Mold on the ceiling, rodents in the bathroom, nonfunctioning toilets; these are things that would much better describe an abandoned motel than a public school in the U.S.

These conditions, however, are all too real for many Detroit public schools as well as many other underfunded school districts in the country.

In a state like Washington, with a public school system ranked 15th in the nation last year by USNews.com, it can be easy to take the quality of education for granted. It’s important for students to understand that not everyone in this country enjoys the luxury of a well-funded, well-staffed and well-managed public school system.

It is no secret that basic needs must be met before students can be expected to learn, and with little attention being paid to public education, especially in areas traditionally occupied by people of low socioeconomic status, problems the U.S. faces will continue to persist unless radical changes are made.

An article published by People magazine on Feb. 3 shed light on the severity of the Detroit Public School issue by releasing pictures and stories that look and sound too horrendous to be true; cockroaches, water leaking through the roof and bullet holes in the windows.

Additionally, the school district is scheduled to run out of funding in April, when they will have to make a decision to file for bankruptcy, split into a charter district or be bailed out by the state of Michigan.

The massive debt and budget constraints don’t stop at buildings falling into disrepair. They continue onto extremely low compensation for teachers and other school personnel, removing any sort of incentive for teachers to teach in the district.

Though this is a problem nationally in many inner city schools and school districts, “Detroit has been hit harder than most,” Marni Falk, a teacher for Detroit Public Schools, said. “There are kindergarten classes with 40-50 students in them,” Falk added.

Students and parents in the district are not taking this lying down. Walkouts and protests are becoming a regular occurrence.

Though recently more coverage has been surfacing regarding the state of Detroit Public Schools, it seems as if the national media has not yet fully caught on to this issue.

Similar to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which became national news earlier this year, many are saying that these issues go much deeper than simply blaming them on the poor state of the economy — socioeconomic status plays a huge role.

Both Detroit and Flint have very high African-American populations as well as high rates of poverty, which many will argue leads to issues, as simple as clean drinking water, to be swept under the rug.

An article published by CNN on Jan. 28 quoted Representative Dan Kildee saying, “While it might not be intentional, there’s this implicit bias against older cities — particularly older cities with poverty (and) majority-minority communities.”

That bias is now taking its toll in the form of a very serious issue.

Though there is much passion surrounding many of these issues, it seems the response is minimal.

These issues are viewed by politicians as short-term problems, rather than long-term disservices done to the people in the community.

Many cities, but specifically Detroit, have fallen into a vicious cycle of poverty, crime and unemployment. An investment in education is an investment in the future.