So . . . the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decided to quit while they were ahead and scrap plans for an "Afro-centric" high school. The idea was the brainchild of a group within the board who had successfully started an Afro-centric elementrary school two years ago. They wanted to build on that success (210 students with a 55 student waiting list) with the obvious next step, a high school. This is a particularly misguided idea, for several reasons. The story can be followed here; I'm mostly going to add commentary.
The impetus for the idea of an Afro-centric school could, I suppose, be called noble; about 40% of Black students in the TDSB do not complete high school (which isn't that much higher than the 30% overall rate that Ontario used to have a few decades ago; it has fallen since then to about 10% now). The notion was that if Black students had a curriculum that they could connect with more, they would be more likely to stay in school (a similar program was suggested in the U.S. several years ago; it was called Ebonics and is widely mocked - as Spike Lee said, I be thinkin' that Ebonics be stupid). And the Afro-centric elementary school was successful, boasting very high test scores. So the intention was good.
But the entire notion was flawed. First of all, it assumes that kids drop out of school because they are not engaged enough in the curriculum. There are likely a host of other reasons, first and foremost poverty (the Black students in the TDSB are also those most likely to live in poverty). You can't make much money while attending high school.
To use the elemetary school as evidence of the likely success of the proposed high school is a double fallacy. First, it assumes that a random sample of children were enrolled and performance increased overall. It is probable that the same parents who focus enough on their child's academic performance to want them to attend a particular school or program are also likely to be less tolerant of dropping out later on. In other words, the 40% who drop out are less likely to go to this school in the first place. Second, it assumes that elementary school performance is a good indicator of dropping out. Kids change a lot between 10 and 16. A curriculum that elicits a positive response in grade 5 may not be able to overcome other pressures in a student's life (financial, peer, etc.) in grade eleven.
Then there's the whole race thing. Essentially what the TDSB is claiming is that Black students need a special program to excel, which is insulting to them and unfair to others. Just because historically other ethnicities have performed better in school doesn't mean that they should be deprived of the best opportunity they can receive. Yes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but this is a particularly ham-handed approach. I agree that Afro-Canadians have a distinct culture, but so do many other groups. What makes Black culture more distinct than South Asian culture, or Latin culture? The Ontario education system has a long history of offering special dispensation to some cultures and not others (see: schools, Catholic).
Finally, it's a positive thing that this idea got rejected, because if it had been implemented and proved successful, it would have presented a very strong argument against the multiculturalism we Canadians are so proud of. Saying that any groups perform better when segregated from the rest of us means that we should not intermingle. Which is an odious notion, and goes against how like to perceive ourselves.
Or put another way, if Canada's ethnicities are supposed to be like a tossed salad (as opposed to the US's melting pot), then this is like putting dressing only on the croutons or . . . ah, forget it. That's a tortured enough analogy already.
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