The Peel District School Board’s Anti-Racism Policy is a Disaster

But the legacy media just reports what race essentialist activists want you to hear

By Igor Stravinsky, High School Teacher and Commentator

Torstar group, which publishes the Toronto Star, also owns numerous local papers. They frequently publish pieces in these local iterations which present a positive image of “anti-racism” policies in area schools. In fact, these “anti-racism” policies are the main reason why academic standards are plummeting along with poor student attendance, punctuality, and work habits. Then there is the general climate of disrespect and disorder and a major spike in school violence that has ensued as the policies have been implemented.

But never mind all that, on July 14th, an article appeared online on Mississauga.com entitled “Peel school board's anti-racism policy moving in right direction, some students believe”. The identical article then appeared in the print version of the Brampton Guardian on August 3rd with the title “Anti-Racism Policy Moving in Right Direction, Students Say”. The second title seems to imply that no students would say otherwise. 

In the article, two students describe the racism they have faced and the ways the “anti-racism” policy has helped them counter it. Keep in mind these are the most egregious examples these cherry-picked kids could come up with: 

[the student] has faced racism in PDSB schools first hand. One of her teachers told her not to use the word “racism” during a discussion on misrepresentation within the government, telling her instead that the explanation was that some people had privileges that others did not have. [the student] was floored.   

The main tenet of “anti-racism” is that any observed disproportion among identity groups anywhere is always the result of racism (or homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc.), and further, to ask anyone to consider the possibility that maybe there could be any other reason is to be racist. Having been indoctrinated into this way of thinking, one wonders how the student would explain that 25% of the Senate is made up of Indigenous people, although the Indigenous only make up 5% of the general population. Racism against non-native people?

Another student relates that

[he] has also seen racism firsthand in the schools, in terms of microaggressions. “When I’ve gotten mad or upset, the teacher's first question is, ‘Everything is OK at home?’” he explained. “Other children aren’t asked that.” 

I’m not sure how the student knows other children aren’t asked that, but I can tell you for sure teachers cannot win. They are explicitly told, in professional learning sessions, that they must get to know their students and be cognizant of, and take into account, student “lived experiences”. They are told that not to do so is racist, but as you can see, when they do try to account for these “lived experiences”, they can also be accused of racism. 

The article also states that “According to an Ontario Human Rights report, Black students, who comprise 10 per cent of the student population, are 17.5 times more likely than white students to perceive discriminatory treatment in the application of suspension practices”. More likely to perceive…

Another tenet of “anti-racism” is that personal feelings are more important than objective reality. Black students are told, over and over again, that the system is racist and rigged against them, then we are surprised when they perceive high levels of racism?

The truth is, for years, administrators have been under intense pressure not to discipline black students except for in extreme cases. Activists have convinced the board that the inappropriate behaviours demonstrated more often by black boys are the fault of the teachers and administrators, who are failing to provide a climate for learning that engages black youth. The problem is the “whiteness” of the system, they are told. Left unexplained is how East and South Asian youth can be so successful in this “white supremacist” system.

Then there’s this pearl from notorious self-appointed black community “leader” Idris Orughu: “Black students were being suspended for things as small as wearing hoop earrings”. He adds “That is changing now, he said, as teachers are reluctant to suspend students”.

Orughu knows that the reason black girls were forbidden to wear those hoop earrings is that they were getting into vicious fights with one another during which those earrings were being ripped off. That girl was likely given multiple warnings and only suspended when the warnings were repeatedly ignored. 

Orughu also probably knows that teachers do not have the authority to suspend students- only administration can do that. But he is right: Black students can now get away with almost anything without fear of suspension, precisely because activists like him will cry “racism” every time. This goes a long way to explain why schools have become unruly and violent. That’s a good thing?

The article also talks about three new courses celebrating Black and Indigenous history, with a student rejoicing that “We didn’t just learn about Europe anymore, [He] explained. I got to learn about Africville in Nova Scotia, and Sudan, South Africa, North Africa, Mexico, Brazil, the Middle East”.

The fact is that those courses only exist so that the principal can check off a box on their  long list of “anti-racist” strategies that the board requires. At most schools, not nearly enough kids sign up for the courses, so the principal simply cancels other courses (that kids actually signed up for) and dumps the kids in these social justice courses. 

The course content is a mish-mash of selective history, deliberate obfuscation of facts, and overall indoctrination into the oppressor/victim narrative so popular among “anti-racist” and “anti-colonial” activists. It truly is “unlearning”, as the board proudly calls it. 

If you gave the few kids emerging from those courses who actually signed up a quiz on actual Canadian history you would be shocked by the level of ignorance on display, but they would likely be very confident that Canada is, and always has been, a bastion of racism and Indigenous genocide perpetrated by white overlords. The majority of the kids will just keep their heads down in those classes and regurgitate whatever woke rhetoric they figure the teacher wants to hear. Good training for their future in woke society I guess. 

Further along, the article features a black student glowingly describing opportunities exclusively set aside for black students such as scholarships, field trips, volunteering, internships, and entrepreneurship. I certainly can’t blame them for enthusiastically taking advantage of these opportunities. But as a society, do we want to be allocating resources according to peoples’ race? I thought that was exactly the kind of thing we didn’t want! 

The fact is, programs intended to benefit disadvantaged or marginalised kids (by any socioeconomic measure) would definitely benefit black kids disproportionally, which would of course be fine. But the PDSB’s obsession with race is teaching these kids that they need extra resources because they are black- that they cannot compete on a level playing field with other kids. This is insulting, racist, and damaging. These kids will likely go on to believe that being treated equally is actually a form of discrimination. This is not setting them up for success in life. 

Of course, Idris Orughu will never be satisfied. He says “PDSB policies that promote anti racism [discrimination that favours black kids] is too slow”. You can be sure that he and his fellow activists will ensure that there will always be “systemic” racism (anecdotal reports of it) in the PDSB, so that he and his unelected Advocacy Peel activist group will continue to wield unaccountable influence and power. 

That is, as long as we continue to let them.

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author read, Open letter to People for Education

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