I don’t like to talk about controversial issues on this blog, however I have been asked a number of times, what is my opinion regarding Black-Focused Schools. When I tell them what I think, I do manage to make them see my point of view, and I find that they do agree with me.
For those of you not living in Toronto, here is the issue: Some areas of the city that have schools with high a population of black students are finding that there are high drop out rates, and the student are scoring lower academically. Some people feel that the school system is not looking at the needs of the black students, because they do not understand were they are coming from, and that a Black-Focused school may address this problem. This is just my opinion of the issue as I see it, and I know that there is a lot more to it then that.
Now what do I think? Yes there is a problem, and yes the school system is not doing what they need to do to fix it, and yes we do need Black-Focused schools. However I don’t think that a government run black-focused school will help the problem.
First off; I did not support giving government money to Faith-Based School, (that issue made me change my vote from the PC’s to the Liberals) so giving money to have a Black-Focused school is the same thing.
Second; the school system needs fixing, and doing this will just put a new problem inside a broken system, fix the entire system first.
What needs to be done is have Black-Focused schools, that are created from the community, run by the community, with community money, and these schools must be run out side of the public system (but also complement that system). Now I know this is something that would be harder to get off the ground. The black community in Canada does not have the level of funds that they do in the States, however unless we as black people start to look at the problem within and stop pointing the finger at others, we will not move forward as a community. Yes there are problem from the out side, but in Canada, those problems can be fix with education, and a strong family, and we are starting to waver on both fronts.
