Africentric Public Schools

(Toronto, Ontario) Since black students have a poor achievement record and a high dropout rate, blamed on poverty and racial stereotypes in society, Toronto is planning to open its first Africentric school. The designated black-focused school won't be segregated, it's said. Anyone can attend.

Toronto should open its first black-focused public school in the fall of 2009, says a staff report aimed at improving academic achievement among students of colour.

But the board should also launch Africentric programs in three schools by this fall, as well as invest in a new centre for research and staff development at York University, urges the report made public yesterday.

"Opening one school does not address the problem across the system ... (where) a significant number of students of African descent are not doing well in our schools," said board superintendent Christopher Usih, one of the report's authors.

"We have a responsibility to address the needs across the system. We see the Africentric school request as part of a bigger (plan) ... to effectively close the gap."

The black-focused school will teach more Africentric social studies and trumpet the contributions of "Africans and African-Canadians" while teaching math using the "numerical patterns of royal 'kente' cloth from Ghana."

It's unclear how the Africentric subject matter is going to lessen the achievement gap unless the standards for learning reading, writing and arithmetic are revised. However, the goal is to make school "more welcoming" while recognizing that the "root causes of disenchantment" such as poverty and racial stereotyping need to be addressed.

Frankly, I'm unconvinced that making schools friendlier will have a dramatic effect on achievement if the same standards are maintained throughout the education system. And teaching kids material that is arguably of marginal use in society likely isn't the best way to prepare them for the future. Also, I strongly suspect that kids learning math by using an African royal kente cloth will exacerbate the problem of racial stereotyping in society, not lessen it.

In any event, making schools more welcoming and inflating egos doesn't necessarily translate into higher academic achievement.