TDSB Ponders Black-Focused Schools

[DENTROBATE54]

aren't they making in the northwest so rex & jnf? jnf i dont know but in rex brown + black get along fine why we need to get seperated. and whoever wrote that when other groups get made fun of they make fun of blacks that bull. when minority get made fun of we tend to stick together more not less.

Read: subversive racism. Not everyone, not even a majority but based on what you've posted here you know what I mean about feeling excluded from certain facets of life.

guess who couldn't come to his own boiz going away party? me. stuff like that makes you realize that while these white kids try and act all hood and stuff in reality they scared of us and hate us. not all but a lot.

This is exactly what I mean. In stark contrast to Canada's welcoming multiculturalism policies, people rarely venture out of their comfort zone (i.e. ethnic heritage). These phobias are all too real like white women clutching their purses when that certain pigmentation walks by them.

it true if i bring up the fact in class let say history or somehting like last year when we were on issues today i said ye racism still exist it still there. holy every white kid + teacher in class got up screaming no no no this canada. like when you bring it up people just say you looking for trouble or making a excuse even though many times it like actually there. but also what you mean by non-black peers and more privileged ethnic groups. just say white it aint hard. because non-black include brown and believe me go anywhere unlike states you see brown and black kids playing together chilling and not good part in same gangs.
and you have to realize that there are already a bunch of schools where unwanted kids get dumped like Central Tech. and if you make a school for blacks now you have the 2 out of 3 groups at bottom covered 1st nation and black. wanna guess which group left?

also about respect that because of media. since Canada Media dominated by USA Media you get all the stuff about all brown + black being criminals and everything and while many people will say it bull the sterotypes start to get hammered into the back of people's minds after awhile. examples are principals who unknowingly many times will treat the dark kids lower than the white kids. (dark = brown+black made everything simpler)

So much to clarify in this statement. Firstly CT isn't that bad a school. I had friends that went there. About white teachers/pupils brainwashing you into believing this "Canada is friendly tolerant" viterol, if they never personally been affected by racism/segregation they'll never comprehend it. It's not like they've ever casually brought such a topic up with non-whites to achieve a real perspective on how things really are. Them admitting to you that prejudices exist is an admission to themselves that directly or indirectly they may possess some culpability for it.

We're just as capable of prejudice as any pluralist nation, if not moreso. Because of our global image people forget that Aboriginals live in 3rd world squalor conditions in several parts of the nation, new immigrant non-whites (majority come university trained) arrive here under false pretences and in effect become second-class, servile-class with little hope of achieving financial security, homeownership, civil liberty, etc.

Yes, due to people like you , with a chip on your shoulder, that you will not let go of. You perpetuate racism, and then attempt to blame 'whitey'.

It's not blame 'whitey'. I'm sure if women, gays, Asians and Jews sat on their hands and did nothing they would've made the same progression through society's ranks as they have? Oh wait, the civil rights movement was intent on black liberation, right ? If you read my post a couple back, you'd see to this day these race-biased prejudices exist unilaterally and with the intent of keeping blacks in a sub-human connotation. If every successful black person is a target for non-black sabotage than where are the role models that'll inspire future generations of blacks to have positive goals in life?
Bringing awareness to the problems blacks face today that are by and large ignored/trivialized by the apathetic majority isn't perpetuating hate but instead fostering change.

i call it like i see it many asian people also racist to dark people saying we live like animals and all this other bull. i never said only white people can be racist. but saying generally because older white people in power if they racist has a bigger impact.

This is why I frequently use the terms non-black/non-white as these issues aren't unique to those racial groups. For all the white ex-pats we see living it up in East Asia, I don't see mass waves of blacks of any ilk being welcomed there.

You...that means YOU, perpetuate racism, YOU need to let it go, so that the rest of us, who aren't racists like yourself can go on with life...YOU need to grow up! YOU need to look in a mirror and see the bigot staring back at you....do something about it, instead of whining like a spoiled little bigoted brat, like you do here.

Bigotry, no. Social awareness, yes. I personally don't begrudge anyone their lives and have an appreciation for many things not associated with my ethnicity. However we're all apart of the same world and if it's blantantly obvious to me one group getting more/less entiltements than others, I'll call them out on it. It's the sociallty responsible and ethical thing to do !!

