The subject of Black-focused schools has once again come into the limelight. The Toronto District School Board is presently debating the issue, with some individuals arguing for the idea and others against it. The purpose of these schools, say the former, is to help lower the high dropout rate among Black youths by providing them with an educational environment that emphasizes the history and culture of African and African-descended peoples, like the majority of inhabitants of the Caribbean region. Because the mainstream school system does not affirm Black students’ heritage, many of them feel alienated from and eventually abandon formal education. Opponents on the other hand call Black-focused schools a return to the “separate but equal†days of segregation. Others, such as the National Post, openly state that the causes of African-Canadian adolescents’ high dropout rate lie not in the school but in the home: fatherless families, teen pregnancy, and welfare dependency among other things.
Personally I find some of the arguments of both parties a little extreme. Case in point: the charge of “segregation.†Surely no African-Canadian student would be forced to go to a Black-focused school, and non-Blacks would be welcome to attend too, although it’s hard to imagine many White or Asian families choosing to send their children to a Black-focused school. Nonetheless, as much as the “con†side’s statements strike me as overly alarmist, those of the pros appear even more dubious in some respects. For example, while Canadian public schools are hardly “Asian-focused,†Chinese, Koreans and East Indians are along with Jews the highest-achieving students in them. So the lack of emphasis on their heritage cannot be the only reason for Black teens’ elevated rate of school abandonment.
Some say that Black-focused schools will give the impression that African-Canadian students can’t “make it†in the mainstream academic world. Again, this fear appears rather exaggerated. On the other hand, with celebrities like James Watson and Philippe Rushton claiming that Blacks are genetically inferior to Whites, perhaps the establishment of such schools might in the minds of some people reinforce the notion that Blacks need “special†classes the way children with Down syndrome do. I admit it would bother me if my sister enrolled her two sons – who are biracial; their father is African-American – in a Black-focused school. It might lead me to think she did not consider them “good enough†for the mainstream system (my nephews are A students, by the way).
With all my ambivalence about Black-focused schools, though, I do believe they may be worth a try if African-Canadian parents really want them. They might help at least some students improve their grades and stay in school. I also feel that mainstream schools should teach children of all ethnic backgrounds, including Whites, about non-European histories and cultures. But in the end Black-focused schools are not the most effective solution to African-Canadians’ high dropout rate.
There is alot of focus on the drop out rate….that is important to lower in order for our community to improve….but alienation spreads a hell of alot further than just to the ones who end up dropping out. At a point I was ready to step off myself but never did. My greatest motivator was a negative one…..graduating and carrying on with school got me out of a situation (including the school environment) where I was surrounded by few black people and felt alienated due to many peoples attitudes and behaviour. A lack of anything in education related to me made the disconnect even worse.
Many black people who have succeeded can come with stories of discrimination including nasty teachers and guidance counsellors telling them to aim low. What I hope the long term effect of the alternative school plan is, has to do with getting the right staff in schools.
If the “majority” are going to get pissed off at a black focussed school….I hope they are pissed off enough to tell thier government that they want schools to be inclusive enough that no minority group feels that they need a parallel system. I want them to tell the government to mandate that staff reflect roughly the school populations in any given district.
When school staff can identify with kids….or at the least identify with parents, things can begin to improve. The lack of black parent involvement in schools should have alerted people to the fact that you dont have to be a kid in school to get alienated by the Canadian education system. My own experience will cause me to approach the system with caution and monitor my kids (future kids that is) closely. What ever decision I make about their schooling will be to ensure they have the best chances of making it…..same as the parents who are now fighting to get thier kids into alternative schools.
Thank you for the response. I appreciate you sharing your insights and experiences.
I know I am opening a can of worms here, but I question whether the high dropout rate among Black-Canadian youths is the direct result of lack of Black teachers in the schools. There doesn’t appear to be an overrepresentation of Asian teachers in the schools, but Asian students are, on average, doing better than Whites in terms of grades, dropout rates, university enrolment and so on.
Still, as I mention in my essay, it is worth giving Black-focused schools a try. Maybe some Black students would relate better to Black teachers, guidance counsellors, etcetera than to White ones. Hopefully the teachers and counsellors at these schools would have high expectations of the students. I think perhaps low expectations might be doing more damage to Black students than direct racism (which I do not deny exists).
Maybe Black-focused schools will not do anything to help young Blacks stay in school (and I must admit I am sceptical that they will). Still, until we try we will never know.
Emilia
All those things can contribute….so can peer pressure and the idea that some get that succeeding is “white” behaviour.
I know how easy it is to get cynical on the whole situation when you do all the damn things society tells you to and you are still struggling. I left Montreal to get a job here after graduation because I could not speak French…but also learned while there that was not the only issue. In a study that compared blacks to all other groups, blacks with a BA had an unemployment rate in Montreal of 18.34% while people of all other races who dropped out after grade 10 had an unemployment rate of 17.7%. This study was a shock to everyone in Montreal except the black population.
The more successful black people black children come into contact with the more they can see the direction they want to head in life and that it is possible in spite of the BS attitudes of many in society that they come into contact with regularly. If those who do what they are supposed are still turning up in crappy conditions and have a low success rate, they cant do much to steer a kid towards school and away from fast money and its consequences.
Schools cannot solve everything….they are a peice of the puzzle but should not be ignored.
Too often people want to throw a quick solution to solve a complex problem….if it turns out to not be the magic bullit people think it should be, they act like the problem is impossible and go back to pushing the problem aside…..as long as the complex problem is one of a racially, ethnically or linguistic minority in the society…or simply a problem of the poor.
I dont know how well it will work….hopefully the alternative school engages the kids within it…..and at the same time the vast majority of black students who wont get to go to it will be in schools that aim to connect with them and build bridges that have been burned down for years. The education system needs to re-build ties to the community the same way the police have to….that will probably do most to lower the drop out rate.
I dont want to write too much more but one last thing is education and availability of parents to assist kids with the homework….If I did not have a mother who happend to be good at all or at least most of the subjects I struggled with….I would have thrown in the towel….there was no way in hell I was gonna get support within the school environment for those areas I struggled. I am fully aware the extent to which home life works with school life to make someone graduate.
Thanks for the discussion.
Thank you again for your comments. The problem of the high dropout rate in the Black community is a complex one, just as it is for other ethnic communities with high dropout rates, such as Hispanics, Portuguese and to a lesser extent Italians. I think it may be some aspects of the school (low expectations, etc.), though there are other factors like the family and the neighbourhood.
I think low expectations are a big factor, not only for Blacks but for children of all ethnic backgrounds. For instance, the “trend” now is to send children born from September to December to school a year later than normal because they’ll be “too young” to be with children almost a year older. Well, one of my nieces was born in December, and she is going to junior kindergarden next September when she is three (she’ll turn four in December). I would be aghast if my brother and his wife thought my niece was incapable of succeeding in a class for her age group. Children, if supported, can rise to the level of expectation, if you know what I mean.
So as I stated in my essay, Black-focused schools are worth a try. Maybe for some students it would help them “connect” more with school and academics. Again, I’m really sceptical that they would accomplish this goal, but until they are tried we really can’t say anything one way or the other.
Emilia