's off to Wayne State, where he's got a full scholarship. He plans to major in political science, and in 10 years he says he wants to represent the district that includes Cody High.

JENNIFER GUERRA: Very cool. And in the spirit of giving students the last word, we asked students in both Detroit and New Orleans what their ideal school would look like. Let's take a listen.

KAI PITTS (Detroit): My name is Kai Pitts, I'm 14 years old and I'm in the 8th grade. My idea of a good school is a school with a strong curriculum, a school that prepares you for future success, and a school that has a safe environment.

ALVIN DEMERY (New Orleans): think a good school should be like listening to others, the students' opinions.

JESSICA GREEN (New Orleans) Teachers who won't just sit there and throw a book in your face and say do page whatever instead I would like to have teachers that help you and if you really don't get it, they'll come sit next to you and help you and work out what you want so you can get it better.

JAYLIA MILLER (Detroit): My idea of a perfect school is for the school to get the kids ready to go to college. EARL POOLE (New Orleans): A school with no violence, where people that focus on their school work and trying to build a future at least.

SAVANNAH ALLEN (Detroit): My idea of a good school is a school that reduces and reuses and recycles and cares about all the kids opinions, and the school is clean and organized.

RODISHA JENKINS (New Orleans): Like if they have better lunches, better teachers and better classrooms to study in, and better books, and better computers where you can search up stuff.

NIJEL BANKS (New Orleans): The students at the school, it's like they don't really have anything to really make them want to behave because, you know, at schools, it's like they want you to be robots or something like that, just to be good and sit down and be quiet all day without really having anything to do. That's how I see school and that's why I don't really enjoy it.

CHRISTINA CARRUTH (New Orleans): I think that a good school is a school that has discipline. I would like to see more discipline, more learning, and maybe sometimes a little recess.

NEESHA RUFFINS (New Orleans): I guess more encouraging, passionate teachers, the ones that that actually know that they can learn from students and not just teach.

TRINITY TATE (Detroit): A good school looks like a clean school, when the kids are happy and the teachers care about the kids.

To hear other stories in the series "Rebuilding Detroit Schools: A Tale of Two Cities" and see related photos, videos and information, click here.

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