 

[Desi_Doubkle]

Read: subversive racism. Not everyone, not even a majority but based on what you've posted here you know what I mean about feeling excluded from certain facets of life.



This is exactly what I mean. In stark contrast to Canada's welcoming multiculturalism policies, people rarely venture out of their comfort zone (i.e. ethnic heritage). These phobias are all too real like white women clutching their purses when that certain pigmentation walks by them. Central proly aint that bad of a school just that got a rep now for dumping kids there. just like NACI and WestView aint really bad just you know a kid from kingsway or rosedale wouldn't survive there



So much to clarify in this statement. Firstly CT isn't that bad a school. I had friends that went there. About white teachers/pupils brainwashing you into believing this "Canada is friendly tolerant" viterol, if they never personally been affected by racism/segregation they'll never comprehend it. It's not like they've ever casually brought such a topic up with non-whites to achieve a real perspective on how things really are. Them admitting to you that prejudices exist is an admission to themselves that directly or indirectly they may possess some culpability for it.

We're just as capable of prejudice as any pluralist nation, if not moreso. Because of our global image people forget that Aboriginals live in 3rd world squalor conditions in several parts of the nation, new immigrant non-whites (majority come university trained) arrive here under false pretences and in effect become second-class, servile-class with little hope of achieving financial security, homeownership, civil liberty, etc.



It's not blame 'whitey'. I'm sure if women, gays, Asians and Jews sat on their hands and did nothing they would've made the same progression through society's ranks as they have? Oh wait, the civil rights movement was intent on black liberation, right ? If you read my post a couple back, you'd see to this day these race-biased prejudices exist unilaterally and with the intent of keeping blacks in a sub-human connotation. If every successful black person is a target for non-black sabotage than where are the role models that'll inspire future generations of blacks to have positive goals in life?
Bringing awareness to the problems blacks face today that are by and large ignored/trivialized by the apathetic majority isn't perpetuating hate but instead fostering change.



This is why I frequently use the terms non-black/non-white as these issues aren't unique to those racial groups. For all the white ex-pats we see living it up in East Asia, I don't see mass waves of blacks of any ilk being welcomed there.



Bigotry, no. Social awareness, yes. I personally don't begrudge anyone their lives and have an appreciation for many things not associated with my ethnicity. However we're all apart of the same world and if it's blantantly obvious to me one group getting more/less entiltements than others, I'll call them out on it. It's the sociallty responsible and ethical thing to do !!

so you agreeing with me good someone who get it like i hate it you know when people say you just pulling the race card. and like even with like if let's say kids wanna get past it parents stop lotta white parents dont want they kids chilling with kids from certain colors and certain areas that what they say to kid everyone know they mean no dark people esp not from rex, jnf, scartown, regent, flemo, capri, etc

 

[JasonParis]

Board okays black-focussed school
Toronto board votes 11-9 after meeting filled with passionate pleas and dire warnings
Jan 30, 2008 12:58 AM
Louise Brown
Brett Popplewell
staff reporters

Angela Wilson, left, and Donna Harrow celebrate last night after Toronto public school trustees voted 11-9 to open an alternative Afrocentric school.

The black-focused school is a go.

After a heated but civil debate, Canada's largest school board voted 11-9 last night to open an alternative Africentric school to help fight a 40 per cent dropout rate among Toronto's black teens.

An elated parent, Donna Harrow, said she is thrilled the proposal she and fellow parent Angela Wilson had pushed for got through, despite fierce opposition and cries of segregation.

"I'm ecstatic, but the struggle continues and we want this school to open in 2008, not 2009," said Harrow.

Trustees voted on a sweeping package of programs to make schools more relevant to black students, including opening an Africentric school in September 2009.

Trustee Josh Matlow, who opposed the pilot project school, warned that there is no guaranteed funding from Queen's Park yet for even the estimated start-up costs of $350,000.

The entire package of initiatives carries an estimated price tag of $820,000.

In a passionate defence of the school, former chair Sheila Ward urged trustees to keep in mind "the power of symbolism" in endorsing it.

