paraka | Race, Schooling, and Segregation?

So, I have a question for my flist.

As some of you may have heard, the Toronto Public School Board just voted to open a "black-focused" school. The reasons cited, is that in Toronto, there is a higher high school drop out rate among black student (25% [African decent]-40% [Caribbean decent]), and they hope that having a focus school will help keep them in school.

My first reaction was, we want to keep kids in school (which I still stand by), but I'm really not sure this is the way to do it. No matter what they say, to me, it stinks of segregation. The school board tries to argue that it's not segregation if they can choose to go or not, but all I can think of is the segregation (where there is also a choice) going on in other parts of the country, especially Quebec and New Brunswick. All I've seen out of those situations is pain, and misunderstanding, which causes a divide that doesn't need to be there.

This is Canada's first "black" school, but I know America has some (and even more historically), so my question is, for those who have seen or experienced situations like this before, what do you think of this "solution"?

Also, off topic, but I can't tell you how much I *head desked* when I read the article about this in the Washington Times, when they talked about our "American Indians" WTF? I know that people sometimes have trouble figuring out what to call the Natives of North America in general, but what kind of name is American Indians? Especially for *Canadian* aboriginals. *shakes head*

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Re: Native Americans, I agree that the writer should have done the research to come up with the proper term. However, I've heard it said by other Canadians on my flist that African-American is the proper term for black Canadians on the reasoning that Canada is part of North America, so perhaps the writer was basing the term on that logic? Faulty either way, but s/he might have been following some sort of precedent.

Re: segregated schools, that's a difficult call. Obviously Canada =/= the US, so I'm not really familiar with the racial and ethnic nuances in Canadian culture. As far as "focused" universities go, however, I've heard secondhand about people who've had good experiences at traditionally black and traditionally Jewish universities. Those are private universities, though, which makes a huge difference.

On one hand, it concerns me that the school is aimed at the lower achieving students. My parents taught at lower achieving schools (this year, the seventh grade school my mom teaches at had a grand total of 4 students out of 250 who were performing at grade level), and they're the ghetto schools. I can see how this would easily become a way to track the poorer performing students away from the higher performing students.

On the other hand, I can understand why someone would want to attend one of those schools. I think even the top students in my mom's school district would rather attend the ghetto school than a better school (assuming one existed), because the racial tension adds so much pressure. From talking to students over the years, it seems more important to be where they're wanted than where they'd get the best education. (As an aside, I always thought they had it wrong. After my experience in higher education, yeah, they definitely had it right.)

Again, I don't know how much of that translates across the border, given that the two educational systems are so different (and admittedly, I don't know all that much about the Canadian system). I passed this along to my mom, though (the topic, not your post), and I'll be interested to hear what she has to say.

And thanks for posting about this. It'll definitely be interesting to follow.

However, I've heard it said by other Canadians on my flist that African-American is the proper term for black Canadians
Umm, the only time I've ever heard someone say "African-American" is if they're either talking to Americans, or talking about stereotypes more commonly associated with Americans.
Mostly in Canada we just say "black". Also, in this case specifically, the problem of high drop outs isn't with African Canadians, they have the same drop out rate as white Canadians (which is still higher than that of the Asian Canadians), no it's those of Caribbean decent that have the 40% drop out rate).

n the reasoning that Canada is part of North America
You know, there's a *song* about that. About how it's not fair that Canadians can't say we're American like the French can say they're European, and that the US has taken the identity of two whole continents. :(
It was super frustrating in China, because so many things are more of a North American trait than just Canadian, but it's really wordy to say so, if I say American, than people assume I'm talking about the US. :-/

Faulty either way, but s/he might have been following some sort of precedent.
It was more that it was just such a *bad* term to use, not out of any PCness, but because, if I hadn't read other articles referring to the native schools, I wouldn't have known right away what they were talking about.

As far as "focused" universities go, however, I've heard secondhand about people who've had good experiences at traditionally black and traditionally Jewish universities. Those are private universities, though, which makes a huge difference. On one hand, it concerns me that the school is aimed at the lower achieving students.
Yeah, I think the mindset of the students those two types of schools is more of a factor here. Still, if it works, I'll be happy, and will support the school whole heartedly.

because the racial tension adds so much pressure.
Yeah, that's the part I haven't much experience with. Where I live, there wasn't much tension, I can only recall one situation where there was (although, I was pretty oblivious of the goings on, so there's a good chance there was more than that one occasion). But I know that places like Montreal and Toronto have to deal with it more, especially when it comes to certain areas/groups (mostly we've been hearing about racism against Muslims since 9/11, but in Toronto being Jamaican caries certain implications).

I passed this along to my mom, though (the topic, not your post), and I'll be interested to hear what she has to say.
Oh, let me know what she thinks. I brought this up, but I find myself having trouble actually responding to people's comments, because, well, it's out of my scope. I'll admit, when I think of visible minorities in Canada, the first thing that pops into my head is Asian, not black, and the racial issues there are so very different. Canada actually has a small population of blacks, only 2.23% of the population according to the 2001 census.
A lot of Canadians exposure to racism actually comes from American TV and movies, which makes it hard for us to judge our own situation. There's far more racism against he aboriginal on the whole (and the French, depending who you're talking to *rolls eyes*).

I'm not sure if you're interested, but after mentioning that song, I've had it stuck in my head all day. If you'd like to hear it, I uploaded it: The Arrogant Worms - I Am Not American.
I ♥ the Arrogant Worms, they're so awesome :)

Thanks for the song!

Also, I wanted to apologize if I stuck my foot in it re: the focused school debate. I tried hard not to, but eh, good intentions, etc. etc.

Also, I was trying to text you earlier since I wasn't sure you'd be online to wish you good luck with your surgery tomorrow! Since I couldn't text you, I'm glad you're around, so good luck!

Also, I wanted to apologize if I stuck my foot in it re: the focused school debate. I tried hard not to, but eh, good intentions, etc. etc.
No! No, no. I wrote my response at like 1:30 in the morning yesterday, and when I finished I kind of thought it came off wrong, but, well, I was tired (but couldn't sleep, damn it!). You didn't at all, and I really appreciated what you had to say.

I think I was thinking about it a lot last night, and it was making me a bit uncomfortable regarding some of the comments that I was making over on my IJ (I try to always post to both of my journals), I hate talking about crime with respect to specific ethnic groups, it's something we really avoid doing in Canada (like the plague), so doing so left me feeling kind of dirty, and I think that came across in my post.

Also, as I implied in my original posts, in the areas that I live there are segregated schools based on your language, and it's caused some major problems, to the point where it's been screwing over the country as a whole. I will openly admit that I carry negative prejudices against the French (well, more separatists, but still). Seeing what's occurred here, it makes me really uncomfortable with the idea of further segregation.

Also, there was definitely some anti-American whining involved on my part, 'cause I really do hate the added layer of complexity when referring to North America as a whole. Sorry about that. And for sounding so testy in general. Will you forgive me?

Also, I was trying to text you earlier since I wasn't sure you'd be online
...What service do you use for texting? I'm hardly ever on, mostly because people are all over the place, and I can never find people on, which means I hardly ever go on, and it's a big vicious circle.

good luck with your surgery tomorrow!
Thanks! I'm still not really nervous, I think it's come up too quick, I'm not even overly excited. I think it hasn't really sunk in yet. :P Which reminds me, I really have to read over the rules. I know there are a lot of weird ones, like not being able to wear deodorant the day of the surgery....

See you on the other side (hopefully)!

Race, Schooling, and Segregation?

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