In the 1950s and 1960s, liberals and leftists demanded the end of segregated schools in the American South. By the end of the 1960s, these crusaders claimed near total victory in their struggle to end segregation. Canada’s largest city now wants to turn the clock back. Toronto opened its first “Africentric” school yesterday, an institution which is designed to help improve the self-esteem and educational achievement of African-Canadian students by offering a curriculum that focuses on the history and culture of Africa. Defenders of this school have dismissed worries that this experiment will foster parochialism and ghettoization; instead they expect that the students will do better in an environment which affirms and cherishes their identity. This school has received wide support mostly among leftists who have given up on the ideals of racial integration and equality in order to address the problem of low test scores among African-Canadian youth. Once the cradle of Tory conservatism in Canada, the multicultural city of Toronto is likely to face more demands to open up separate schools for other disadvantaged minorities.
The Canadian Left is about to discover the brave new world of identity politics.
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The New Segregation
In the 1950s and 1960s, liberals and leftists demanded the end of segregated schools in the American South. By the end of the 1960s, these crusaders claimed near total victory in … [Read More]
Posted by Grant Havers on September 09, 2009
The Usual Suspects