Comments

1. Cynthia wrote:

   I don’t know what to think about the “black focused schools” that the Toronto board intends to open. I don’t understand why they just quietly introduce an African studies curriculum/department into a few schools. I don’t think people will make a big deal about it if they did that (my high school is in full support of starting an Asian Studies department). It’s the whole “black focused schools” thing that people are upset about. Of course, an African Studies curriculum will likely focus on select regions and cultures rather than a broad selection (it’s really likely that any East Asian Studies department will heavily focus on China, Japan and maybe Korea and touch on other cultures…that’s how I remember the East Asian focused courses at my university. )

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 8:34 am ¶

2. Angel H. wrote:

   Cynthia:

   “Black-focused” schools focus on an Afrocentric curriculum as compared to a Eurocentric one. I published a quote on my blog that stated students from those types of schools often outperform students in regular public schools.

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 10:26 am ¶

3. Cynthia wrote:

   Angela,

   But won’t an African Studies department do? Asian kids, for example, seem to function fine at a mainstream school, and this includes kids who speak very little English. In schools without Asian Studies courses. This is what I don’t understand.

   -C

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 10:48 am ¶

4. Lynn wrote:

   LMAO @ the DISGRASIAN post!! Fab-u-loouusssss!

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 10:53 am ¶

5. EH wrote:

   I’m all for a black focused school. It’s a hell of alot better than the non-stop Eurocentric nonsense that blacks are force-fed in most of these American/Canadian school systems.

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 10:59 am ¶

6. Alston wrote:

   I think that the black-focused schools, as far as I know, do not currently exist in Canada. I wonder how much this one will draw from black American experience with such schools (I THINK they exist, but I am not sure).
   I don’t see why it is fine to have publicly-funded Catholic schools, but not Afrocentric ones.
   I wish I had gone to one of those schools.

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 11:16 am ¶

7. Cynthia wrote:

   Alston,

   I think it partly has to do with Catholic schools having their own board (as to non-immersion French schools).

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 11:58 am ¶

8. Eccentric1 wrote:

   I have to wonder if having Black focused schools will get to the root of the issue in the high dropout rates in Toronto. It is reasonable to think that Afro-centric studies will engender a greater sense of self value and self-esteem in children of African heritage. Being able to see positive historical and modern day examples of people that share your racial and ethnic makeup can be a powerful thing. Without doubt education in Western society is for the most part European centric. It is even likely that Afro-centric studies will improve academic performance in students of African heritage. But, will this stop kids from dropping out? That is to say, academic performance may improve, but academic performance is not necessarily one and the same as retention in school until graduation. Could there be other issues at play? Are there social economic issues at play that affect the structure of the home environment of a black child and a white child (like in the U.S.)? It is folly to think that the home environment that a child sleeps, eats, studies and learns in will not affect how they perform in school. Also, how much responsibility belongs to the parents to engender self value and self-esteem in their children in regards to how they see their own race?

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 12:08 pm ¶

9. DWS wrote:

   Re: “The Supremes”

   As my law school’s only black female professor told me years ago…the legal profession IS the last bastion for racism.

   Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 12:48 pm ¶

10. Angel H. wrote:

    Cynthia, from what I understand of heritage-specific study departments, they offer courses in addition to the already Eurocentric curriculum. From what I understand of Afrocentric curriculums, all materials are taught from a very specific perspective.

    As for the Asian students prospering…well, good for them. However,

    “thousands of whites and Asians are doing poorly, as well (see EdWeek.com’s annual school reports), but when lumped together with other whites their failures are glossed over. It’s like when Bill Gates walks into a bar. The mean income of the bar patrons rises significantly.”

    Eccentric1:

    “[Poet and author Ishmael Reed] asked [publisher and founder of 4 Afrocentric schools, Haki Madhubuti] why his schools have been so successful in educating black children, especially the boys, while others have failed miserably. He said, “We are not afraid of our children. We love our children.”

    Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 2:15 pm ¶

11. Cynthia wrote:

    I do think that this is partially a class thing. Most of the black kids who do poorly in school are from lower-income neighbourhoods. These “black-focused” schools are likely going to be in these neighbourhoods too (a pilot project is currently in a middle school in the Jane and Finch area. Jane and Finch has one of the highest crime rates in Canada). I really doubt a black kid whose parents are doctors or lawyers and lives in, say, the Bridle Path (one of the most pricey neighbourhoods in Toronto…mostly “new money”) would NEED an Afrocentric curriculum to succeed. If this kid wasn’t doing well, Mom and Dad will probably get him/her a tutor until he/she brings the grades up. Actually, tutoring programs often do help, regardless of the type of curriculum a school teaches. Many kids in the Regent Park area of Toronto (home of the oldest housing project in the city) participated in the Pathways to Education ( http://www.p2e.ca ) and over the years, the drop out rate decreased significantly.

