rpgr
Active Member
If you count the Japanese occupation of China as part of the above, I too can say my fair share of it
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- Thread starter khris
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If you count the Japanese occupation of China as part of the above, I too can say my fair share of it
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
There'd be a certain logic in teaching some special history courses that are more or less unique to each school. Elementary schools, in particular, can be remarkably homogenous because they draw kids from such a small, localized area - sometimes only a couple of apartment buildings and a few crescents of houses. If one school has mostly black kids, an African/Caribbean history course might benefit them and the non-black kids who go to school with them. Another school may have mostly Chinese kids, or Latin American, or Russian or whatever, and regional history courses might be popular and useful there, too. In a perfect world every school would have courses on all of world history, but we simply can't have half the curriculum taken up by regional/cultural history courses, so they should be flexible and based on local demand. Some schools already offer second language courses based upon local demographics, so there is precedence.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
^ Exactly. That's an excellent idea.
In Kitchener, all the high schools offer German courses because that's the cultural background of a large segment of the population. Of course, they should probably update that to be Serbian and Vietnamese these days. That's the one issue: keeping up with rapid demographic change.
In Kitchener, all the high schools offer German courses because that's the cultural background of a large segment of the population. Of course, they should probably update that to be Serbian and Vietnamese these days. That's the one issue: keeping up with rapid demographic change.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
There's several schools that offer, for example, Italian courses even though the Italians that once made up a large percentage of those local areas are now gone...should such a program stick around to cater to a shrinking minority, should the teachers be laid off, etc. I'm not aware of any schools that offer Asian language courses yet, but there's certainly latent demand for them - I knew many kids that took such language courses on the weekend, but if they were open to all students at a school, I'd probably have taken Cantonese/written Chinese myself.
DENTROBATE54
Banned
Sorry folks, but if the media won't let it die, I can't either. Something must be done to save these young individuals from self-destruction, the only logical outcome for marginalized teens with no out-button. My university professor in anthropology brought up the subject of race just the other day and made in no uncertain terms how obviously disadvantaged blacks are in contrast to the general non-black population. I wish someone could see that and agree something must be done at the academic level. Here's the latest from the Star:
Violent schools in divided city
School board has little real power to overcome social divisions based on economic inequality
Jan 13, 2008 04:30 AM
David Hulchanski
The murder of a student in one of our schools caused, at best – if we want to be honest with ourselves – a modest amount of concern in the City of Toronto and very little beyond Toronto. "The fact of the matter," according to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, "is that there are millions of children who attend school every single day in Ontario and they do so safely and without incident." This is only a problem in "some communities."
The Toronto District School Board appointed a panel whose report last week is as good, if not better, than one might expect in such a situation. Yet, as the panel mentions in passing, the problem is bigger than the school and the school board. The context matters. And the context is not pretty.
The City of Toronto, as a huge municipality created through forced amalgamation with a population of 2.5 million, is not one uniform city. It never was and is much less so now thanks to two decades of federal and provincial budget cuts affecting the poor, tax cuts helping the well off, and the downward shift in wages in a new economy that provides precarious employment at the bottom end of the wage scale. These trends are dividing us. A divided society produces divided cities.
There are three major partitions – three distinct cities – within what is officially called Toronto. People with choice in the housing market do not choose to live in the neighbourhoods like the ones the school board panel focused on.
Very few of the teachers in those schools, the panel found in its survey, live in those neighbourhoods and, by a wide margin, do not want to live in those neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods, in what I call City Number 3 in my research, are now 60 per cent non-white and very, very poor.
In the 1950s and 1960s, they were new suburban middle-income family neighbourhoods. It is an area that today we generally view as a sprawling bleak and desolate landscape. It lacks appropriate social services and even rapid transit. The average income in City Number 3 has fallen by 34 per cent since 1970 relative to the Toronto average.
In comparison, in City Number 1, the 20 per cent of neighbourhoods where people with enough money choose to live, average incomes over the same period increased by 71 per cent.
The panel's report makes an unfortunate starting assumption: "While the TDSB did not create poverty, racism, sexism or classism, it has the power and opportunity to shelter youth from its harshest effects."
Is this true? Where is the evidence to support the claim that a school board has the "power" to effectively "shelter" students from these very big and very bad contextual issues?
