Homework?

Rasaan Turner was part of the 2012 High School Apprentice Class at the Detroit Free Press. This past Sunday he wrote an essay about the education he got from the Detroit Public Schools and his doubts about how well it prepared him for college.

Algebra consisted of worksheets and crossword puzzles. So he is taking an online math class. His Spanish teacher went on maternity leave and the substitute showed American movies in Spanish and passed out worksheets suitable for the 6th grade. He felt let down by his English class -- only three novels in all of high school? He wrote:

I never felt pushed to do my absolute best. Any homework I received was done before I left school, I never studied and I never took notes. There was no need.

I teach in a college in Detroit. I haven't checked how many of my students went through the DPS system. But it has left me wondering. Is Rasaan's experience why some of my students don't do homework?