Toronto's public school board has approved an Africentric school in an empty wing of Sheppard Public School on Sheppard Ave. W. near Keele St. The school will open in September 2009. Canadian Thinker calls it "a sad day for Canada", but I don't think it's that simple.
Here's what Canadian Thinker says about Toronto's Africentric school:
Here it is, the year 2008, Toronto prides itself in being a multi-cultural city in a diverse country, yet we’ve buckled under to the politically correct again and allowed something to happen that is not only wrong, it’s downright embarrassing.
Everything that Canada stands for crumbles with this decision. Allowing segregation in our schools is nothing to be proud of. This is not progressive and it’s definitely not a solution for what ails black youth in the current school system.
This decision is not a kin to segregation. From The Star:
The Africentric grade school will seek to hire a number of black teachers and use a more global, less Europe-focused curriculum to engage more students of colour. It will be open to children of all backgrounds from anywhere in the city.
Unlike the freestanding model common in dozens of U.S. cities and urged by many local proponents, board staff drafted what it called a "made-in-Toronto" blueprint that will open in an unused wing of a larger underenrolled school.
It is a model Premier Dalton McGuinty has said he prefers to a school in a separate building, although he has made it clear he opposes any public school focused on one culture.
Children in the new Africentric school likely will enter Sheppard through the same front door, share a lunch room, playground and library and join the same after-school club and teams.
There is a 40% drop-out rate among black students in this city. This alternative school is a bold attempt to curb this trend. We, as a city, want all of our children to graduate high school.
It's not a "sad day for Toronto". It's a sad day for those who dismiss ideas simply because they don't gel perfectly with the multi-cultural vision we have of this city. It's not an ideal solution, but it's worth a shot.
