Executive summary
An Afro-centric school is a black-based school whereby the school curriculum is more centered on the issues that affect the black students. The school curriculum is set to include African culture and history. The opening of this school is aimed at improving the academic performance of colored students. According to Toronto’s board of trustees, the colored students are not performing well and as such the need to have a black-focused school. There are several factors that will hinder the development of an Afrocentric school in Canada; some of these factors include academic performance, segregation, and funding. Academic performance is not based on the color of the student, but rather other factors that contribute to the academic performance of a student. These other factors include the emotional health of the student and self-esteem. The segregation will also be seen as an issue that might influence the Afrocentric School. The school might be seen as racist and therefore create a bad atmosphere for learning. The colored students might also question why they have been singled out.
Funding is another issue that will interfere with the proper development of an Afrocentric school in Toronto. The Canadian government through the minister of education said that no extra funding will be given to the alternative schools in Canada.
Purpose
Toronto is set to open its first Afrocentric School in September, the fall of 2009. This research is set to figure out whether the availability of colored schools will help to improve the academic performance of colored students and reduce the dropout rate. Other researches have shown that colored students do not perform well and their dropout rate is quite high, about 40 percent by the time they reach the tenth grade. Will these colored schools help to integrate the black community into academic life and help improve their performance?
Introduction
The issue of the introduction of Afrocentric schools has been going on for the past years. The debate about whether these schools will be helpful is still going on in Toronto. Some parents believe that these schools will not be helpful. Rather they want African culture and values to be integrated into the school curriculum. Others want the establishment of these schools, whereby anyone will be free to attend but this will not be the case. However, this move is seen as segregationist by some parents. The supporters of these schools believe that this kind of move will help the black students, that is, they will be more engaged in school and therefore improve the academic performance and therefore reduce the dropout rate. On the other hand, some parents who do not support these schools believe that they will further increase the isolation of the colored students, performance will not increase and the dropout rate will not go down either.
Research Findings
Academic performance
The education system in Toronto is not all-inclusive; this is because of the high number of dropouts. For instance, according to the numbers given by the Toronto board of trustees, around 40 percent of black students drop out of school. This is enough to prove that the education system is not all-inclusive. While other students are doing well in school, the colored students lag behind in school. For instance, according to the statistics given by the board of trustees, almost 60 percent of most colored students (normally the English-speaking Caribbeans) get fewer than 14 credits in school.
According to an article by Robert Benzie (2008), Torontonians should address the real issues. They should try and figure out what is the reason for the high dropout rate and underperformance by the colored students. Students with special needs should be addressed. They should be given the necessary assistance in order to keep them in school and improve their performance. The colored students do not underperform and drop out of school because of their color, but rather because of other issues that affect them. For example, poverty, family breaks up, and lack of motivation. Even if a student is taken to this Afrocentric school and the real problems that bother them are not addressed, then performance will not improve and the dropout rate will not reduce either.
If the Afrocentric School is opened in September 2009, does it mean that it will be using different educational standards? This is because if the black kid is not performing well in the usual school, what difference will it make if the children are isolated and taught by themselves? Then if the Afrocentric School will be using the usual stands, then there is no point in separating the black kids. But rather figure out what is contributing to the underperformance and high dropout rate then address that. This is because if the same standards are used in the Afrocentric schools, and the root cause of the problem is not identified then no improvement will be noted. The educational standards of education in Toronto are not high for the black students, it’s just that there are other issues that affect the colored students and therefore this affects their academic performance and also increases the dropout rate.
Segregation
This is the main issue that is troubling many parents in Toronto. Some parents believe that these schools will bring isolation. That is the black community will be isolated. This will not be just a home; it will also reflect the culture of these kids. It will also reflect how the kids have been socialized right from their homes to the community and even their parents. This school will become another community. These students will not know how to relate to other people of different racial groups. The school will be excluding the young blacks from other cultures and nationalities.
This school will therefore isolate the children who will be learning. Whereas we want a multi-racial community, this school will not be helping. Rather it will further isolate the students. At this point, society will start judging the kids by their skin color. Therefore this might send a message to the young blacks that they are not performing well in school because of their color. This is not the case; it is not because of their color that the students are not performing but rather because of other issues such as poverty. These kids need to know that the world keeps changing and they have to be taught how to survive in the world, with people of different cultures and nationalities. This is because the world is not Afrocentric. This will not be possible in Afrocentric schools because they will not be exposed to people of different cultures and nationalities.
