Man it seems like only two people who replied can read an article.
Here's what I DIDN'T read in the article:
"THOSE FUCKIN HONKEYS ARE RUININ OUR CHILLUN! WE MUST BREAK AWAY FROM THESE FUCKS AND USE PUBLIC DOLLARS FOR A SCHOOL FOR EXCLUSIVELY BLACK CHILDREN!"
...which is what most of you are responding to.

No, there is a very clear problem wherin a large majority of students who 1) drop out or 2) are suspended (I would guess expelled as well, although I'll admit I'm extrapolating there and the article doesn't explicitly state it) HAVE one thing in common: they're black. The school would be centered around creating an environment where black children could succeed instead of drop out and be suspended . Aside from the first line (and it sounds like most of you didn't read past it), there is absolutely nothing that even implies that black students would be allowed in to the exclusion of other races, only that the school's focus would be on the issues which cause this mass dropout rate, and the mass suspension rate (NINETY EIGHT PERCENT of which are blacks), in order to try to fix the problem of HIGH RATES OF DROPOUTS AND SUSPENSIONS AMONG BLACK YOUTH.
It would be focused on the problems which cause this, but

"I think we're talking about the possibility of a school that would have black-focussed programs -- but they'd be available to any student who wanted to attend them," board chair Sheila Ward told CTV News Toronto.

Wow, will you look at that HARDCORE RACISM EXCLUDE WHITEY BLACK SUPREMACY.

I mean, Christ, I don't see how that could be interpreted any other way than "there is a specific problem we are going to set out to fix which involves black children and their educational needs, but we won't exclude anyone else."
I simply don't see anything wrong with that.

My major problem with it is the further separation and alienation of students because of their race. OK yeah ANY PERSON CAN ATTEND THE FUCKING SCHOOL but it will be almost entirely black people who will then become segregated from other races (not just white people). The one good thing high school does it force people together; when you go to school and see people of every race and every type of person from every race (like you do in Toronto) you are no longer phased by them when they are walking about outside. If we put all the X minorities over there and all the Y minorities over there then you are going to see generations of kids who have only ever talked to a couple of people from those minorities in their entire childhood/teenage years despite living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

If they want to open a school for kids who have trouble staying in school with a broader focus on multiculturalism (also, they already have those), that's one thing; but this is a school that they have repeatedly said they are focusing at black kids (regardless of who CAN attend) and it is bullshit to further separate people based on the colour of their skin/which God they worship, and I don't think it belongs in the public school system (which already has NO MONEY in Toronto).

This is gonna cause problems when these kids that won't associate with other races get in the real world.

Agreed.

This reminds me of how my stupid neighbor pulled her daughter out of this pretty decent public school and put her in this shitty lowfunded school further away that had a high black demographic  because she had too many white friends.

and there's no real specific WHITE mold build for a school like there is an afrocentric one, so it would have to be like a Westerncentric school or something.

edit: Though imo it's going against what we've been trying to promote in this country since hmmm forever, unity?

My major problem with it is the further separation and alienation of students because of their race. OK yeah ANY PERSON CAN ATTEND THE FUCKING SCHOOL but it will be almost entirely black people who will then become segregated from other races (not just white people). The one good thing high school does it force people together; when you go to school and see people of every race and every type of person from every race (like you do in Toronto) you are no longer phased by them when they are walking about outside. If we put all the X minorities over there and all the Y minorities over there then you are going to see generations of kids who have only ever talked to a couple of people from those minorities in their entire childhood/teenage years despite living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

If they want to open a school for kids who have trouble staying in school with a broader focus on multiculturalism (also, they already have those), that's one thing; but this is a school that they have repeatedly said they are focusing at black kids (regardless of who CAN attend) and it is bullshit to further separate people based on the colour of their skin/which God they worship, and I don't think it belongs in the public school system (which already has NO MONEY in Toronto).

This.

Also, the article was not clear on what exactly are these issues that black people are having which are presumably strongly correlated (or proven to cause?) high dropout rates, let alone what they're actually going to do about them.

I was under the impression that high dropout rates were caused by social factors which have a direct bearing on their economical status, amount of leisure, area where they live, and other such things, and that it is these factors that make students more likely to drop out. So, what would a school do to solve these issues?

If they want to introduce a more multicultural education into public schools, why not? I wouldn't have minded taking a couple different African studies or Mayan studies or East-Asian studies in high school; hell, I would have enjoyed it a great deal more than my actual classes. You don't need a new school (and new teachers, and new janitorial staff and new et cetera) because of some fabricated racial issue.

