Black Lives Matter in the Classroom

In recent years, several studies conducted in boards of education, such as Peel Region (Chadha, Herbert, and Richard 2020) and Toronto District (James and Turner 2017), have reaffirmed the existence of racial inequities in Canada's education system. While these inequities exist at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, the vulnerability of the K-12 sector makes it a particularly urgent issue. The studies highlight disparities in student achievement, suspensions, streaming and completion rates among Black students and their white counterparts. Furthermore, the school to jail pipeline is a well documented phenomenon that has far reaching implications for society. Recent events such as the police killings of Black individuals, and the civil rights movements spawned by these horrific events, have served to emphasize the systemic racism present in our institutions, including those mandated for education. Scholars such as Ladson-Billings (1995) and Grant and Sleeter (2011) have mapped the characteristics of successful teachers of Black students. Influenced by the conscientization philosophy of Paulo Freire (1970), three spheres of successful learning experiences converge to ensure this success: believing that students can succeed academically, encouraging cultural competence, and nurturing critical consciousness. Through this course, we will uncover how racism disrupts the humanization process and subsequently assails educational development.