Toronto Approves Afrocentric School for 2009

The Toronto District School Board has approved the 2009 opening of a school aimed to address the 40 percent dropout rate among Black students in Toronto’s secondary schools.

According to chair of the board, John Campbell, “What the vocal activists in the Black community are saying is that their kids are not actively engaged in the education we’re providing for them. There’s no mentor there, there’s no encouragement.”

Campbell among many others, believes that the students are bored and that a new Afrocentric school would motivate these students to come to class everyday. While many advocate the building of this essentially experimental school, many others believe it to be a waste of taxpayers money. Economist, Anthony Hutchinson, is in staunch opposition of the school.

Hutchinson, who claims to have been involved in a number of outreach programs, is quoted in a BBC report to have said, “The belief that if we teach kids about their social and cultural identity they’re going to perform a lot better is just stupid.”

How eloquent.

I’m wondering, why are people so opposed to establishing a school that is trying to be progressive in decreasing the high school dropout rate? According to sources I’ve read, there is a concern that this school will be counter productive – a step backward from Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream.

Has any of these opponents really thought this through? These kids who have been reaping the benefit of Brown v. Board of Education – oh wait, this is Canada… Okay let me start again. These students have been a part of an integrated school system, and it’s not helping them. It’s not speaking to them, therefore it’s not helping Toronto, because these are its citizens.

The establishment of an Afrocentric school is nothing like segregation.