Afrocentric / Black centered education - Can it work? Is it right?

[ddeubel]

I heard whispers of this when I was leaving my Public School teaching job in Toronto 4 years ago. But I never thought it would become a reality. Low and behold it did!

What am I going on about? Well, Canada's first "Africentric" school, rubber stamped and approved (but with a few trustees who resigned and screamed bloody murder) by my former employer - TDSB (Toronto District School Board). Read about it here. Even better, read some of the comments here....they really give the debate some "flavor". HERE's a video interview with the school principal. HERE is a nice public debate video which provokes a lot of thought....

I'm wondering what other teachers / educators / people on Fireside think? I'm a pretty open minded guy and with something like this, I'll let the jury sit and brew for awhile before forming my own solid opinion. There are many ways to "skin a cat", however, I sniff something stinky ......

I worked a number of years downtown Toronto. Just off of Regent Park, - St. Jamestown. Highest concentration of poor, urban immigrants in Canada. Our school in 2005 even winning a special award for being the most multicultural school in the world - 92 mother tongues (and with an enrollment of only about 600 students!). So I do think I have some experience from which to comment on this. I don't think this will do one iota to stem those drop out rates.....

Why are we going backwards? Segregation? Isn't the aim pluralism and acceptance of all students, irregardless of their skin color? Isn't the goal to honor students along the lines of "primus inter pares" / "first among equals". Each student's culture being valued and NOT creating this kind of hyper ethnocultural approach that harkens back to aryanism. Sure I'm exaggerating but it is with a point.

The point is - if you want to stop the drop out rate of black youth - you don't do it by "falsely" giving them pride in their racial heritage AT SCHOOL. This should be done at home (and Bill Cosby hits this right on the head in his book and new campaign - read about it). And it shouldn't be done at the expense of the wider community and through segregation.

Culture IS important, very important. However, it can't be inculcated. That's education with a hammer. I'm against but let's see.... Whatchathink? And also, let's remember this speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Let's remember it - it says it all....... It isn't about making these kids feel important - it's about THIS.

[Ellen Pham]

I read the first 15 comments or so, then stopped... the tone was generally offensive and just straddling that line of racism one can get away with.

I don't know about this particular school in this particular district, but what I can say is being taken seriously makes a difference. This can be seen in the history of women's education in the US. Girls who attend all-female high schools and colleges compete better in the outside world than their counterparts who attend co-ed schools. And the reason behind this is that the intellectual development of the girls in these all female environments is taken much more seriously, by the staff and by the students themselves. I'm sure I could find articles on this- it's been around for awhile. One example- the great majority of women who have been in the senate (I know, ironic to use the words great majority, women and the senate all in the same sentence) are graduates from all-women colleges (and there aren't that many to graduate from!)

Again, I don't know the answer to the entrenched racism in American or Canadian society, but I wouldn't be quick discard this idea as going backwards to the days of school segregation. Especially after reading the comment section you referred to, it might be a big relief to be educated in an environment where you aren't battling racial stereotypes on a minute-to-minute basis, where your intellectual abilities are taken seriously by your peers and the faculty (this could be a problem- in all-female schools, the faculty is overwhelmingly female also... I'm guessing that an equivalent faculty make-up in the new Afrocentric school this is not the case), and where people from your cultural heritage are consistently used as examples of accomplishment, those accomplishments being deemed worthy of study. I think this could be a seriously empowering environment to learn and grow in, ESPECIALLY when these factors are not part of the culture-at-large.

[ddeubel]

Ellen,

You make a valid arguement. That's one of the reasons my jury is out but my nose is to the ground too..... I also wish and only wish, for our young to feel comfortable and "at home" in their learning. You are right, that discussion thread says it all.

Still somehow I really feel this isn't the way to go. It is like joining the army to get out of the mess of your life. Sure, it seems to make sense and they'll give you a "place" etc.... However, long term, you are culturally lobotomized for a world where we must interact and treat each other equally. You are creating difference, the very stuff you hoped to avoid.

As you know, I really feel it a shortcoming of human "kindness" to always be looking at difference. We are hard wired for it and here, they seem so ready to believe it will solve all the problems -- problems which reside outside of the educational system. I think we should look at our similarity, that 99.9% that is similar and go from there. And deal with the problems of "dropping out" where they actually are - in the wider environment.....

But over all, I DO agree with educational choice. This is my American streak (oh if it were only so in much of America!).

