YART: 'Enough talk and tokenism. To stem the flood of dropouts, we have to try a black-focused school.'

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
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So up here in Toronto, Canada, the idea of a black youth-focused high school has recently been floated by a black secondary school teacher. It hasn't met with all that much support - actually, quite the opposite. Here's the gist of the proposal being set forward:
"Black students still deal with mostly white guidance counsellors and teachers, so I'm cynical about what gets done to encourage them. The kids start to see themselves as non-academic. We need to show what can be done to encourage their potential.

"The black-focused school I'm proposing couldn't be exclusively for black students, because black students don't always want to be with just black students."

"I don't agree the school should be just for students on the brink of dropping out. The school should be used as a lab, if you like, where curriculum ideas could be developed and tested and out of that could come ideas for the whole school program. The school would offer both academic and applied courses to serve students of all abilities."

"But there should be only one school ? not more ? because then you're setting up a segregated system. Separating students by race is not a long-term solution. It would lead to separation of people by racial background and I'm not in favour of it and actually I don't think our youth, black or otherwise, are in favour of it. I'm in favour of a public system that works for everybody. So if a black-focused school can help in the short term to find ways to accommodate all students, then that would be good.

"Quotas would help. The black-focused school would have predominantly black teachers, but not exclusively."

"And it wouldn't be a school that teaches only black history. It should be everybody's history but integrated with Afro-centric issues that the rest of the school system is not teaching."
While there's some troublingly awful assertions made by Mr. Sium (who spoke all of the above), in my opinion he's got one or two points. These are:

It might not be such a bad thing to 'isolate' black students.
Implicit comparisons happen daily between black, white, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc students while in class. You compare mathematical abilities, reading levels, family fiscal status, clothing, and more. The have-nots always tend towards resenting the haves.

The most impartial teacher on the planet will manage his class based on these factors. The cleancut white kid in the front row, or the doorag wearing black kid slouching in the back row because to some extent he's expected to be unprepared, surly and perhaps even dressed a certain way. These are things that student needs to break out of, and this is where eliminating the possibility of comparisons can be a net positive.

Example: I've always noticed that classes that lean heavily towards being all-male or all-female are livelier, and more responsive to the teacher/professor than one with a more even mix. You're simply not as afraid of saying something stupid and making a fool of yourself in front of the class. Why can't the same principle apply to the racial divide? I imagine it already does.

Artificially establishing a majority of black teachers and counselors can be a positive.
Again, with the certain amount of implicit racism that's fairly common even in the city of Toronto - it really doesn't get much more diverse than it is here - taking a discussion about study habits, problems at home, a future career... it's going to be somewhat easier to do this with someone your own race (and gender) than the alternative.

Someone, say, who may understand implicitly what the home conditions of a black student are like and how there's a certain amount of bias against scholarly excellence because it's looked upon as 'white'. Establishing strong same-race role models in a school like this might be a small caveat now for far greater returns in the future.

Whaddya think? Since the article I got this all from is registration-required, I'll just post it in its entirely in the 2nd post of this thread.
 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
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'Give black students hope'
After 23 years at the front of the class, Toronto history teacher Bairu Sium has gathered some race-based statistics of his own.

His Grade 11 history course for 28 university-bound students has not one black student. His Grade 11 law course has one black student out of 32. He has never taught a high school "gifted" class with more than three black students.

But in his Grade 10 history class for those not headed to university? Six of 16 students are black.

This black educator believes that public schools ? whether intentionally or not ? stream students by colour and steer black students in particular away from more ambitious, scholarly paths.

And he says it's time to try an experimental black-focused school to figure out ways to reverse this trend.

Ontario's soaring dropout rate, and the challenges faced by black students in particular, moved to the front burner recently when Lloyd McKell, the new equity chief at the Toronto District School Board, said he favours gathering race-based statistics on student achievement, staffing and discipline.

McKell has also suggested a single black-focused school might help black students on the brink of dropping out.

His proposal drew intense heat from community leaders, educators and even Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. But it struck a chord with Bairu Sium, a teacher at Danforth Collegiate. Sium is passionate about what he sees as the daunting roadblocks facing black students. He sees them in his students, in his colleagues and in his own children, who had only one or two black teachers in their entire schooling.

Here is one teacher's view from the trenches, as told to reporter Louise Brown.

I started keeping a daily journal about my life as a teacher last year, and it opened my eyes to a lot. I had one bright black student who was bored because he ended up in applied classes that were just too easy. He was also a drug dealer who would come with wads of money in his hand some days ? big bills, $100s, $20s ? and he sometimes carried a gun.

"I was the first black teacher he had ever had ? in Grade 11. He felt let down by the school system. He said it was unfair the school banned do-rags, which he felt symbolized cultural value since it is mostly black students who wear them. He thought they should be allowed, like head coverings of students of Jewish and Sikh background.

"This fall, he didn't come back. I suspect he's dropped out, partly because the education system gave him no hope he could get somewhere, like college. Sometimes bright students don't achieve because their parents aren't at home, there is nowhere quiet to study, there's music blasting at the top level all the time. We need more psychological consultants to help identify kids with potential.

"But in 23 years, I haven't seen much progress with the education of black students, other than tokens teachers, token administrators. Black students say they often don't get asked questions and start being streamed away from academic paths as early as kindergarten.

"Just watch who gets identified early for gifted programs, and it's not often the black children. Instead, they get identified for special education or behaviour classes. That's what the race-based statistics showed when we gathered them back in the 1980s in the City of Toronto ? that a far higher percentage of black students were in courses not headed for university.

"Black students still deal with mostly white guidance counsellors and teachers, so I'm cynical about what gets done to encourage them. The kids start to see themselves as non-academic. We need to show what can be done to encourage their potential.