On racism, the panel found "strong evidence that racism is a major concern of many black students" and that "the majority of black students perceive racial bias with respect to grading and disciplinary practices and feel that teachers treated some students better than others." In addition: "Many black students also perceive racism outside of the school environment – especially with respect to policing activities and employment opportunities."
The survey found the opposite among the teachers: "Few teachers feel that unfair grading, unfair punishment and racial discrimination by teachers against students is a problem" and "few teachers support the hiring of more racial minority teachers."
So what should be done about perceived and real racism in the schools?
Here the panel fails us. The word racism appears only a few times in the 126 recommendations. I wonder what students think about recommendation 24: "Student and teacher surveys should be conducted every five years" to gather information about "perceptions of racism at school." Or recommendation 31: "Multicultural, anti-racism staff development should be provided to teachers, administration, and school staff at every school."
All of the most important recommendations require one thing: money. The panel recognizes the failure thus far of the provincial and federal governments to do more than sit on committees and help co-ordinate efforts. "Co-ordination and planning without resources are not only ineffective, they hold out the false hope that governments are making significant progress toward addressing the conditions of marginalized youth and communities."
Yes, but ... how and when will this change?
The denizens of Toronto's City Number 1, where all the power, not just the money, resides, have a decision to make.
Will 40 per cent of Toronto be abandoned, as the research literature predicts, to become Toronto's vast "ghetto of the excluded"? Will parts of Toronto begin to become similar to parts of Detroit and Paris?
The panel members should have been more explicit in their reference to the contextual problems of poverty, racism, sexism and classism. This is why the range of very serious problems that exist in City Number 3, including the shocking reality of murder in our schools, do not exist in City Number 1 or even City Number 2.
Though the TDSB cannot effectively address this bigger societal issue, the provincial and federal governments have both the power and, now, another opportunity, thanks to the panel's recommendations, to begin making a difference.
This is not simply a Toronto problem. This is a Canadian problem. Progress will be made when Canada's senior governments make progress on narrowing the income gap, implementing a national housing strategy, which will help build better neighbourhoods, and begin funding the "urban agenda."
Violent schools in divided city
School board has little real power to overcome social divisions based on economic inequality
Jan 13, 2008 04:30 AM
David Hulchanski
The murder of a student in one of our schools caused, at best – if we want to be honest with ourselves – a modest amount of concern in the City of Toronto and very little beyond Toronto. "The fact of the matter," according to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, "is that there are millions of children who attend school every single day in Ontario and they do so safely and without incident." This is only a problem in "some communities."
The Toronto District School Board appointed a panel whose report last week is as good, if not better, than one might expect in such a situation. Yet, as the panel mentions in passing, the problem is bigger than the school and the school board. The context matters. And the context is not pretty.
The City of Toronto, as a huge municipality created through forced amalgamation with a population of 2.5 million, is not one uniform city. It never was and is much less so now thanks to two decades of federal and provincial budget cuts affecting the poor, tax cuts helping the well off, and the downward shift in wages in a new economy that provides precarious employment at the bottom end of the wage scale. These trends are dividing us. A divided society produces divided cities.
There are three major partitions – three distinct cities – within what is officially called Toronto. People with choice in the housing market do not choose to live in the neighbourhoods like the ones the school board panel focused on.
Very few of the teachers in those schools, the panel found in its survey, live in those neighbourhoods and, by a wide margin, do not want to live in those neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods, in what I call City Number 3 in my research, are now 60 per cent non-white and very, very poor.
In the 1950s and 1960s, they were new suburban middle-income family neighbourhoods. It is an area that today we generally view as a sprawling bleak and desolate landscape. It lacks appropriate social services and even rapid transit. The average income in City Number 3 has fallen by 34 per cent since 1970 relative to the Toronto average.
In comparison, in City Number 1, the 20 per cent of neighbourhoods where people with enough money choose to live, average incomes over the same period increased by 71 per cent.
The panel's report makes an unfortunate starting assumption: "While the TDSB did not create poverty, racism, sexism or classism, it has the power and opportunity to shelter youth from its harshest effects."
Is this true? Where is the evidence to support the claim that a school board has the "power" to effectively "shelter" students from these very big and very bad contextual issues?