David

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi David, I personally don't have a problem with this kind of effort at all - mostly because I think that as long as what seems to me the REAL problem is not solved, any effort at all to help these kids get through school is great... and the real problem, as I see it, is the need for true, honest, rich, deep multicultural content to permeate and suffuse our schools. Well, that has not happened, and I don't think it is ever going to happen (although some individual teachers make valiant, inspiring efforts to do that!)... in which case I think minority communities should be allowed to make whatever efforts it takes to insure that their children do not suffer the adverse effects of being in a racist environment in which they will learn NOTHING about Africa for their entire education.

And that is, in fact, the case: I'm guessing that of my college students, they would fail - fail abysmally - any simple quiz you would give them about Africa. Or about Islam (something guaranteed to set off the same kind of prejudiced firestorm as in the discussion about this Afrocentric school initiative). And that is seriously scary, because in our country we really need to understand these things.

By bringing slaves to our country from Africa, the American people entwined our fate with the fate of that continent (yes, I believe in KARMA - and that is exactly what karma is all about), and by pretending that somehow now America does not have a relationship with Africa, we are violating our own history. That is true not just for black Americans, but for Americans of any color, all Americans: we connected ourselves to Africa,in a brutal and horrifying way, centuries ago, and there is no way to sever that connection. So, now, let's LEARN FROM THAT. But we do not... and I don't think teaching about the history of slavery in America or teaching about the accomplishments of African-Americans will complete the equation. We must learn about Africa too.

My own EXTREMELY high quality education, with GREAT depth, and HIGH accomplishments taught me NOTHING (NOT A SINGLE THING) about Africa. Zero. Zilch.

Until we admit the absurdity of that, and all the terrible consequences it has for our collective mind as a nation, we are not going to make real progress on this front. If people are offended by schools like this, well, it is just the proverbial chickens coming home to roost. The real problem is the near-universal total ignorance about Africa. Until we come up with a way to address that problem, all the rest of this is just a sideshow as far as I concerned. No, I don't think this kind of school is the solution to the problem - but this school itself is NOT the problem either. The problem lies elsewhere, the solution lies elsewhere, and I am very pessimistic that we will ever do anything about it, because the racist substratum is deep and hard.

We've all been witness I'm sure to moments of racism that left us simply speechless, and one moment that made a huge impression on me is related to this problem of schooling. When I was a student teacher (I originally set out to be a high school English teacher, back in the early 1990s), I was working with a teacher whom I admired enormously. He was one of those "Dead Poets' Society" style of teachers, intensely dedicated, inspiring, wild, unpredictable, a former professional dancer, exactly the kind of teacher I wanted to learn from and be like. We were talking about the curriculum one day, and I mentioned that I thought it would be great if we could find a way to include some African poems or stories, to go along with the African-American materials that were part of the curriculum. He looked at me with a straight face and said, "Africa? I don't really see the point. Oh yes, I know - but they never produced a symphony, did they?" That was said in all seriousness, and it was the end of the discussion. I did not bring it up again, for which I hold myself responsible; I certainly would not have let it drop now, but I am 20 years older and wiser than I was back then, fresh out of school... fresh out of a school where I had learned nothing about Africa in 18 years of formal full-time schooling.

I love teaching my Myth-Folklore class, where Africa has a very natural place in the curriculum, and I am so glad when students choose African topics for their projects in class. Often they do so for precisely the reason that bothers me to this day: they are college seniors, they know Africa is important, and they want to learn something about it before their college career is over. Admittedly, only one or two students choose an African topic in class each semester, but it is at least something - and it spills over into the rest of the class, as other students read and learn from their projects. :-)

[ddeubel]

I hear you Laura and that story of your colleague hit home. I've had a few "shockers" like that myself surrounding the notion of teaching the holocaust. I guess it also has to do with people's / teacher's notion of history and how/what is important. You and I seem to see history as not just a means of affirming out present "superiority" and group, but as something deeply personal and a narrative of who we are.

You made too much sense and have me thinking differently about this. I agree when you say....

No, I don't think this kind of school is the solution to the problem - but this school itself is NOT the problem either.

I guess the issue of "segregation" is just a red herring. I know the issue is wider and that's what really gets me -- in so many ways -- how we put so so so so much onto "a school". Seems now, school's have to solve all a community's problems and poverty/crime too.

Yes, we need Africa in the curriculum but yes, you are right that we just don't have the "minds" in place to teach it. You can institute a curriculum even, but if it isn't something that fits the "paradigm" of the teacher's in place - it won't go anywhere. Things need time to change and I guess a school like this is one knife edge leading the way....a way to a fuller and more pluralistic and deeper celebration of the world and world culture in our classrooms. This should be - America and Canada are not as the myths describe, all rockets bursting in air and Dave Crocket shooting bears..

Let's hope that Africa does make it into our curriculum. Like the holocaust which I went through school hearing nothing about which now at least has found a narrative in many of our schools.

