Dan Rather Reports

A National Disgrace (6x17)

Air date: May 10, 2011

This Emmy-nominated report attempts to explain a chaotic year and a half for the Detroit Public Schools, looking at how the situation was ever allowed to become so dire and exposing the incredible obstacles facing the students who never quit fighting to succeed there. "A National Disgrace" is an eye-opening amalgam of historical documentary, investigative journalism, unflinching exposé and personal spotlight, detailing the apathy, corruption, and ultimate collapse of the tumultuous 2009-10 academic term when the state of Michigan took the drastic step to impose new leadership on the district. The result is a searing, tragic portrait that forces us to ask ourselves: does the situation in Detroit reflect our estimation of public education? Rather it seems the true "national disgrace" is instead our own willingness to accept that the places we send our children could ever get this way in the first place.