This move will promote inequalities among the blacks. The kids will wonder why they have been singled out to attend these schools. To some parents, this school will be suggesting that colored kids cannot survive in the normal world. This situation will create a disintegrated society.
Funding
Poverty is one factor that contributes to a high level of dropouts in Toronto and according to the education minister, Kathleen Wynne, no additional funding will be given to this Afro-centric school. She said that there will be no alternative funding for the schools. This shows that the running of the school will not be smooth. Most of the black community in Toronto is poor and at times this even contributes to poor academic performance. So if these parents are told to fund the schools, it might not be possible. This might also mean that the school will be poorly equipped due to a lack of funding from the ministry of education. This proves that academic performance will not improve. And still, the students will not be able to attend these schools. This will therefore not increase academic performance nor reduce the dropout rate.
Conclusion
It is true that there is a problem when it comes to academic performance and the rate of dropout among the black community in Toronto. But as stated above isolation is not the way forward. This is because it seems like it is going to bring more problems than people are anticipating. This is because this isolation will foster a feeling of segregation among the blacks living in Toronto. The students who attend these schools will not be all-inclusive, that is, they will not be in a position to relate to people of different cultures and traditions. The problem of underperformance and high dropout rates among the black community in Toronto can be handled in a different way, which can be more effective and promote the spirit of inclusion among all the Torontonians in the sense that people of different races will be respected as such regardless of their color.
Recommendations
The setting up of an Afrocentric school in Toronto is not the solution to the high dropout rates and the poor performance among the black. There are other ways in which this problem can be tackled, they include, integrating it into the curriculum in order to appreciate the African culture. This will help all the people to appreciate the culture. The schools should be all-inclusive. That is the black culture and history should be integrated into the lessons. This will help to deal with the problem of isolation/ segregation whereby the black students will feel as part and parcel of the school program. This might even raise the interest of the black students since they want to learn their culture. This will help to reduce the high drop rate among black students. Students of different cultures or races should be taught together. The teachers should engage all the students the same way regardless of their race.
Secondly, the schools should organize after-school programs. These programs will help the students who might be having problems (that is students who are struggling academically) in school. For instance, the school might organize tutorials for the weak students in the specific units that the students find hard to understand. If the students maintain or have good grades they will be motivated to stay in school. These after-school programs will assist the weak students to overcome their weaknesses. The black students in Toronto underperform because they are weak in some areas not because of their color or culture.
So if they are given extra attention through the after-school programs, their performance will improve and this will help to reduce the dropout rate. Isolation through the Afrocentric School is not the solution. A plan should be developed to help the failing students. Motivation is one factor that affects the performance of the students. If the students are motivated and shown that they can succeed in school then they will be motivated to stay in school and perform well in school. If the encouragement comes from all angels then the students will be able to stay in school. The encouragement from the teachers can be through the after-school programs, whereby they are in a position to interact with the weak students and assist them in the areas that they have problems. This move will go a long way in trying to improve the performance of the students. Most of the black students drop out of school because their grades are not good. So if they are assisted to improve their performance then the dropout rate will definitely decrease.
The third recommendation would be to set up government-funded projects. These projects will be set to meet the physical, emotional psychological, and financial needs of the students. Poor performance can be a result of psychological problems in that student who do not perform well in school and at times even drop out most of the time have psychological problems. These might be as a result of family disunity or other issues like self-esteem problems. These problems are known to affect the academic performance of these students. So the government in collaboration with the schools should set up programmes which will help to identify the students who have other problems. The schools will engage the students in trying to cope with the situations. For example, the schools might set up counseling programmes in order to help he students to deal with the psychological problems. If these projects can be able to address the root problem of under performance and high drop out rates, then an improvement can be felt. Some of the root problem included racism (racial stereotype) and poverty. This racism affects the self image of many black students and therefore affecting the performance and self worth of these students. So through counseling and a lot of inclusion these students can have self esteem and be able to deal with the situation thereby increasing their academic performance and reduce the drop out rate. This kind of attitude will enable them to know that they are important and they can do well in school.
If the schools can also identify the poor students in school and help them to get financial assistance. This will help to reduce the number of students who drop out because of lack of finances and in the long run this will reduce the number of drop outs in Toronto.
References
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