David

[Mike]

Hi All.... hope this finds everyone well!

The issue of race in America has been...since our founding.... a moral and ethical problem that we have yet to truely deal with.

As the demographics of America quickly change before our eyes.... the future we are moving toward will not allow us to continue to talk around these issues.

I believe that we need to do more than just add on to what we teach kids about race or their heritage..... we must begin to move toward living it.

Our public schools could be a place for this to begin again.... it has happened before in our recent past and i would encourage people to read Hope and Despair in The American City by
Gerald Grant.... go here for a look: http://firesidelearning.ning.com/forum/topics/hope-and-despair-in-the

Fifty-five years ago, the United States Supreme Court declared that providing “separate but equal” educational opportunities to students based on race denied students of color the equal protection of the law. Certainly we have made progress in America...but the work has never been completed and today are schools continue to be segragated by race.

Fifty-five years after the promises of the Brown decision, here is where we stand:

•Today, nearly three out of every four African-American students in the U.S. attends a school that is majority-minority.

•1 out of every 6 African-American children in the United States now attends a school where less than one percent of the population is white.

•In 1998, African-American students were 59% more likely to be identified as emotionally disturbed than Caucasian students.

•As of 2007, in the state of Virginia, African-American students were 54% more likely to be identified as disabled than other students.

•African-American and Latina/o students are less than half as likely to be enrolled in gifted and talented educational classes and programs as Caucasian students.

•African-American youth, ages 6 through 21, account for 14.8 percent of the general population. Yet, they account for 20.2 percent of the special education population.

•In 10 of the 13 disability categories, the percentage of African-American students equals or exceeds the resident population percentage.

•The representation of African-American students in the mental retardation and developmental delay categories is more than twice their national population estimates.

**
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 2008
“At midyear 2008, there were 4,777 black male inmates per 100,000 black males held in state and federal prisons and local jails, compared to 1,760 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 727 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.”

***Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 6 Latino boys born in 2001 are at risk of imprisonment during their lifetime. While boys are five times as likely to be incarcerated as girls, there also is a significant number of girls in the juvenile justice system. This rate of incarceration is endangering children at younger and younger ages.

***This is America's pipeline to prison — a trajectory that leads to marginalized lives, imprisonment and often premature death. Although the majority of fourth graders cannot read at grade level, states spend about three times as much money per prisoner as per public school pupil.


These are just a few of the many indicators that point to America as a place that is
"still separate, still unequal"

We continue to have much work to do!

be well... mike

[scott smith]

Hello Mike,

I think I might have mentioned this on Fireside in the past, but when i was a teenager, my family moved from Massachusetts to Central Florida where I went to a high school that didn't integrate until 1973 (almost 20 years after Brown decision). I'm not sure what the stated rationale was by the school system, but the Brown ruling did state that local governments need to ensure integration of schools with "all deliberate speed."

My district deliberated for nearly two decades.

As you'd expect, there was a lot of racist attitudes in my town. In recent months, I have connected with a few classmates through FaceBook. I am stunned at some of the posts that some of these people have made on FB. The comments that I've seen very much resemble those that David linked to Free Republic--essentially just racist jokes, wrapped in a thin coating of policy discussion.

Yes we have much work to do.

[Laura Gibbs]

I am so in agreement, David! One thing I guess I can take hope from is that it is possible for each of us to keep on learning more - regardless of what happens, or doesn't happen in school, and no matter how many red herrings are stinking up the mainstream media. Thanks to the global Internet, and the people from all over the world we can meet in our daily lives, the opportunities to keep on learning more and more will never cease.

There are so many moments I can remember learning about something for the first time and thinking, oh my gosh, how is it possible that I never knew about this...? Why didn't they teach me about this in school??? Well, that has happened to me so many times in my life now that I am a bit cynical about just what we teach in school... but I am very optimistic for what we can all learn from each other in all kinds of settings, with just a little bit of initiative on our part as learners.

For example, what I have learned from documentaries of Ken Burns and Ric Burns so completely exceeds anything I learned in history class in school that I have to laugh: I should probably send them a check to cover my tuition for attending their glorious school without walls! Just this weekend, I watched Ric Burns AMAZING documentary The Way West, and my first thought after watching it was, oh my gosh, I have to watch this AGAIN. :-)

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Red herring indeed.
Just yesterday my daughter came home from school and told me about her history homework: nationalism is the topic.
So I've got this mixed with your discussion, David.

Racism and nationalism are not the same. Discrimination and segregation are also not the same. Yet all of these, and of course financial status, are major players in almost all educational systems in the modern world.

