TDSB Ponders Black-Focused Schools

[Redzz]

teacher these days think that a majority of black male students are slack because they are stereotypical.they think that the students are in gangs and doing gang related things so they dont bother. thats where the low expectations come in. they think their brains are overpowered by weed and crack and thinking about a big booty.its not true.i have many friends who are in gangs or what ever do very well in class.not straight 100% but in the high 70's to 80's or even 90's.so the stereotyping and expectations need to stop they need to be proven wrong and ive been in a class where a student has handed in a test and the teachers jaw dropped casue she thought that my friend would fail when he got a 75%.she said that she was surprised and she confessed that she didnt think my friend could do it.im sure that teacher felt stupid and embarrased.so the teachers need to get their facts straight before they jump to a conclusion

 

[rpgr]

teacher these days think that a majority of black male students are slack because they are stereotypical.they think that the students are in gangs and doing gang related things so they dont bother. thats where the low expectations come in. they think their brains are overpowered by weed and crack and thinking about a big booty.its not true.i have many friends who are in gangs or what ever do very well in class.not straight 100% but in the high 70's to 80's or even 90's.so the stereotyping and expectations need to stop they need to be proven wrong and ive been in a class where a student has handed in a test and the teachers jaw dropped casue she thought that my friend would fail when he got a 75%.she said that she was surprised and she confessed that she didnt think my friend could do it.im sure that teacher felt stupid and embarrased.so the teachers need to get their facts straight before they jump to a conclusion

Your "paragraph" above does not help your case...

 

[Redzz]

and what case is that?

 

[Redzz]

I'm trying to stress the point that stereotyping people is wrong. If these young people are being labelled as slackers it is stereotyping. I just don't agree with this school as it is segragating black youth and in the process may increase racism.

 

[Redzz]

also i think that if you make an all black school it will cause a problem for the slackers. way to bring in more violence

 

[Admiral Beez]

and what case is that?

That you're writing about teachers not respecting and/or underestimating what they wrongly deem a poorly educated or uninterested demographic, while using some of the most poorly written prose imaginable.

 

[Hydrogen]

teacher these days think that a majority of black male students are slack because they are stereotypical.they think that the students are in gangs and doing gang related things so they dont bother.

You claim to dislike stereotypes, yet you presume knowledge as to what all teachers are thinking. What you are doing here is invoking your own prejudices. Do you have any evidence to support what all teachers are thinking? If not, then don't presume to do so.

 

[rpgr]

You claim to dislike stereotypes, yet you presume knowledge as to what all teachers are thinking. What you are doing here is invoking your own prejudices. Do you have any evidence to support what all teachers are thinking? If not, then don't presume to do so.

As Hydrogen out it, you presume and make your own prejudices.

Think about things from a different point of view. What makes that guy/girl sitting next to you want to become a teacher? Liklihood isn't because they like listening to students complaining for no reason.

Lets not think about the current jaded teachers but rather what makes a teacher become jaded in the first place. People become teachers because they feel rewarded seeing the growth of a person and the empowering fact that they HELPED MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Otherwise all you would see is a classroom full of ingrates.

Poor people (in this case Black but as I said before, I don't call it a race issue), feel like they aren't rewarded so they slack. This breeds another teacher who feels powerless in the system which breeds more students that feel powerless in the system. What we have is a chicken and egg scenario.

It doesn't matter if you get a teacher that does give youth a fair shake if in the end the gang mentality continues. Teachers feel as powerless as you do. So where does it end? A "new" school won't solve the underlying habits and sooner or latter things will happen again.

The problem with Black focused schools is that it is only trying to treat a symptom, not the real problem.

You want a real solution? It's easy, mix it up. Don't give teachers a chance to become jaded. Don't give youth a chance to give up.

If I were hired for a recommendation I would have rotating teachers and students. Teachers would not be able to choose what schools they are assigned to and instead rotate within a reasonable limit regularly. Same with students. That way people have an out if they fall in a bad crowd. That way teachers don't get jaded.

Of course my solution is very radical, perhaps moreso than any "seperate" school. Then again despite it being radical, it doesn't fix everything. There is still a gap between have and have-nots that is too wide.

 

[Disparishun]

Blacks are the most analysed ethnic/racial minority in human history. The legacy of slavery/segregation/Aparteid sets them apart as a people in ways other ethnicities have been spared.

