Black-Focused Schools: Are They The Answer? New Africentric schools seek to stem high Black dropout rate By Gregory Crichlow The seemingly unthinkable has been approved in the center of the universe: Tuesday night, January 29, the Toronto District School Board said yes to so-called Black-focused schools. Tuesday's vote actually capped months of heated back-and-forth involving parents, students, teachers and trustees, the end result of which was the board throwing its support behind “four innovative strategies for improving the success of Black students.” The approved strategies include establishing a Program Area Review Team to recommend the program and operational model for an Africentric Alternative School opening in Toronto in September 2009; establishing a pilot program in three existing schools integrating the histories, cultures, experiences and contributions of people of African descent and other racial groups into curriculum, teaching practices and school environment; establishing a Staff Development, Research and Innovation Centre in collaboration with post-secondary institutions and community agencies to assess best practices for improving the success of marginalized and vulnerable students; and developing an action plan for addressing underachievement for all marginalized and vulnerable students. Talking Points: Poor black performance in school is a consequence of poor black performance in life. Canada is largely to blame, since the nation decided in the 1970s to limit the number of Caribbean students (read: people with the facilities to deal with discrimination) in favour of cheap labour. Some of the cheap labour who arrived was considered trash even back in the Caribbean (as upper-class Caribbeans will attest - in private) and there is little cultural influence compelling them to change their violent/non-academic ways here. Imagine Saudi Arabia emptying the trailer parks of Canada for cheap labour in the oil fields, only to complain later about their unwillingness to adapt to the humility of Islam. “What do you expect?” would be our likely response. Based on this pattern, Portuguese and Latino schools can't be far away. ____________________________________ No black student with serious post-secondary aspirations will want to submit an academic record showing graduation from the “ghetto school.” ____________________________________ Anyone who saw the board meeting on TV no doubt noticed the proponents were utterly classless during the proceeding. On more than one occasion the chair requested that there be NO APPLAUSE OR HECKLING after board members spoke. The parents ignored requests for civility, bursting out in spasms of applause or hissing after every monologue as if they were at a Methodist church. They also rudely accosted a black trustee after the vote for daring to oppose the proposal. Is it any wonder so many children in the inner city have disciplinary problems? Look at their role models! Africentric schools are going be reform schools for the simple fact that they cannot afford to have the same dropout rate as other high schools without being declared failures. Since the proponents themselves are targeting kids that have dropped out of school, the curriculum will have to be dumbed down so the homies can keep up. Expect few A and B students at these schools, as no black student with serious post-secondary aspirations will want to submit an academic record showing graduation from the “ghetto school.” Another question is where were the Africans during the Africentric school debate. Barely a Somali or Ethiopian in sight. The most entertaining part of the blog dialogue (diablog?) was watching certain conservative websites invoke the ghost of Martin Luther King to oppose the “segregation” of Africentric schools. Virtually any other discourse they engage in involving blacks inevitably leads to discussions about black intellectual inferiority, ridicule of black culture, or poorly-veiled fears of miscegenation. Wasn't white flight from Toronto about escaping darkie (and slanty and dotty, and…)? Of course supporting this school would amount to supporting the transfer of government funds to initiatives favoured by rival liberals/socialists - hence the opposition. I hope that one day such schools will no longer appeal to so many people. We are one society, whether we like it or not. Gregory Crichlow is a Toronto-based writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. He works in the corporate world but finds solace in the world of media and technology. Read more of his writing under the pseudonym "Cynapse" at www.cynicsunlimited.com. Go to Urban Mozaik Magazine This website: Copyright © 2008 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. 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