1. Anti-Black Racism in the Ontario Public School System: Problematizing the Labeling of Young Black Students as Troublemakers.
- Author
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Radebe, Patrick
- Subjects
ANTI-Black racism ,BLACK people ,BLACK students ,FAMILY structure ,PUNISHMENT (Psychology) ,TEACHER development ,SCHOOL violence - Abstract
This paper examines anti-Black racism in the Ontario public school system. Using the West-Hill Catholic Elementary School (a pseudonym) as a case study, it foregrounds the selective application of punishments inflicted upon Black students, including those often motivated by racist perceptions on the part of teachers, principals, and School Boards. Using the theories of biological determinism
1 and the culture of poverty2 as conceptual frameworks, this paper investigates the factors to which school authorities attribute violent behavior on the part of Black students. This paper provides recommendations aimed at mitigating anti-Black racism in the Ontario public school system. Plain Language Summary: Selective Punishment in the Ontario Public School System This paper examines serial cases of anti-Black racism, in particular incidents involving selective punishment within the Ontario public school system under the pretext of discouraging violent behaviour. Using the arrest of a four-year-old Black student at the West-Hill Catholic Elementary School, allegedly for violent behaviour, as a case study, in addition to data from the Toronto District School Board, the paper examines the theory of biological determinism, which is often used to represent Black students as intrinsically prone to violence. Also investigated is the culture of poverty hypothesis that attributes such behaviour on the part of Black students to environmental factors, such as family structure, upbringing and ethics. Drawing on academic publications, this paper argues that race plays a central role in determining who gets rewarded in the Ontario public school system and who gets punished for displaying behaviour construed, by school authorities, as a threat to the school environment. Black racism, in its many modalities, remains an enduring problem, one that requires a broad range of correctives, including changes to teacher education programs, professional development for teachers and school administrators, and the recruitment of Black parents as allies. It would also require non-racist policies to address knee-jerk reactions that have transformed some public schools in Ontario into bootcamps where 'refractory' students are punished with a view to discouraging their classmates from displaying conduct deemed to contravene established regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
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