On racism, the panel found "strong evidence that racism is a major concern of many black students" and that "the majority of black students perceive racial bias with respect to grading and disciplinary practices and feel that teachers treated some students better than others." In addition: "Many black students also perceive racism outside of the school environment – especially with respect to policing activities and employment opportunities."
The survey found the opposite among the teachers: "Few teachers feel that unfair grading, unfair punishment and racial discrimination by teachers against students is a problem" and "few teachers support the hiring of more racial minority teachers."
So what should be done about perceived and real racism in the schools?
Here the panel fails us. The word racism appears only a few times in the 126 recommendations. I wonder what students think about recommendation 24: "Student and teacher surveys should be conducted every five years" to gather information about "perceptions of racism at school." Or recommendation 31: "Multicultural, anti-racism staff development should be provided to teachers, administration, and school staff at every school."
All of the most important recommendations require one thing: money. The panel recognizes the failure thus far of the provincial and federal governments to do more than sit on committees and help co-ordinate efforts. "Co-ordination and planning without resources are not only ineffective, they hold out the false hope that governments are making significant progress toward addressing the conditions of marginalized youth and communities."
Yes, but ... how and when will this change?
The denizens of Toronto's City Number 1, where all the power, not just the money, resides, have a decision to make.
Will 40 per cent of Toronto be abandoned, as the research literature predicts, to become Toronto's vast "ghetto of the excluded"? Will parts of Toronto begin to become similar to parts of Detroit and Paris?
The panel members should have been more explicit in their reference to the contextual problems of poverty, racism, sexism and classism. This is why the range of very serious problems that exist in City Number 3, including the shocking reality of murder in our schools, do not exist in City Number 1 or even City Number 2.
Though the TDSB cannot effectively address this bigger societal issue, the provincial and federal governments have both the power and, now, another opportunity, thanks to the panel's recommendations, to begin making a difference.
This is not simply a Toronto problem. This is a Canadian problem. Progress will be made when Canada's senior governments make progress on narrowing the income gap, implementing a national housing strategy, which will help build better neighbourhoods, and begin funding the "urban agenda."
Desi_Doubkle
Banned
nice post n all but you forgettin brown ppl. we at a disadvantage as well. since much of da media in canada run through america dey cant get it through der heads that canada & america are dif so ppl would be different. while in america south asians are doing better here in canada esp TO we not. simple as that. also west indian. we at da bottom long with blacks. together all people as together we cud fight da system made to keep us da normal people down & da rich up.
DENTROBATE54
Banned
In alot of circles, the South Asian problem is clumped right alongside blacks. These problems aren't endemic to blacks alone but in nearly every facet of life you can find evidence of racism predominantly against one particular complexion of folks. Other minorities (gays, Asians, women, Jews) often join right in as deflecting hatred onto blacks distracts from their own stigmatization/ostracization from the status quo.
I've plead on belief of the underpriviledged several times now, that it's in their best welfare to gain oppurtuinities they cannot or rather will not be granted by the 'public' system. It's not enough that black professionals who were brought up in the polyethnic school system still recognize (perhaps from their own personal turmoil) the hell it is for blacks to thrive in a system designed for their failure- racism, segregation, ignorance, isolation... prerequisites to gang culture/dropping out/unemployment/jail/death, I say
. [NB- they're using your writing style as an excuse to ignore your nonconformist viewpoints, just thought you should know].
JasonParis
Moderator
No, we can't even get to his viewpoints due to his "style" being wrong and unreadable.
lordmandeep
Banned
So Jews can say we were gassed so you can't make fun of us, while blacks can't say that million perished through traveling on dutch slave boats??
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Would you not presume that the Jews who were gassed would be dead?
lordmandeep
Banned
^^^^^^^
DENTROBATE54
Banned
So Jews can say we were gassed so you can't make fun of us, while blacks can't say that million perished through traveling on dutch slave boats??
Perhaps more slaves than that. It's not like the oppressors would've conveniently kept records that'd incriminate them over the spans of time
.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
No, you at da disadvantage cause u cant communicate good. That was painfully pathetic. Honestly, is this how you actually speak? Some of the English-speaking world's best orators and writers come from non-white countries such as India and the Caribbean.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Reminds me of Ebonics or the Jive guys on Airplane! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2iPn7b7Qqc
adma
Superstar
- Status