That's sort of an interesting statement. I doubt that it is true. On the other hand, I doubt that it matters.

About other ethnicities not having special schools, where have you been, under a rock? Practically every ethnic group in the city has ethno-specific community schools where PS/K to probably grade six-aged kids learn specific linguistic, religious and cultural practices they'd never otherwise see in pluralist.

This, on the other hand, is relevant. I was quite surprised to read it.

Which ethnic groups in Toronto have full-time, "ethno-specific" primary schools which access public funding in the same manner as public and Catholic schools?

 

[I-Z1]

That's sort of an interesting statement. I doubt that it is true. On the other hand, I doubt that it matters.

He's been called on these types of statements many times....he never has been able to back them up with anything though.

 

[DENTROBATE54]

Nobody is saying seperation breeds hate.

Have been paying attention to I-Z1's neurotic, hate-filled rants of late ? He's convinced africentric schools are part of an agenda to bring down Canada's multicultralism.

The argument was and continues to be that the school will just be a dumping grounds. I.E. it won't change a damn thing.

This is evident in how people will view blacks on resumes.

The real problem won't be fixed until the gap between rich and poor shrinks and that zoning includes many more mixed neighborhoods

I totally agree that this is more of a class/economic issue over a melanin, but when the vast majority of urban poor look or act black, the media's ever-present to make it seem like only that community's a problem, that that community can't compete academically with other ethnicities. It's unfortune and disabling, and definitely affects us all. I tend to believe at the epicentre of the problem is education as more educated blacks sets a precedent for doors to be opened at workplaces, such that the "Ghetto Dude" incident never happens in Canada again.

I don't see how white resumes factor into this except to site how threatened white males once were when droves of women first started entering workplaces. An equitable workplace benefits all and if africentric schools can turn around underachievers such that they too have a real shot at life, our crime rates go down, social assistence goes down and quality of life grows expedentially.

 

[Disparishun]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080204.wcoafro04/BNStory/specialComment/home

Give all parents educational choice
Why shouldn't black kids have their own heroes as models of courage, strength and wisdom? It won't make them any less Canadian

TOM FLANAGAN

From Monday's Globe and Mail

February 4, 2008 at 7:54 AM EST

Congratulations to the Toronto District School Board for having approved an Afrocentric school to open in September, 2009. It's a blow against the ideology of public-school conformity, and a step forward for the right of parents to guide the education of their children.

At the risk of immediately losing my Ontario readers, let me point out that Alberta has already gone far down this path. When, in the 1990s, Ralph Klein's government introduced charter schools, and then increased subsidies to private schools, public school boards, particularly in Edmonton, fought back by diversifying their programs. The competitive environment dramatically heightened the scope of choice for students and their parents.

Today, Alberta's public, Catholic, charter and provincially subsidized private schools offer distinctive programs and separate schools for many different minorities - Catholics, evangelical Protestants, Jews, aboriginals, girls, the gifted, the handicapped, those who want the "three Rs," those who want progressive education, etc. etc. The result? Alberta consistently scores the highest among Canadian provinces on international tests of student performance. Free choice and competition are showing what they can achieve when they are allowed to operate.

(...)

Identity is vital for children. I grew up American before becoming Canadian, but my Catholic schooling added another dimension, making me feel connected to 2,000 years of saints and martyrs, scholars and statesmen, kings and conquerors. Why shouldn't African-Canadian kids have their own heroes as models of courage, strength and wisdom? It won't make them any less Canadian.

Of course, student progress in Afrocentric schools, and indeed in all schools, should be rigorously evaluated. It should be possible to beat what the public schools are doing with black youth, because by all reports it's not working very well. Nonetheless, if the new Afrocentric schools don't show positive results with these youth, shut them down. But don't retreat to public-school conformity in situations where it has demonstrated its incompetence; keep trying other formulas until you find the one that works.

As black educator Howard Fuller pointed out recently when he visited Toronto, Afrocentric schools are not a "magic potion." I admired Mr. Fuller 40 years ago when he was a firebrand community leader in Durham, N.C., and I think he's right again about Afrocentric schools. They simply provide another opportunity for success.