Also Toronto is already filled with specialized schools that cater to various other ethnic minorities. I knew of several kids growing up that went to special Chinese schools or Polish schools or whatever the fuck. I don't see why everyone is all up in arms only when black people decide they want a school that focuses primarily on their culture and shit.

Yes, but these are all Saturday schools and night schools that aren't actually public and give the full curriculum. Trust me, pretty much all my Chinese friends go to Chinese school on weekdays afterschool or on Saturday, and all you learn there is...Chinese and perhaps a bit of history, but not all the courses you need, it's very distinct.

Also, I agree with Kaempfer 100%.

There was a big debate over the faith-baised funding of schools becuase they wanted to make them public which would take away from the already dysfunctional public system and further segregate students. That was one of the major issues that the Conservatives were pushing for and they didn't get voted in, a lot of it due to this.

The Deep South is a little different than Toronto.

And a World History class would be much more interesting than the lame history classes I took in high school.  Did I really need to learn about Louis Riel 5 times over?

And religion should not be part of any school curriculum (outside of a religious studies class).  Instead of adding new publicly funded schools for various religions, I think funding should be cut for the catholic ones.

“Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion”. - Supernintendo Chalmers

Yes, this exactly.

@Konix: They wouldn't even have to force those credits into the curriculum; just make them U level Social Science classes that you can take instead of Canadian History X or Philosophy (seriously, fuck that class). They would be as optional as any history/geography/et cetera class is.  It would expand the curriculum rather than shit all over it[i/] which is what the Ontario PCs did when they tried to "reform" it.

Cut funding to Catholic Schools completely and use that money to hire teachers to teach Catholic/Muslim/Hindu/Jewish/African/Asian/Mooninite culture classes at public schools that anyone interested could take by walking down the hall.

Haha, oh man this will be really stupid trust me.

I'm from Toronto, and I noticed that when your BLACK and look a certain way you'll always get trouble from not only cops, but other black people. I don't how many people here are from Toronto but that city is divided up into areas. A lot of the younger people (and the criminal older folk) DON'T leave their areas because no one can trust anyone outside these areas really, and it's gotten to the point where if they don't know who you are the tools are coming out. Now you ask yourself why? Because a lot of these people, especially around the projects areas, are paranoid fucks who all have a list of enemies for shit they did. Now You can be targeted because of an association you have with someone, some area, or just how you look/carry yourself... You can always get robbed too. It's really staggering man trust me. I didn't run into as much problems myself (at least stuff I couldn't handle) but some of my friends been through the worst shit ever.

Toronto doesn't have as much murders as some cities in the States do but hell it's pretty grimy. The funny thing is that most of the people that are doing the killings, robbery, shootings, and whatever are TEENAGERS. The cops have no leads on like any of the murder cases and it isn't even a big secret of who's commiting them. Of course once you snitch you risk not only your safety but your family's safety as well.

Again, my point is that this "All Black School" will house all the people who got kicked out and banned from toronto district school boards. I am 100% that if this idea is implemented then all those people will HAVE NO CHOICE but to go to this all black school because none of the other schools will accept these trouble youths. Now, your going to put all these people that have so much static between each other in one school? Good luck with that! The problem is that they're looking at the situation from the outside in and not from the inside out. They don't have a clue of some of students lives outside the school walls, and frankly, they don't care. The only reason why they are bringing it up now is because the "Stats" are appalling.

Seriously, I blame that zero tolerance shit that basically kicked students out of ENTIRE SCHOOL BOARDS. How the fuck can you complain about "Staggering dropout rates" when your kicking people out because they stole a can of pop from the pop machine (this is no joke, I saw someone get kicked out because of this!). Even if you're going to kick them out of school, fine, go ahead... But the school board? That means they can't attend any school in the district and they can only go to a assigned school where all the other so called knuckle heads go (there are only like 2 locations) in which they have to travel too everyday no matter how far they live. Want to hear something funny? Some of these troubled schools have a helicopter landing spot on top of their school, guess why? This shit won't work at all, it's a dumb idea. I know this because I'm from Toronto and I am a young person who witness/heard all the information these faculty members are missing out on.

What they need to do is focus on the public schools and have special programs to help the needy, don't segregate them like animals. I honestly think it's unfair that catholics schools are publically funded. I'm not against religious school but equality needs to be present.