"The black-focused school I'm proposing couldn't be exclusively for black students, because black students don't always want to be with just black students. Years ago I was teaching Black Heritage programs to Grade 5 and 6 students and sometimes their white friends came and that was nice. It should be predominantly black, but if their friends wanted to come along, that would be good.

"I don't agree the school should be just for students on the brink of dropping out. The school should be used as a lab, if you like, where curriculum ideas could be developed and tested and out of that could come ideas for the whole school program. The school would offer both academic and applied courses to serve students of all abilities.

"But there should be only one school ? not more ? because then you're setting up a segregated system. Separating students by race is not a long-term solution. It would lead to separation of people by racial background and I'm not in favour of it and actually I don't think our youth, black or otherwise, are in favour of it. I'm in favour of a public system that works for everybody. So if a black-focused school can help in the short term to find ways to accommodate all students, then that would be good.

"And we need quotas to make sure more qualified black teachers get hired until there is a critical mass. Anything else is lip service. Nobody wants quotas, but people are frustrated because not enough is being done.

"There's a vicious cycle at play here. If fewer black students graduate from high school, then fewer go on to university and graduate from teachers' college. That's a problem. The pool of qualified black teachers is smaller, and when they do apply, do they get hired?

"Quotas would help. The black-focused school would have predominantly black teachers, but not exclusively.

"And it wouldn't be a school that teaches only black history. It should be everybody's history but integrated with Afro-centric issues that the rest of the school system is not teaching.

"With my own classes on ancient civilizations, when I teach about Egypt, I put it in an African context. I teach that the people who built the pyramids were Africans who came from the Sahara when it dried up, and I explain how they became `Arabized' when Islam arrived.

"With my students' assignments, I take a broad world view, not just European ? and some students choose assignments on the history of Zimbabwe while others pick the Vikings. And it's not always the black students who pick the African assignment, either.

"Inequality and poverty are huge topics, but education is something we can work with. It's in our hands. We can change it and give black students hope."
 

brxndxn

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Apr 3, 2001
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Screw that.. Keep acting like black students are different.. or that race matters.. or that race equals culture and you're just feeding them instead of teaching them.

A white kid growing up in a ghetto acts 'black', thinks 'black', etc.. A black kid growing up in a white school acts 'white', thinks 'white', etc..

What we really need to do is stop all welfare programs and all handouts.. and let the poor folk learn how to fend for themselves..

There's a ton of poverty in white rural America.. Let them learn on their own too.
 

chambersc

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2005
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ok, it won't work in the US because the USSC have said that quota systems are unconstitutional.

/thread ?
 

mwtgg

Lifer
Dec 6, 2001
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"I was the first black teacher he had ever had ? in Grade 11. He felt let down by the school system. He said it was unfair the school banned do-rags, which he felt symbolized cultural value since it is mostly black students who wear them. He thought they should be allowed, like head coverings of students of Jewish and Sikh background.

That's hilarious.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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Originally posted by: brxndxn
Screw that.. Keep acting like black students are different.. or that race matters.. or that race equals culture and you're just feeding them instead of teaching them.

A white kid growing up in a ghetto acts 'black', thinks 'black', etc.. A black kid growing up in a white school acts 'white', thinks 'white', etc..

What we really need to do is stop all welfare programs and all handouts.. and let the poor folk learn how to fend for themselves..

There's a ton of poverty in white rural America.. Let them learn on their own too.

yep. Until you fix the culture where it is encouraged to be stupid and commit crimes it won't work.

 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
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432
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Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: brxndxn
Screw that.. Keep acting like black students are different.. or that race matters.. or that race equals culture and you're just feeding them instead of teaching them.

A white kid growing up in a ghetto acts 'black', thinks 'black', etc.. A black kid growing up in a white school acts 'white', thinks 'white', etc..

What we really need to do is stop all welfare programs and all handouts.. and let the poor folk learn how to fend for themselves..

There's a ton of poverty in white rural America.. Let them learn on their own too.
yep. Until you fix the culture where it is encouraged to be stupid and commit crimes it won't work.
That's exactly what the idea of the school is. Gather a collection of successful black role models to teach in the school and combat that misleading culture by example. Once a waterfalling action starts - teacher to student, student to student - you can start to think about changing the culture as a whole. It's a quantitative action that can be taken that's not just 'talk and tokenism'.
 

chambersc

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2005
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Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: brxndxn
Screw that.. Keep acting like black students are different.. or that race matters.. or that race equals culture and you're just feeding them instead of teaching them.

A white kid growing up in a ghetto acts 'black', thinks 'black', etc.. A black kid growing up in a white school acts 'white', thinks 'white', etc..

What we really need to do is stop all welfare programs and all handouts.. and let the poor folk learn how to fend for themselves..

There's a ton of poverty in white rural America.. Let them learn on their own too.

yep. Until you fix the culture where it is encouraged to be stupid and commit crimes it won't work.


have you stopped to think that it's not so much "societys" fauly but rather *shock* their own fault. have you thought about those people who generally, for whatever reason, don't care about schooling and fail to see past the short-term. not everyone wants to grow up to do something with their life, you know.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
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I am thinking there are a lot of old segregationists with big grins on their faces when they read nonsense like this. :(
 

91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
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Blame the people.

You can't blame McDonald's that the people want high-calorie foods that make them fat, you can't blame the networks that people want brainless reality TV shows, and you can't blame society that blacks want role models who act like illiterate gangstas/ballers with poor money management skills.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. You can give people other options but you can't make them take them. Show most black youth a successful black role model like Colin Powell or Condi Rice and they'll call them a bunch of "uncle toms", as if success makes you "unblack".