The Great Emigration

In my latest commentary for the Mackinac Center, I point out that Detroit Public Schools have lost more than 42,000 students, and the city as a whole has lost more than 80,000 residents, in the past decade alone. I note that much of these losses can be attributed to widespread disastisfaction with the city's public schools.

While white-flight used to be the default explanation for Detroit's population decline, demographers are now noting that middle and upper income African American families are abandoning the city in search of better, safer schools, and a healthier economy.

In essence, this is a reversal of the historic Great Migration that helped populate Detroit in the early 20th century. I point out why reshuffling the city's school board (the hot topic of the moment) won't fix the problem, and how school choice would.