Probably most black parents, such as trustee Stephnie Payne, who voted against Afrocentric schools, and Loreen Small, the mother of slain Jordan Manners, won't want to go that way. Fine - they don't have to. But why should they block parents whose kids aren't succeeding in the public schools from trying something else? Who's better qualified to decide about their children's education than the parents who gave them life, who sacrifice daily to raise them to maturity, and who are forced to pay taxes to public schools that aren't working for their own kids?

John Stuart Mill got it right in On Liberty when he wrote that "a general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another." Mill's judicious conclusion was that government should require parents to educate their children, but should not undertake to provide that education itself. Now that government has long ago taken over education, we may not be able to break its grip immediately, but introducing more freedom of choice for parents is a step in the right direction.

The wave of public-school demagoguery in the recent Ontario election is past, thank God, and it's encouraging to see Toronto revisiting issues of freedom of choice in education. Finally, we're trying to take multiculturalism seriously.

 

[DENTROBATE54]

That's sort of an interesting statement. I doubt that it is true. On the other hand, I doubt that it matters.

All I meant by that was that Blacks/Afro-Americans through the sorry fate of history became the first and most recognizable racialized subserviant class. European history chronicles how other civilizations were conquered and enslaved but these were all Caucasian tribes. After emancipation/abolition (God I feel like an 8th grade school teacher right now ) the legacy was so inbred on the psyche of social conscious that to this day, being it systematically or on the individual level, there is a relationship between ad hominen circumstance and limitations of access to social/economic/cultural mobility within Western society.

Some good food for thought about racial inequality can be found here.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...n8735475/pg_17

This, on the other hand, is relevant. I was quite surprised to read it.
Which ethnic groups in Toronto have full-time, "ethno-specific" primary schools which access public funding in the same manner as public and Catholic schools?

Agreed that ethnic schools aren't government sponsored but nonetheless its a known fact they exist and aid pupils in finding distinct identities, whatever those may be. My point was that black schools aren't as visible as other groups perhaps because the accumulative wealth of black communities isn't enough to self-sufficiently finance Africentric classrooms on their own. Just an observation.

The wave of public-school demagoguery in the recent Ontario election is past, thank God, and it's encouraging to see Toronto revisiting issues of freedom of choice in education. Finally, we're trying to take multiculturalism seriously.

Amen, couldn't have put it better myself. That article you just posted embodies my sentiments over africentirc schools, people need options to make the best life choices for themselves. Forced into a mandatory unilateral system without say 'cept to quit/drop out is what breeds systematic segregation as black dropouts are automatically segregated out of jobs, good neighbours, equal treatment and worse from society itself in the form of prison, homelessness and body bags. It's not an overnight solution but countless experts, including some of the smartest minds out of the black academia, have come forth and said "give our people a chance to crawl before they walk, and meditate before they talk". In other words, diversity of options/venues for learning just might result in diversity of another kind- more blacks attending ployethnic universities and being welcomed in more polyethnic workplaces and neighborhoods.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Identity is vital for children. I grew up American before becoming Canadian, but my Catholic schooling added another dimension, making me feel connected to 2,000 years of saints and martyrs, scholars and statesmen, kings and conquerors.

did it also make you feel connected to about 2000 years of religious murder, thought control, religious persecution of others, erasure & suppression of other belief systems? unless you're mel gibson, that's nothing to be proud of.

there is a greater "identity" to take part in.

 

[Mystic Point]

McGuinty warns other school boards not to follow Toronto's lead

Last Updated: Friday, February 1, 2008 | 1:12 PM ET
The Canadian Press

Premier Dalton McGuinty says the governing Liberals "won't hesitate to act" if other school boards follow Toronto's lead and start up black-focused schools.

McGuinty says he'll be watching what happens in Toronto very closely after the public board narrowly voted to establish one of Canada's first black-focused schools.

He said the idea of a separate, black-focused school runs contrary to the Liberal vision of education.

If the province starts to see a trend develop in other cities like Ottawa, Windsor and Thunder Bay, McGuinty said the Liberals won't hesitate to take action.

He said he's less concerned with the idea of a black-focused school if it is housed within an existing public school.

McGuinty said at least then, students of all races can mingle together in the hallways, which would be more reflective of Ontario society. "


When are White People going to stop telling Black People what to do?