"I don't know what it's like to be a black parent, but I do know pain when I see it and recognize despair when I hear it, from the deepest part of the soul of those who believe time is running out," said Ward.

Prior to the vote, fans and foes of black-focused schools made their case before a crowd of about 100 with all the passion and power that issues of race ignite.

To the mother of Jordan Manners, "this black school thing – no, it ain't right."

"Don't propose it – Martin Luther King thought we could sit at the front of the bus together," pleaded Loreen Small, whose son was shot dead last spring at his school in northwest Toronto.

"My son died at C.W. Jefferys in 2007. If we can all just come together and be as one," said an emotional Small, who broke down in tears in the hall after her presentation.

"If black kids need to graduate, let's get teachers in there and learn how to interact with black kids," she said.

Yet human rights activist Vicky McPhee said an Africentric school "is a right," and the only type of school to which she wants to send her 6-year-old child. She called for these schools in each of the city's 22 wards.

Twelve of the 20 speakers urged the board to open an alternative Africentric school as a way to fight an estimated 40 per cent dropout rate among Toronto's black students.

Longtime community leader Murphy Browne said she was alarmed at the high number of youth being "pushed out" of school by a European-centred system, who then get "caught up in the school-to-jail pipeline."

"Many students say they would do better if they learned about their heritage, but who knows about Mathieu da Costa, (a navigator of African descent) who came to Canada in 1603 as a translator in Champlain's expeditions."

Others warned that an Africentric school would amount to a dangerous step back toward racial segregation.

In an impassioned bid to separate rumours from the real proposal, Donna Harrow reminded trustees that this proposed school would be open to all students.

Harrow said the debate has been made overly charged by those raising the ghost of the segregated South.

"This has turned into a fiasco – we did not propose a school for only blacks, we did not propose a school with all black teachers and all black curriculum.

"Let us stop it. This is a school where all people could come and get support.

No one said little white children could not go there."

Besides the Africentric school, the board passed, by wide margins, measures to:

Launch an action plan to help all black students do better.

Start three pilot programs in regular schools where subjects would be taught from an Africentric perspective.

Work with York University and community agencies to establish a centre of research on how to close the learning gap between black children and their peers of other backgrounds.

While many trustees support more inclusive courses, the stumbling block has long been creating a separate program or school with an Africentric focus with a largely black staff and student body.

It has been a lightning rod for racial debate in Toronto for more than a decade, since Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning in 1995 suggested a black-focused school might help stem the higher dropout rate among black students, often blamed on a curriculum that overlooks their heritage and teachers who don't reflect their diversity.

At the time of the Royal Commission, 40 per cent of black Grade 9 students in Toronto were dropping out, and their prospects haven't improved.

The Toronto District School Board says 40 per cent of Caribbean-born students drop out, and 32 per cent from east Africa.

 

[I-Z1]

We also need a whites only and asians only school...then there are those DNA tests required to determine the actual race...so no-one gets placed in the 'wrong' school.

We need to segregate the males and females as well....it will reduce teen pregnancy amongst other things.....is this next on the agenda?

When do the seperate water fountains appear, and just how far back is the 'back of the bus'?

 

[grey]

The media has had a field day misrepresenting this story. Race sells up here since we don’t deal with it.



It’s an afrocentric school that’s part of a bigger effort to bring in afrocentric lessons schoolboard wide. Afrocentric because black-identified youth are struggling boardwide, even more so when you trace it to the schools in the inner suburb projects/ghettos in Toronto. It's not a school for blacks or anything, but it will turn into that by default since most wasp yuppies moving to Toronto are racist as fuck beneath their champagne socialist veneer.

You might get kids that really want to get into history at university applying to go to that school. The question then would be the bias from university admissions. Toronto already has 35 alternative schools addressing different needs groups, so its not at all a big deal when you think of it that way.


The school itself would probably be at a secondary level – just like all the other alternative schools in the system. Kids would have to apply / be identified for whatever extra supports what would be located at that school. So it wouldn’t be like Black Panther type shiz with 3 year old black kids. I’m not sure if they’re starting with a grade 9 class first and build up to grade 12, or with a grade 12 class and then filling back down to grade 9.



