Wednesday, November 07, 2007

There is no return to Jim Crow

There are so many ironies in the black separate school debate it is hard to just pick one but a blog posting does need a starting point. So let me start by saying Toronto already has schools segregated by religious faith, language, and ethnicity. Currently, I believe there is even a secondary school for Gay and Lesbian teenagers. But it is only when the school board enters into discussions concerning the establishment of one, or possibly two, schools for black students (at the request of the black parents/educators) it becomes controversial. Trust me, there is a message here for the black community and it is not the most positive one.

One or two schools which focus on black students and their potentially special needs is not the harbingering of a return to segregation or Jim Crow laws. It is not about teaching or developing a group of black supremacists to loosen onto the city either. Nor is about de-funding and providing a separate and substandard education for black children in Toronto. What it is about is acknowledging a serious number of black students are failing in the current system, and failing badly.

The reasons for failure are complex and not all of them can be rectified with a change of an educational environment, but potentially, some of them could. Not all parents of black children will want to enroll their children into these schools. I guarantee you there will not be a mass exodus from the public schools. So the parents of little Johnny and Susie can relax and not have to worry about Johnny and Susie missing out on the experience of having a Kneisha or a Trevor sit beside them in the classroom. Nor is there any guarantee that a predominantly black-centric school will have a better higher success rate but what do we lose by trying? Though we have much to learn and gain if the school succeeds.

And you could not find a more ringing endorsement than Premier McGirlieman is against it.

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