Race-based privileges, lower academic achievement, and disorderly schools

The PDSB’s “Black Student Success Strategy”

Peel District School Board marked the launch of its Black Student Success Strategy with an event on Jan. 31 that included a step dance performance from students from Artesian Drive Public School, Earnscliffe Sr. Public School, David Suzuki Secondary School, Darcel Avenue Sr. Public School and Camilla Road Middle School. - Krystle Hewitt / Metroland

By Igor Stravinsky (anonymous Canadian high school teacher)

Here is the PDSB’s “Black Student Success Strategy”

In my essay, The PDSB's black student success strategy, I explained how a group of woke activists, who attribute any and all negative outcomes for black students, as a group, to the unseen hand of systemic or institutional racism in the schools, have succeeded in entrenching Critical Theory ideology into the PDSB, and have developed the Black Student Success Strategy (BSSS) accordingly.

In, A deeper look at the PDSB's “Black Student Success Strategy”, I looked at the revisionist history the authors of the BSSS provide in support of its aims and objectives.

This time, I will be looking at how the BSSS will roll out. Are the expectations being placed on educators reasonable, and, more importantly, will they make schools a place where all students can strive for excellence in a safe and accepting environment? 

Here are a few highlights from the various areas of focus:

Focus Area 1: 

“...school boards are responsible for providing training to trustees…”

This statement begs the question- who is in charge? Trustees, who were duly elected to run the board, are taking direction from administrators, who are in turn being directed by a few self-appointed community activists. Even if you happen to agree with the activists, this should be troubling.  

“The Director of Education and superintendents will use anti-racist, anti-oppressive, decolonizing, and culturally relevant and responsive pedagogies in their practice…”

This means these administrators must adhere to Critical Theory; they must allocate resources unequally based on race, must be prepared to reject enlightenment principles like equality of opportunity, fairness, tolerance of diverse views, democracy, freedom of expression, and even the scientific method, and embrace the idea that knowledge is socially constructed (thus nothing is true in an objective sense).

Focus Area 2: Integrate the experiences of black Canadians into the curriculum

This is all well and good to a point, but black people made up 0.1% of Canada's population 40 years ago and still make up less than 4% of it today. As a result of their small numbers, it is not reasonable to expect black peoples’ experiences to be featured prominently in all Canadian historical accounts. The efforts the board is making to “center blackness” thus appear forced and out of proportion.

Specific Actions

2.1: Making explicit curriculum connections with Black historical and contemporary contributions and identities, ensuring that blackness is ingrained within all curriculum areas. 

What is “blackness” exactly? Assuming that can be nailed down (unlikely since black people are individuals with widely diverse views, cultures, and attitudes) don’t we want to present a variety of perspectives and traditions? Blackness, if there is such a thing, is just not always relevant. We will not eradicate racism by presenting one race with disproportionate prominence. This will far more likely result in resentment. 

The other actions promote the same race-focused way of thinking, sure to inflame, not diminish racism. 

Focus Area 3: Foster anti-racist learning and working environments

“PDSB will foster belonging and dismantle oppressive systems that maintain the marginalization of Black people throughout its learning and working environments….”

We are never told what exactly these oppressive systems are but the specific actions give us some clues: School names, mascots, books, and unnamed other “resources” are targets. There is no evidence that changing any of these things is related to black student academic outcomes.  

We are told teachers do not care about black students, are not concerned about black student well-being, and learning environments are negative for black students. No evidence is provided for this gross slur. Is it any wonder that teachers are so demoralized these days and are counting down the years to their retirement?

Focus Area 4: Continue engagement with the black community

This is actually a great idea in theory, but in practice what it has entailed is convincing black parents that the system is racist and any problems their kids are experiencing are the result of racist teachers and administrators. This has had the effect of completely discrediting them. Many black parents will no longer listen to any constructive criticism of their children’s attitude, work habits, deportment, or behavior from anyone, even a black teacher or administrator (who are frequently called “oreos”, “uncle Tom” or worse). Can you blame them? The PDSB has sown the wind, and now its educators are reaping the whirlwind. 

Focus Area 5: Inspire and support black student success

Not all the ideas here are bad, but the following specific actions should raise eyebrows. I have added the likely way black students will interpret these actions:

• Replace white guidance counselors with black ones. Non-black people, especially whites, don’t understand you and cannot be trusted.

• Hold black-only student leadership conferences and encourage all manner of black-only gatherings. Black people should not integrate. Mixed race spaces are not safe. Blacks can only be successful through race-based activism.

• Discourage disciplining black students by demanding a mountain of paperwork (and professional scrutiny) for administrators if they do. As a black student, any discipline you receive is the result of racism.

• “Black students [are] to maintain a strong and positive sense of self rooted in their racial identity”. The most important thing about you is your racial identity.

Focus Area 6 Hire and support more Black staff

GTA school boards have been hiring black teachers for many years, but the fact is few Faculty of Education grads are black. Even if the boards hire every black applicant for the next 50 years you are not going to end up with anything close to a majority of teachers being black at 99% of schools. This is why promoting the lie that only black people can understand the needs of black students, and only they truly care about the success of black students, is a strategy doomed to failure. 

Accountability Framework/Measures of Success

The BSSS will be considered a success when aggregate black student outcomes match those of other students. If achieving this means dropping academic standards and behavioral expectations, so be it. The BSSS is silent on the matter. 

Conclusion

Critical Theory, AKA “wokeism” has taken over most of our institutions. In this context, it is not really surprising that a group of woke activists were able to entrench Critical Theory ideology into the PDSB and have developed the BSSS in the way that they have.

To justify embracing race-essentialism as a remedy for lower academic achievement and poorer behavior among a disproportionate number of black students, the authors of the BSSS have had to invent an alternate past- one in which a culture of anti-black racism and oppression, often characterized as “white supremacy”, held sway at the board. If not the sole cause, we are to believe that it was at least the predominant reason black students were not doing well. This is the quicksand on which the entire philosophy of the PDSB is constructed, and the catastrophic results, in terms of lower academic achievement and spiking school violence among other things, are starting to become obvious even to the general public.

This experiment will have to run its course, it seems, as the board has no power to make even minor course corrections, never mind do a full-scale rethink of the whole idea of convincing students that the only cure for racism is believing race is a person’s defining characteristic and that blacks are perpetual victims. 

Let us hope that in the not-too-distant future, our efforts to improve student achievement will reject race-essentialism and embrace our common humanity. Then we will look for common denominators between kids who are successful, irrespective of race or any other immutable characteristic, as a way to support and help those who are struggling.  

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author read, Critical Injustice - Woke Watch Canada Newsletter.

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