The idea is that you also introduce subaltern takes into the primary school curriculum so kids would have a more broad-based understanding of history of peoples of the world, not just 50s’-Europe-was-right (written by Europeans) / "70s’-Europe-was-wrong-for-not-being-sensitive-enough (written by Europeans). There’d be more along the lines of a Europeans-should-have-stayed-the-fuck-out-of-Africa-and-not-carved-it-up take on history. The idea isn’t that there’s a ‘black’ way to do math or whatever. It's more that there’s an ‘African’ take on history, etc – which there is, i.e. a postcolonialist/subaltern view of civics. Most of the people at the school board don't understand it either. My friend who works there had to explain the concept to like 5 people there already, and he just started working there versus their 25 years there. Think Paolo Freire/voices of the oppressed, or Edward Said, or early Zapatista type stuff.



And yeah, money is probably better spent getting social programmes and economic opportunity into disadvantaged areas, but goooooood luck getting money for that. Black votes don’t count up here anymore than in the States. Or Africa for that matter.

 

[grey]

News coverage is not conducive to nuances. I don’t think 40% failure rate is considered success in the regular system. There are underlying factors no doubt that go beyond race – but the stats were generated on the basis of race, so that’s how the solution are going to be tailored, unfortunately.

People will no doubt take it out on the kids instead of the Harris government and trustees and that enabled race-based stats collection instead of taking the time and money developing a more comprehensive school census that would have allowed better solutions. I can almost guarantee a geographic/economic/sociological component to the students’ lack of success, but those stats aren’t being collected.



It’ll only undermine racial harmony if we chose to let it, I think.
(a) its not a ‘black’ school
(b) they’re struggling students first and foremost.

If people view them as black struggling students instead of struggling students that are black, that’s the start of the racial problem right there. And this is of course assuming that those kids aren’t already experiencing discrimination.

 

[I-Z1]

like i hate it you know when people say you just pulling the race card.

Then, why don't you stop using the race card...stand on your own for a change and stop trying to blame everyone else for your problems.

 

[I-Z1]

since most wasp yuppies moving to Toronto are racist as fuck beneath their champagne socialist veneer

Takes one to know one, eh, grey?

We need schools for every marginilised youth in Toronto....that'll teach them to work together, and break down the walls of segregation and racism.

 

[Hydrogen]

McGuinty opposes black-focused school plan
KAREN HOWLETT
Globe and Mail Update
January 31, 2008 at 1:42 PM EST

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he opposes plans by Toronto District School Board trustees to create the province's first publicly-funded black-focused school. But he says he won't overrule the contentious proposal.

“I'm against this. I'm not prepared to change the law,†Mr. McGuinty told reporters at the Ontario legislature today.

Trustees of Canada's largest school board narrowly voted this week in favour of opening an alternative Afrocentric school to help fight a 40 per cent dropout rate among Toronto's black teens. The vote opens the door to the creation of multiple Afrocentric schools, but it is not at all clear how the cash-strapped board will fund them.

Mr. McGuinty said Thursday that his government has no intention of providing extra funding for the schools.

“I am disappointed with the board's decision,†he said. “I don't support it and we won't fund it.â€

Progressive Conservative MPP Elizabeth Witmer criticized Mr. McGuinty for not intervening and blocking the creation of the schools, especially after he spoke out against the Tories' widely unpopular proposal during the recent provincial election campaign to set up faith-based schools. Mr. McGuinty said publicly-funded Jewish and Muslim schools would promote segregation and divide society.

“He's a hypocrite to say that he can't take any action,†Ms. Witmer told reporters today. “I think he has now opened the door to more segregation in the public system.â€

Mr. McGuinty said there is nothing hypocritical about his stand on Afrocentric schools. He said the board's trustees are accountable to residents of Toronto, so it is up to residents to voice any objections. He said he will not intervene because trustees have the authority to create such schools.

But he accused the trustees of having “leapt†before taking a hard look at a number of unanswered questions, including how many Afrocentric schools they are talking about, who will teach in them, how students will be selected and how much the schools will cost.

“I think the trustees owe it to all of us to answer those questions before they proceed further,†Mr. McGuinty said.

