Race, Schooling, and Segregation?

[paraka]

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*

Comments

[paraka]

You know, I hardly ever use the term First Nations myself, mostly because "aboriginal" includes everyone. I never quite understood why the Inuit aren't included in the First Nations, is it just they're not part of the "Club", and get treated differently by the government?

creating a separate school is a band-aid solution.
Yeah, that's the real problem. Also, can I just say, I was surprised at the drop out rates in general? I can't believe that something like 25% of kids drop out of high school. My mind totally boggles at that. I wonder if those figures are just for Toronto...

but to me it seems like a mistake to separate people
Word. Where I live, we have to deal with a lot of problems stemming from the French/English segregation, and it's *not* pretty, and in the long run, I think is more damaging than helpful.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the Innu and the Inuit feel that the term First Nations doesn't quite work for them? I have to admit that I don't know all of the discourse around this. The language I am most familiar with is First Nations, Innu and Inuit.

I can't believe that something like 25% of kids drop out of high school.

It seems really high. I know that 25% of my high school cohort certainly didn't drop out, but I'm sure these things vary from place-to-place and in different time periods.

[paraka]

Perhaps the Innu and the Inuit feel that the term First Nations doesn't quite work for them?
Well they are considered to be a part of the "first ones here club" I think it probably has more to do with politics. If I'm remembering correctly, there's a... *waves hands* Assembly of the First Nations (I totally had to google the name of that), and it's the Assembly that represents the groups as a whole to the government (although individual bands will too) and maybe the Inuit and Innu feel that they weren't being represented as they choose, so aren't apart of the Assembly of First Nations, so don't fall under the heading. But I'm going off of suppositions and shaky memories here, so I could be totally wrong.

It seems really high. I know that 25% of my high school cohort certainly didn't drop out, but I'm sure these things vary from place-to-place and in different time periods.
Yeah, it must be a Toronto statistic, because I know 25% of my high school didn't drop out either.
Although, I know the community where my best friend grew up had a ton of drop outs, so maybe it's a provincial average. *shrugs*