Afrocentric Schools: A Review

George Dei

While searching for materials relevant to the course, I came across this article in the National Post, written by Tristin Hopper, which followed the passing of the vote to introduce afrocentric high schools in Toronto. Afrocentric schools are schools that are designed with a curriculum that recognizes and caters to African Canadians. The criticism is that public school curriculum thus far has concentrated on European history while most of the time, ignoring the cultures and histories of minority races. The proposed high school will value students backgrounds and cultures, and teach them about their histories. Though the board voted in favour of the school, many criticisms were voiced by both sides of the debate. Those that were in favour of the school, stated that it should be a temporary fix to a problem with the educational system and that if Afrocentric schools exist in the future, it will be a shame. Those opposing the schools, state issues of segregation and moving away from the multicultural nation that we promote and should embrace. The school is not segregated though, as it is not limited to African Canadian students. Other races are welcomed to attend, though curriculum will focus on African Canadian culture. In fact, Toronto's city counsellor opposed the vote, writing on Twitter, while “done with the best of intentions,” it is “very wrong for our city and society”

In class we examined the Afrocentric School debate in relation to George Dei's theory of schooling as community and I found an interview with George Dei on his opinions on the Afrocentric schools. The article was written by Scott Anderson in the University of Toronto Magazine. George Dei praises the Afrocentric Schools on their proven success in student performance, attendance, and increasing the sense of community among their students. He says they are a solution to many problems that have long sense been faced by black youth in the educational system, though admits there are other solutions including making all schools more inclusive and multicultural. He says after years of black parents criticizing the education system of their children, it was time to try something new.

I agree with Dei in that efforts must be made to find a solution for the conditions of our educational systems and that if we don't try new approaches, the system will remain the same. I also realize that our school systems do focus on European culture and history, to the point of exclusion of all other races. From elementary school until highschool, I cannot remember learning anything about black history, except of course once or twice during black history month, which is very sad in itself. One month out of the year we learn about different cultures? and never about asian history or muslim history or spanish history. I agree that the educational system, even in Nova Scotia, is white. In my high school, all classes were taught by white teachers and the majority of students were white. However, there was a heavy Mi'kmaq and African Canadian student population as well and there were exactly 2 classes that offered any material related to their cultures or histories: "African Canadian History" and "Mi'kmaq Studies"... these courses were of course optional. No where in my educational career was it insisted upon that I learn about different races or see from the point of view of different cultures. There were very few opportunities to interact with each other, even if we wanted to. So in my opinion, the curriculum should be changed to include the histories of people of all colors and backgrounds and that classes should include people from all races. We live in a multicultural society where we will have to work with each other and live in the same areas. Ignorance of other cultures within our educational curriculum, what our children learn, is unacceptable in our "multi-cultural" nation. I find the concept of the curriculum at the Afrocentric schools to be a good one. However, fixing a problem of "eurocentric" schools by creating the opposite "afrocentric" schools is not a solution. It is promoting the attitudes of segregation that people should stick to their own and learn about themselves while staying away from others. A school designed to view education from multiple racial perspectives so that all students can feel a sense of community TOGETHER would be more appropriate in my opinion. If we want to improve our communities, decrease racism, and encourage our youth to be open-minded and inclusive, we need to start in our educational system. I think George Dei has it right in his efforts, in that schooling does need to be more of a community in order to improve our communities, but I'm not sure Afrocentric schools will accomplish this goal.