The Africentric School Debate

This past Tuesday, I tuned into the Toronto District School Board’s meeting where Trustees and the public debated four strategies that a TDSB committee had come up with to address to needs of black students, 40% of whom are dropping out of Toronto schools. Of the four strategies, the one that stirred up the most debate (and passed by a much smaller margin than the others) was the one recommending a Program Area Review Team be formed to propose the program and operational model for an Africentric Alternative school, slated to open in September 2009.

One argument against an Africentric school is that it harkens back to segregation: the separation of blacks and whites in American society between 1876 and 1965, after the abolition of slavery and introduction of Jim Crow laws. The argument is invalid in our current context since the separation of the races in antebellum Dixie was legally enforced, whereas an Africentric school in Toronto is non-mandatory and open to all.

The fundamental idea behind this school is diametrically opposed to black schools in the Southern States during the Jim Crow era: African-Americans were put in their own schools so whites wouldn’t have to interact with them. There was an overt value put on a person based on the colour of their skin: Rosa Parks had to sit at the back of the bus, moving further back if a white needed a seat. The Toronto Africentric school is focused on a disadvantaged group whom the TDSB is somehow failing and through curriculum, culture and African-Canadian role models, the school hopes to improve the success of this group.

In his article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail, Jeffrey Simpson questions how well Ontarians will receive a black-focused school when the Conservatives campaigned on their platform of funding for religious-based schools and fell flat on their faces:

Ontarians did not favour the Conservatives’ arguments because most voters instinctively or explicitly believed that in an increasingly multicultural and pluralistic society, schools should be one of those places for community, or what has become known as “inclusiveness.”

Yes, that is what schools should be, but not necessarily what they are. And while faith-based schools would focus on the teachings of a specific religion, there is no evidence to indicate that the educational needs of Jewish or Islamic or Buddhist students are not being met. We do, however, have a glaring statistic of 40% that points to a need in the black community, a need that members of that community have asked for.

But is it fair, you ask? I refer you to a quote from Richard Lavoie, a famous American Learning Disabilities expert: “Fair does not mean that everyone gets the same thing; it means that everyone gets what they need.” Is it fair that my brother gets to wear glasses and I don’t? Of course it is – he gets what he needs to be a productive member of society (who doesn’t bump into chairs and walk into walls).

It may sound radical, but why not give this demographic what they need in order to be successful at school, regardless of whether or not it is “fair” to other groups. Black students do not see themselves reflected in the curriculum or in the people that stand at the front of the classroom. The Toronto District School Board already has other Alternative Schools aimed at students who cannot function in the regular school system. There is also the First Nations School of Toronto, serving a perhaps the most disadvantaged group in Canada.

Trustee Sheila Ward got quite uppity at criticisms of the First Nations School, saying it was wonderful and they were making great gains, when in reality this is not quite the case. (I speak from experience, having shared a building with the school). The school has some dedicated people working really hard to make positive change for students, but it is also working against so many social and institutional factors that are constantly getting in the way.

And this is where we have to see an Africentric school as only part of the solution. Trustee Stephnie Payne made the salient point that schools are only part of a student’s life and that good parenting is what is really needed (she, incidentally, voted against the Africentric school). Jeffrey Simpson makes the same point in his piece:

The much more frequent explanations for poor student achievement, for blacks or any other group, have much less to do with curriculum than factors over which schools have little control: dysfunctional families, troubled neighbourhoods, few roles models (absent fathers), poverty, gangs or, in a few immigrant communities, attitudes toward education (especially for females) that are not easily reconciled with mainstream Canadian ones.

With only six hours in a schoolday to remedy social inequities, teach empathy and respect of others, fix general societal problems, tend to the pastoral care of our students, and - oh yeah - teach them stuff, schools can’t offer the only solution.

But we can offer part of the solution, so why not try it? The status quo is not working. Schools need to do whatever they can to foster the success of all students. Let’s see what happens with this Africentric school. Let’s hope it helps someone in that 40%.

Notes from the Classroom

Okay, this is slightly self-indulgent, but when you're a teacher and a kid says something funny or you say something you never thought you'd have to in your life; you only have yourself to laugh with. And so, I share:

CUTE KID QUOTES

My children were using unit cubes to explore division problems with remainders when one student became convinced that one of his unit cubes had been taken by a fellow student. He said to me, “I had remainder 7 and now I only have remainder 6! She has my cube!”

PHRASES YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D UTTER...

I said this right after a boy fell on his hands and knees, positioned his face 10cm from the floor, and blew out his nose as hard as he could: “If you have something up your nose, get a tissue. Now, can you find the booger and clean it up."

Eating Plasticine and Getting Paid for It

There was an incident in my classroom last week in which a student held up a ball of plasticine and announced to his table group, “Who will pay me to eat this?”

Upon hearing this, I rolled my eyes and said, “G, no one’s eating plasticine and no one’s paying you.” I turned away, thinking the issue was done.

Not so. G. found a buyer who slipped him a twoonie to eat the non-toxic glob of moulding clay (thankfully it was non-toxic – I had to rummage for the package to check this). This from a kid who refuses to eat oranges at the bottom of the snack bin because too many kids’ hands have come in contact with them.

Now, when I was at school, I remember there was a boy who ate glue. And I seem to remember stories about the slightly socially-off kids eating chalk and the dried macaroni from art projects. But to eat gross things for money? Isn’t that going a bit far?

A colleague pointed out that this could be a result of those shows like Fear Factor where people perform unsavoury feats in order to win large amounts of money at the end. Fear Factor came at the beginning of the reality show craze and sparked several editorials about the “dumbing down” of television. What happened to showing off your knowledge during Jeopardy? What about figuring out a phrase with only a few letters, a la Wheel of Fortune? Has the current generation of children been dumbed down so much that earning money by doing disgusting things is now perfectly normal?

Then I remembered a guy I knew in high school, who happened to be in the Gifted programme, who drank a concoction of gravy, ketchup, vinegar and pop for two dollars in grade ten. So maybe it’s just the joy of being gross that some people possess. Maybe kids have always found it fun to partake of repellent pursuits (it would certainly explain many university hazing activities). Maybe eating plasticine is an easy way to make a couple of bucks.