    Posted 01 Feb 2008 at 2:37 pm ¶

12. Torontonian wrote:

    Hey Cynthia,

    I don’t know how it works in private school, but I think something like an ethnic studies department/curriculum would be too expensive to maintain for a public school. When I think of Asian or African Studies “departments”, I think of university, not high school.

    Besides, there are already problems with Asian/African/etc Studies Departments within universities. Basically, university is eurocentric, and relegating non-eurocentric perspectives into specialized areas does not challenge the eurocentrism of the rest of the courses. For example, if you learn about the history of science, it usually starts and ends with the West. Non-eurocentrism shouldn’t be a specialized area of study; it should be integrated with the rest of the university system.

    As for the “black-focused” schools? When I first heard about it, I was appalled, but now I think it may be because of biased reporting. These aren’t really “black-focused” schools, but rather “Africentric” schools. If there can be Eurocentric schools, what’s wrong with having Africentric ones?

    Posted 02 Feb 2008 at 12:11 pm ¶

13. Cynthia C wrote:

    Torontonian:

    I don’t think it would cost that much to have an Asian Studies department. It’s just adding a few courses to the curriculum, and it would, of course, be based on interest. Not every school will offer this A school like A.Y. Jackson Secondary, which has lots of Asian students (at least in the late 90s when my cousins went) would probably welcome such a department anyway. An Asian/ethnic studies department will be cheaper to maintain than an actual school with a non-Eurocentric curriculum.

    Also, schools in Asia aren’t exactly Asiacentric, at least not in former colonies. How “Chinese” are schools in Hong Kong or Singapore? Many still retain at least some Britishness about them, and wealthy families will always send their children abroad or send them to an international school. In Asia, an international education is a status symbol. I don’t think immigrant parents would want to send their child to a school that is exactly like a school in their old country. Also, how would an Asian-centric school work? Would kids be required to sit quietly and listen to the teacher, without much input in creativity? You do realize that schools in Asia are moving away from that, no? They’ve realized that this type of teaching doesn’t work in an international market.

    In any case, as I said earlier, an Asian or African studies department won’t focus on every single ethnic group, and groups will still be left out. How many courses in Vietnamese or Cambodian history do East Asian Studes departments in universities offer, anyway? I believe the University of Toronto only has one or two, and I’m not even sure they’re offered every year. Chinese or Japanese history? Now that’s offered every year.

    Posted 02 Feb 2008 at 2:40 pm ¶

14. Torontonian wrote:

    Also, how would an Asian-centric school work? Would kids be required to sit quietly and listen to the teacher, without much input in creativity?

    Wow… I find that very offensive as an Asian person, even though you are also Asian. Were you born in Hong Kong?

    I’m Asian, I was always Asian, but that type of educational system was never tied to my ethnicity.

    Posted 02 Feb 2008 at 3:30 pm ¶

15. Cynthia C wrote:

    Nope, Toronto born and raised. However, I’ve had enough experience with people from abroad to realize that in the past, even the RECENT past, creativity and student input/class participation wasn’t as common as it is today. How old are you, my I ask? I’m in my late 20s. When I was in school, the foreign kids who didn’t participate much for the first semester or two weren’t participating much not because their English wasn’t good enough, but because it took a bit of getting used to. Are you from Hong Kong? What about your parents? Again, feel free to contact me via email.

    Posted 02 Feb 2008 at 4:00 pm ¶

16. Torontonian wrote:

    I was born and raised in Toronto, and my parents are from Hong Kong. I’m in my late 20s too. I thought that maybe you were foreign-born because you personally experienced that type of educational system, but I was wrong.

    You are of HK Chinese descent, but do you self-identify as Asian or Chinese?

    I found it offensive that you suggested that rote learning was tied to Asian identity. I’m Asian, I had a Canadian education, I’m told that I’m creative, and hey, I’m not some kind of walking oxymoron.

    I don’t understand how you would come up with the idea that an Asian-centric school means rote learning and discouraging creativity. Do you think that’s what Asian Studies courses in university are about?

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 12:15 am ¶

17. Cynthia C wrote:

    But Torontonian, you had a Euro-Canadian education, like every other Canadian kid and Asian studies courses in universities are still run by European Canadians (for the most part, anyway), even if the majority of professors in the department are Asian. A true Asiacentric school will likely be very similar to the Heritage Language programs offered by school boards…a program that my parents pulled me out of when I was about 8 or 9 because I wasn’t learning a single thing (and neither were most of the kids. We’d speak Chinese in class, but would immediately switch to English, or at least Chinglish at recess, only to have a nasty teacher yell at us if she heard us talk. I’m sorry, Teacher, but we’re talking about TV here. How do you say Alex P. Keaton or Theo Huxtable in Chinese? ) I don’t recall doing anything as creative as what we did in day school during the week at all. Chinese School did not resemble my French classes in school (I went to a Catholic school and French started in Grade 1). In French class, in order to learn new vocabulary, we’d often do skits. Did we do that in Chinese school? NO! We didn’t really sing too many songs, either (which is strange, since a kindergarten or Grade 1 class in Hong Kong would!) And our Chinese was supposed to be way better than our French, at least speaking-wise. And French was also 20 minutes a day (or 1 hour, 40 minutes a week), while Chinese school was 3 hours a week. Language arts (not English, since we’re talking from an elementary school POV here) was more fun too. I recall being assigned creative writing pieces very early on in Grade 1, when I only knew how to write very basic sentences. Did I ever have creative writing in Chinese school? NOPE.

