The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1907-1981 is a 1993 nonfiction book by Jeffrey Mirel, published by the University of Michigan Press.
Mirel argued that the Great Depression, various trends related to racial tensions stemming from the Civil Rights Movement,[1] the development of new suburbia, and other factors were primarily responsible for the decline of DPS;[2] the conflicts between blacks and whites and between labor and management eroded the consensus reached during the Progressive Era that schools should receive ample financing.
[1] Mirel argued that the social classes and races need to come together and cooperate so that the Detroit school system can be properly funded and maintain its academic standards; the author makes this view known in the epilogue.
[2] Jon C. Teaford of Purdue University wrote that the book's author "allocates blame and praise with a fairly even hand and appears unwilling to bend his data to conform to a preconceived end.
[2] Daniel Perlstein of the University of California at Berkeley wrote that the book "thus demonstrates how historical scholarship on the decline of urban school systems can illuminate the relationship of critical educational issues to the broader political questions troubling America.