We cannot ignore the fact that people are different. Skin color isn't the issue. It's a whole mixture of religion-beliefs-genes-language-culture-socio-economic status-geographical location and many more details that create the individual.

A pluralist society, in my view, is one that accepts all people, with their differences, the way they are and works with it. Thrives on the differences.
Yet most education institutes I've encountered so far are factories aiming at taking people from different backgrounds and molding them into something that "society expects", preferably with as little differences as possible.

In spite of this, there have always been special schools: religious schools, and arts schools, and schools for sciences, or sports… For the education system to succeed I think we all need to aim at personalization. Go for the school that best fits your needs, talents, interests and way of life. Why not? If a Jewish student prefers to go to a secular school – that's his or her choice. Just as legitimate as choosing a Catholic school or an arts academy.

To be truly plural society must encourage and support the individual and allow the preservation of culture or religion or any other personal characteristic. People immigrate from their homelands to new countries from various motives. Sometimes they don't have a choice. Sometimes the seek to better their lives and those of their kids. They would be wise to get to know the country their in and accept its ways, but that doesn't mean they have to erase their roots. In this day and age you can keep them both.

Look at the Internet for example.
Personalization started about 8-9 years ago and is probably one of the best processes in the history of the web. From "content is king" to "people wisdom". From old-school journalism - 25 years ago I studied journalism at the university and was taught that a reporter never uses first person in writing – to new school news – following my chosen reporters on twitter.

[Bill Pearsall]

Hello - I find all of your comments thoughtful and interesting - I teach at a school that has a variety of cultures and we are reasonably successful making sure all feel included - but, still, too much of the world's past is not included in any relevant way - I have recently been reading some of John Hope Franklin's books ( I didn't even know he existed until he died last winter) and have gained some insight into African history and into the lives of my African American countrymen - needless to say, my ignorance is boundless and I hate the idea of passing that on - anything that acquaints young people with their heritage has to at least be examined, I think - if separate schools work for now, or if we think they might work for now, then I think they ought to be examined - the idea of forcing everyone down the same path seems like it unnecessarily disenfranchises (and dooms) those who don't fit - let's find out ( and do) what works, and that requires some risk and lots of goodwill

[ddeubel]

I think we are all seemingly agreeing on the same thing - keep it about what works for the student but also done with the aim of embracing pluralism at the same time. I guess as always, it isn't the WHAT but the HOW, how it is done.

I've been having a lively discussion elsewhere about this new online school exclusively for gay H.S. students. Why not? What do others think about this one?

Cheers,

David
http://eflclassroom.com


Online gay-friendly high school launching in January

By 365gay Newswire
08.06.2009 5:54pm EDT

(Minnesota) A Maplewood, Minnesota-based GLBTQ High School will be launched online in January 2010 reports the Pioneer Press. Started by David Glick, the online high school would be the first of its kind.

“We may not bring people closer physically - but we will in every other way,” Glick said. “We want to make them feel more confident about who they are.”

Glick started working on the website, which will be called the GLBTQ Online High School, in order to reach students who live in rural areas that do not have access to many resources.

While Glick argues that this online school would protect students from bullying and act as a safe-haven, many fear that they will simply be further isolated from their peers.

“The danger of the online high school is that kids will stay isolated and feel uncared for,” said David Johnson, a social psychology teacher at the University of Minnesota. “It would be much better to have these kids in a regular high school.”

Others, such as Glick and Curt Johnson, disagree and believe students gain a closer relationship with their teachers online due to increased interaction.

“The individual transactions of e-mailing and telephoning regularly creates a relationship between students and teachers,” said Johnson, a managing partner at Education Evolving, a joint venture of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University that promotes technological progress in schools.

Through the use of videos, chats, graphics and other multimedia, and occasional phone calls, teachers on the online high school will teach a more “GLBT-friendly” curriculum that highlights importance figures in gay rights history.

[ddeubel]

I thought I'd also post here, a link to Project Implicit from Harvard. A nice series of tests which try to give information on the underlying assumptions which govern our actions.

I took the one on RACE and was miserably surprised. Ugh... Try it and it really is an interesting concept.

[Laura Gibbs]

Isn't that fascinating? Connie had linked to this a while back I think. I thought it was a really intriguing way to try to test at something so hard to measure otherwise.

There was also a very interesting test on personality types that seemed to have a high correlation between liberals and conservatives; it got a lot of press coverage here a few months ago... let me see if I can find it - here we go, Nicholas Kristoff wrote an op-ed piece about it in the New York Times:
Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You’re a Liberal

The research is being conducted online at YourMorals.org.

I thought it was a fascinating idea and, once again, a really intriguing way to get at some information about people that people themselves might be unwilling or unable to volunteer about themselves directly.