A ‘Bad’ School, episode 2

Parents compete to send their kids to Manual, not Iroquois. Once, it was the opposite

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In the second episode of "A 'Bad' School," you'll learn more about the history of Iroquois High School — derisively dubbed "The Dirty 'I'" — and top-ranking Manual High School.

Both started out as very different places. Manual was founded in the late 1800s as a "training school" that taught students to use their hands and brain at the same time. Iroquois opened in 1965 and quickly developed a strong reputation for academics.

Iroquois was virtually all-white in the years after it opened. Manual had become increasingly Black.

But things changed drastically after court-ordered busing began in 1975.

Today, most Iroquois students are from minority groups and most Manual students are white. Iroquois students often come from low-income families, Manual students from the middle class.

The troubles of the outside world are much more likely to seep into classrooms at Iroquois, shaping what students like 17-year-old Zyrann Hibbitt learn. 

But kids like Zyrann also find a web of support at Iroquois from peers and adults who understand them.

Did you miss episode 1 of A "Bad" School? You can listen here.

Read the project: ‘Magnetic Pull’

Read our sister project: ‘The Last Stop’

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