Africentre Schools: Will they work?

African Canadian students are under siege. In schools they have the highest rates of detention, suspensions, expulsions, and special education placements. In child welfare they are most likely to be removed from their parents, have their parents' rights terminated, leave their home-life without being adopted or reunited with their parents, and leave school and then be recruited into a survival culture of crime and drugs. Criminologists in the United States have predicted that African American boys born in 1991 have a 29 percent chance of being imprisoned over their lifetime, compared with only a 4 percent chance of that happening among white boys. There is something very wrong with this picture.

There are three reasons why a great many black students are failures in school and in society and those reasons are; poor upbringing, leaving school too early and hanging around with the wrong crowd. I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that these problems are not restricted to only black students. It applies to other races also. It is not my intention in this article to deal with the problems of improper upbringing or going with the wrong crowd but instead, I wish to deal with the concept of sending black students to all-black schools.

At first when I read in the newspapers that the Toronto Board of Education was seriously considering inviting the parents of black students to send their children to all black schools (Africentre schools) the first thing that came to my mind was that horrible word, ‘segregation’. It took a great many years for the white Americans to accept the fact that the segregation of schools was wrong and that all kids of all colours and races have the right to go to any school irrespective of their colour or race.

But then I realized that many Jewish parents send their kids to special schools, as do Catholics, Muslims and many parents also send their kids to all-girls and all-boy’s schools. This isn’t necessarily wrong. This concept however does to some degree, marginalize kids and that being as it is, they don’t get to mingle with kids of other races, faiths, cultures, colour and social status. There is already in existence, the First Nations Public School, the only existing school with a cultural basis, that is not an alternative school but does offer aboriginal enrichment and leadership programs and culture classes, and children learn Ojibwa instead of French. There is even another special school for gay and lesbian students. Even so, this doesn’t restrict any of them from socializing with other kids who don’t go to those schools. I should add that if an Africentre school is opened in Toronto, white kids can attend that school although the students will be primarily black.

Michael Coteau attended a public meeting in which this issue was discussed and he later wrote in a letter to the editor, "For years I didn't buy into the concept (of Africentric schools) because I believed I lived in a multicultural city. But then I went to a community meeting in the northwest part of Toronto where people were talking about the idea, and they were overwhelmingly in support. Hundreds of people were speaking in favour. And I realized multiculturalism isn't about having a standard system for everyone, but working together to make sure we don't leave any group behind.”

Little seems to be known about which protective mechanisms foster resilience and success among African Canadian youths. Although interventions must occur within the family unit, it is equally important that they occur in school also. It would appear, according to the Toronto School Board, the appropriate interventions for black students are not occurring in Toronto’s regular schools. This may simply be because in some classrooms, there may only be a few blacks and if that is the case, it would be hard to give them special attention at the expense of the remainder of the class.

Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne has publicly stated and I quote; “We've been clear from the beginning of this discussion that our preference was to have kids learning in inclusive environments and inclusive classrooms." I think her logic is similar to mine in that those kids of all races etc; should mingle in schools as elsewhere. But she hasn’t addressed the problem of so many black kids leaving school so early.

Now it has to be obvious to everyone that some black kids, fifteen or older are kicked out of the home and therefore are unable to continue going to school unless someone else supports them. That being as it is, the Africentre schools simply wouldn’t be available to them. It follows that such schools would only be available to black kids who are still being supported by their parents or someone else.

Mentoring is a common approach for reaching at-risk adolescents, despite the lack of definitive research on its effectiveness. There was an experiment in the United States called the ‘Brothers Project’. It used mentors for at-risk youths to improve self-esteem, beliefs regarding substance abuse, academic performance, and overall pro-social behavior. Participants, almost all African American, were assigned to either a mentoring group or a control group----a group without mentors. Methods included matching adolescents with mentors for periods ranging from six to 41 months and administering the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Drug Attitude Questionnaire, and self-report questionnaires. Apparently, there were no statistically significant differences between the mentee group and the control group on the variables of self-esteem, attitudes about drugs and alcohol, grade point average, school absences, and disciplinary infractions.

Knowledge of self and culture is crucial for black youths when confronting the problems they face. This may very well be a means of improving their outlook in life. If this can be instigated by special schools such as Africentre schools, then their purpose will be recognized as a positive intervention to the problems facing black youth.

Youths, be they black or otherwise, must have confidence in the their abilities to change, demonstrate a genuine interest in others, not label themselves as being special, make positive connections with the their families, neighbours, fellow students and school staff and not become intimidated by conflict or when differences arise between them and others. If this can be taught in Africentre schools, then this is a good thing but quite frankly, it should be taught in all schools.

Africentre schools should create and use a curriculum that includes the history and culture of blacks, as well as other minority groups. Such initiatives may assist in improving the academic performance of black students ----- who are falling behind and dropping out of schools in large numbers.

Trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher, who voted in favour of the recommendations, said the Africentric school needs to start at the elementary level. She also said, "Starting a high school is insane because problems begin much earlier on.” I agree with her about Africentre schools should begin at the elementary level, although I don’t see why black students who are currently in high school can’t go to an Africentre high school because right now, the need is eminent.

I think there may be a better way to deal with this issue. I am inclined to follow the lead of Ontario’s Education Minister. She has suggested that the Toronto board could house such a school inside an existing one, ensuring that they would be among a more multicultural student body. This way, the black students won’t be marginalized. At present, there are many alternative schools that are schools within schools or programs within schools, so they will actually be in the context of a more diverse environment created for black students at risk.

The Ontario curriculum, at the heart of teaching in all the board's 550 schools, would be taught at the Africentre school. But this school would extend lessons to focus on the contributions to society made by Africans and black Canadians. This is important because blacks, like others of other races must appreciate the contributions made by others of their colour and race in order to give them the drive to improve themselves.

Jim Coyle in his letter to the editor said it best and let me quote him. “In an ideal world, we'd never have to make decisions based on the hard reality that there's no such thing as an ideal world. In an ideal world, we'd all get along. There'd be no segregation, no inequity, no history of injustice and oppression throwing its legacy down the generations. It hardly needs saying that, in principle, schools – or anything else – premised on race are a troubling proposition, the depth of that concern best illustrated by the divided opinion and misgivings in the black community itself. But it's an idea – given the crisis at hand, the minimal cost and risk attached, and the lack of easier answers – whose time has come. Too many black youths drop out of school. Too many languish in prisons. Too many are dying. Too many have lost trust – in adults, society, but worst of all, in themselves.”

If the creation of Africentre schools, either built separately or incorporated into existing public schools, will encourage black students to stay in schools longer, then I say that we as a society should make them available to these students.