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne added that the proposal to create Afrocentric schools is not at all comparable to faith-based schools because the goal is to improve the grades of black students.

“The issue of faith-based education has nothing to do with student achievement,†Ms. Wynne told reporters.

She also said the trustees are on the wrong track in pursing the creation of black-focused schools.

“The underlying philosophy we're promoting is inclusion, so obviously we don't want to see kid separated,†she said.

 

[grey]

Takes one to know one, eh, grey?

What, you want examples?

A lot of people are treating this as though it's a segregationist black school. This is media spin and you are misdirecting your rage. As I pointed out above, the TDSB plan is not inherently racist -- if you want to talk about racism, focus on the seething racism of wasp parents and the underlying (and largely unacknowledged) racism issues in this city.

They tried to hold a diversity assembly in some northish/eastish GTA municipality a few years back (late 90s, if I recall correctly) at some school. All the parents threatened to keep their kids home, and the assembly got cancelled. And this was before homosexual stuff.

I think this was Richmond Hill or Ajax or something. It was supposed to be a one-off assembly in a basically all white school where the kids would learn about kids of other backgrounds and it became a shit storm. Parents didn’t want their kids lectured on acceptance because they’d learn it at home or something was the official line from the parent groups.

I could also refer to the ghetto dude email to point out the extent of the race problem in Toronto. Not to mention cops ticketing kids in the inner suburb housing projects for jaywalking and stuff to get their names in the police system.


Edit: and no, that is not a picture of me.

 

[grey]

Re: the 'ghetto dude' email I mentioned above -- I couldn't find a link, but here's the gist.

Province of Ontario this summer:

Black kid – stupidly accomplished kid. Went in for job interviews. Some mid-level staffer involved in the hiring process accidentally emailed him an email meant to go to the hiring committee where she referred to him as "the ghetto dude" because of his residential address. This guy had more scholarship and fellowships and references then an extraordinary person would know what to do with, but she saw his address and assumed his skin colour and categorised him on that basis first. He lucked out large that the email was sent to him along with the rest of the hiring committee. It was a big to do. I think it was this summer or the summer before. Mcguinty ended up having to step in and force them to hire the kid because they weren’t going to hire him for no clear reason.



It reinforced in a lot of peoples’ minds that merit is still eclipsed by your address and skin colour/name even now in Ontario. And this wasn’t some old white curmudgeonly staffer whose parents grew up knowing it was okay to hate Jews and the Irish. This was some Asian late twentysomething staffer that grew up here and felt completely comfortable within the government of Ontario to call him ghetto dude.

 

[I-Z1]

What, you want examples?

Yes please, not the ancedotal 'evidence' you posted, actual examples of what "most" "wasps" do in this city....maybe it's your avatar that's throwing me off....if you don't want to come across as a racist pig (and you do), maybe you should change the pic.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

i can't believe this got voted in. IMO, all it does is reinforce the negative stereotype that "all black people are the same". this has got to be one of the dumbest decisions ever made. someone must have thought to themselves: "hmmm, what do these dropouts have in common? a ha! they're dark!" IMO, being black has as much to do with dropping out as having facial hair.

if people want to separate themselves of their own free will, that's fine. the problem is that kids are going to be sent to these schools by their parents or brainwashed to believe that they want to go, just like i was. there should be no alternative schools based of religion, color, gender or sexuality. the most important experience you should get from school is social integration.

the concept of race and difference has really had a negative influence in this world. we are all african and our outward appearance is shaped by our environment and time.

with all that bing said and the many other replies to this thread i have made, being black and dropping out is merely a coincidence. these kids have other issues that need to be addressed and other factors that are effecting their lives.

 

[grey]

^^ Again, the media is spinning this to look like segregation. Everyone’s focusing on the black school bit, not so much the fact curriculum hasn’t been developed and the school isn’t going to start up until curriculum has been identified and a site selected, but TDSB being what it is, that’ll probably take forever. Not to mention teacher contract negotiations might scuttle the whole thing before they get into putting pen to paper to chalk the whole thing out from beyond a position paper.

 

[I-Z1]

Again, the media is spinning this to look like segregation.

Right, it's the media's fault....not the school board who is creating a school for black folk.