    Anyway, back to an Asiancentric day school. I wonder how much Asian culture from a Canadian perspective can be covered, at least an Ontario-centric one. The bulk of the earliest immigrants settled in the west. Even the railway workers were mostly building in the west…the eastern railway workers were Italian. Or are we talking about math questions and reading Asian classics in translation for English class? And if the school read these books in translation, which cultures will these works come from? I’d assume that like Asian studies departments, it’ll be predominantly Chinese and Japanese. And academically speaking, in Canada, generally, these aren’t the kids with the issues.

    (btw, I ethnically identify as Chinese, Chinese Canadian, Hong Kong Canadian, Banana, Jook Sing or at times, CHASP/YASP.)

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 10:03 am ¶

18. Black Strawberry wrote:

    What does having Asian Studies courses has to do with creativity?

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 10:37 am ¶

19. Torontonian wrote:

    Cynthia C,

    I think you need to make a distinction between course content and pedagogical methods. When I say an Asiacentric school, I mean Asiacentric in content, not in methods.

    For example, I never learned about the Nanking massacre or the Opium Wars in school, since I took only the minimum history requirement, Canadian History. As an adult, I still don’t know much about these events; I only know of them because of allusions to them in conversations from relatives. I haven’t even read the Wikipedia articles yet or have that level of basic information.

    I guess an Asiacentric school would not include any language requirements, just things like learning basic Asian history, maybe Asian arts and crafts, and including contributions from the Chinese, Persian, Islamic, and Indian civilizations in the history of science and philosophy. Yes, I think including some English translations of Asian classics would be good.

    Also, we don’t have to have an Ontario-centric focus, so including more history about the railway workers in the West would be useful as Canadian History. After all the Head Tax was a Canadian, federal policy.

    I agree with you that drop-out rates among black teens has more to do with socioeconomic problems, but I’m okay with the Africentric idea because it may help with a separate problem, that of eurocentrism.

    If you check the Metro News Toronto archives for November 28, 2008, the front page article says this:

    “Despite its staggering racial diversity — seven in 10 teens are not white — half the high school students in Canada’s largest school board say they are not taught about different cultures in class, new research shows. Yet two-thirds of children say learning about their own race would make school more interesting, and almost half believe it would help them perform better in school, according to a groundbreaking survey released yesterday by the Toronto District School Board.”

    This is the problem with eurocentric curriculums.

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 12:04 pm ¶

20. Cynthia C wrote:

    Black Strawberry:

    Nothing. An Asian Studies department isn’t exactly the same as an Asiancentric school. Asiancentric schools might teach using more traditional Asian methods which usually doesn’t encourage creativity as much as a Canadian school system.

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 12:11 pm ¶

21. Torontonian wrote:

    Sorry, I meant archive for November 28, 2007.

    Also, what’s CHASP/YASP?

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 7:48 pm ¶

22. Cynthia C wrote:

    CHASP/YASP: You know, like “WASP” (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) but Chinese (CH) or “Yellow” (Y)…Basically, someone who is culturally WASP.

    *NOTE: A stereotypical WASP isn’t just anyone who is white and Protestant (okay, I’m Catholic, but I’m going for a cultural picture here, not technical…anyway, I went to a historically Anglican school). Stereotypically speaking, people tend to associate WASPs with certain academic institutions. In Canada, it’s places like University of Toronto’s Trinity College, University of Western Ontario’s Huron College, Ridley College, Upper Canada College, etc…

    Posted 03 Feb 2008 at 8:22 pm ¶

23. Michelle wrote:

    I think that Hollywood is the last bastion of racism in America.

    I would have loved to go to a school where the achievements of people who resembled me in skin color and hair texture was taught. I was told about slavery, Rosa Parks and MLK. That is it…period! If black kids are taught to be proud at 6 or 8, maybe by 16 or 18 they will be mirroring that pride in their academics. I hate to say this, but maybe you have to experience, first hand, what it is like to feel that being Black is something to be ashamed of…Black equals poverty, subjugation, oppresion and ignorance. That makes you feel very small, especially in a room full of faces that look nothing like yours, but they do look like the pictures of “Great Americans” hanging around the classroom.

    Posted 04 Feb 2008 at 1:48 am ¶

24. gatamala wrote:

    Angel,

    We are not afraid of our children.

    EXACTLY. The fear is so palpable and so destructive the kids would be better off without…

    Posted 04 Feb 2008 at 11:27 am ¶