The city is divided up into areas? Sorry buddy, that's just not true, unless you count "Parliament and Gerrard" and "Jane and Finch" and "The rest of the city" as separate areas.

I live in East York, and I am not afraid to go to Scarborough or downtown or North York or other parts of East York. I wouldn't want to walk around in the PJs, but that is a personal choice, not a matter of life or death. You must live in a really shitty part of the city, because where I am (let's just say near Danforth and Coxwell so I don't get killed) it is pretty fucking nice, and overall really safe to walk.

The city is divided up into areas? Sorry buddy, that's just not true, unless you count "Parliament and Gerrard" and "Jane and Finch" and "The rest of the city" as separate areas.

I live in East York, and I am not afraid to go to Scarborough or downtown or North York or other parts of East York. I wouldn't want to walk around in the PJs, but that is a personal choice, not a matter of life or death. You must live in a really shitty part of the city, because where I am (let's just say near Danforth and Coxwell so I don't get killed) it is pretty fucking nice, and overall really safe to walk.

This is very true, Maxubex IS overblowing all of this, but uh he does have a point sort of.  I mean, there's Jane and Finch, Morningside and Sheppard, and some shady areas such as peanut plaza on Don Mills, and certainly you wouldn't want to be walking around there at night alone, hm? Last incident I remember was some little 10 year old black kid who said he'd "shaft" me and my friends if we didn't give him a "toonie and some smokes", when we started walking away he said "yo man, are you fucking stupid? can you not see i'm black? I'll fucking kill you!". Let's just say it's pretty lucky we only met the 10 year old rather than a whole gang... Point is, you wouldn't want to walk around areas like THAT late at night. My  neighbourhood, by the way, is actually pretty peaceful, I don't even remember how we ended up there that time..

Let me get this straight. YoU aRe pissed because your city is 'wasting' it's Money tRying to open a school that tailors to at-risk-teens? Even thouGh  it would be "available to AnY student who wanted to attend them"? Because it supposedly isolates the races... hurting the multiculturalism of Toronto.... meanwhile poking fun at the oh-so-oppressed black man's struggle?
Why do you hate black people FlowerPower? What is so wrong about giving a helping hand to a people who's youth culture is based primarily around a sense of victimization and nihilism?

Clearly I hate black people. It's racist to say that "at-risk" teenagers are almost all black. The color of your skin doesn't make you any different.. Why did they need to specifically say that they are "black-focussed programs" instead of just trying to help students overall that are in trouble? It's just isolating them more and pretty much picking them out solely for the color of their skin, which at a city like Toronto, shouldn't have any sort of bearing on anything.

Clearly I hate black people. It's racist to say that "at-risk" teenagers are almost all black. The color of your skin doesn't make you any different.. Why did they need to specifically say that they are "black-focussed programs" instead of just trying to help students overall that are in trouble? It's just isolating them more and pretty much picking them out solely for the color of their skin, which at a city like Toronto, shouldn't have any sort of bearing on anything.

Um, because when they sat down and looked at the numbers there was a very high correlation between those who were suspended/dropped out and those who were black?
Last time I checked, seeing troubling statistics and taking specific measures to combat the problems wasn't racist.
And quit with this "it doesn't matter what color their skin is" shit. Maybe one day it won't. It sure as hell does now.

Well, it's kind of weird, but can anyone explain what the hell "AFRO-CENTRIC" curriculum is? Because I'm really at a loss to explain that myself.

Ahhhhh, Canada.

That's what I meant with areas, like blocks and such. I wasn't refering to areas such as North York, Etobicoke, etc. Again, I'm really speaking from personal experiences really. I actually don't live in a shitty area and my parents mortgaged a house years ago (I.E: I don't live in metro housing).

However, I'm speaking from personal experiences and what I witnessed/know about. I hear and know a lot of shit I don't need to be knowing at all when it comes to all the crazy shit that happens in Toronto. This information isn't hear say either, BELIEVE me. A lot of stuff happen to me too but I won't go into it, it really effected my life in many ways.

In your mind, stuff may appear all "safe and cozy" but I'm telling you that there is a lot of things going down everyday, which confirms my beliefs that Toronto will get even worst when everything start getting exposed to the public more. The reason why you don't notice all this is because it hasn't effected you and your daily life yet. There are a lot of stuff that doesn't actually get on the news.

Just look at our summer, lol.


I love Toronto either way, it holds a special place in my heart. I'm in western Canada now but I'll return there soon.