We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King Jr.
I guess we are going to perish as fools. In a recent decision, the Toronto District School Board decided to create black-focused schools. I believe that if this decision is carried out, it will promote racism.
Racism comes in all colours and creeds. It is not exclusive to white people. I have travelled to China, for example, and have been treated badly because the colour of my skin and nationality.
How are people in black-focused schools going to learn how to live together with the rest of the population? I am not just talking about people of European background, but Asian, as well.
In fact, if there can be black-focused schools, why not have Asian-focused schools. Toronto with its multi-ethnic background could easily create these little ghettos.
Let’s not stop there, though. Why not create schools for every religion that wants to do so?
For those of you who live in Ontario, does that last sentence sound familiar? It should. The Progressive Conservative Party was promoting separate schools for many cultures and religions in the last election. It was the issue that hurt the party the most, so much so that the election hinged mostly on this one issue.
Don’t believe that blacks are solidly behind this proposal. They aren’t.
Are there alternate solutions? Of course there are. Courses in cultural sensitivity could be devised, not just for blacks, but also for all cultures. We really do need to learn about each other.
A problem that hasn’t been addressed, though, is the whole question of parenting. I’m not talking about only one skin colour, but all of them. In my experience as an occasional teacher, I go into many classrooms. You can tell the students who have received good parenting. Good parents expect excellence from their children. Poor parents tolerate bad behaviour and explain it away or lay the blame elsewhere.
If the same efforts to create black-focused schools were used to work on ways to promote ways we can live in harmony, our children would be better off.
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Johnny V.."I have difficulty with that." The Provincial PC party was offering FAITH-based schools for those who wished to have the option...NOT race-based schools. This was to promote one school board-therefore, saving money. It would promote one curriculum...and more opportunities for teachers, who would be held to the same standard as well. All publicly funded. This would result in equality in the material taught and would ensure that all children were prepared equally for higher education. The taxpayers who use private schools, also pay taxes into the public coffers but it is diverted to the general fund if they dont use the publicly funded school boards, so the money is there...it just has to be directed to the school board account.
Sorry to hear you were the victim of discrimination in China. I am sure that your skills at teaching were enough to sway everyone by the time you were finished your tenure there.
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