All-Black School -[Toronto, Canada]- Options

[Irysa]

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/299106

To summarize in brief, the Toronto District School Board (Canada) has just approved a motion to open an all black school somewhere in downtown Toronto. The school will have only black management, teachers and only accept black students. The thrust of the project is twofold; increase attendance rates and a general interest for staying in school, and provide a more afro-centric curriculum.

This is racist. Why, after so many years of fighting against segregation and racism is something like this allowed to happen? Where are the benefits? I honestly can't think of any. But there are enough downsides to this. Aside from the general massive racism intoned in the project, there are also a number of other problems. For example, what happens when these students graduate and enter the workforce or higher education? If they're only socialized with other people of the same race, how will they react to fellow students or authority figures of different races? There is also debate as to whether or not any students actually asked for such a school to be created, as well as the question of public funding.

I have nothing against the offering of an afro-centric course as part of the curriculum... but why like this? Many people send their children to Jewish/Greek/Chinese/you-name-it (private) schools on Saturdays or Sundays, so that their kids can learn about their own culture and have an appreciation for it. That's wonderful. But why does an all black school receive public approval and funding?

Consider this. If someone now petitions for an all white school (which someone will undoubtedly do) they'll instantly be labelled as a racist. But what's the difference? Why is an all black school tolerable, but an all white school abhorred? Is it some pathetic 200 year old slavery justification that has no bearing on the real world anymore?

I'm interested in getting other viewpoints on this because quite frankly I cannot reconcile myself to the alternative viewpoint. I cannot see this school as being anything but a bad idea. I don't see how it can be anything but racist (at least on some level) and, most of all, I can't fathom how it ever received approval.

[Ebe]

Woah woah woah. Why shouldn't we question 1 = 1? Can this be tested? In the real world, if I take one car, and then compare it to another car, even of the same model, they will be different. The weight will differ by some puny amount, or one will have a microscopic scratch where the other doesn't, etc.

It IS POSSIBLE that there could be a situation where 1 was found to equal 1. But I have never known such a result to ever have been found. Assuming I am correct in this lack of evidence, there is NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS for the existence of the mathematical principle 1 = 1, because no thing is equal to another thing.

Now you said that this doesn't matter if we don't question it. Of course we can say two onions are the same as eachother, or perhaps two cats seem exactly the same because you don't care. But the owners of the cats may care about the personalities, markings and breeding of their cats. Because of this, these owners, who have more knowledge than you do about the cats, know the cats are in fact, not equal. To believe they are, if not a matter of faith, is simply laziness and unwillingness to form a belief, but even this can be considered "Unquestioning Faith" as opposed to "Tested Faith."

But some of this is also faith in other factors. If I ask for five onions, and I am given five rotten onions, I will be angry. I had a certain level of faith in the individual I was communicating with that they would understand that I wanted onions in their prime on which to feed. However I never actually gave them this information. It was so far from my mind, I was so grounded in my faith, that I never questioned the premise that they would give me crisp, ripe onions. This can be described as "Blind Faith," the act of believing in something although there is no reason to assume this to be the case, and where in fact giving the matter thought would readily raise obvious alternatives.

You say there are no paradoxes within basic math, but thats like saying we know Orcs were destroyed during the war of the Rings because we read that in a book. You are making conclusions based on premises given to you by the math book. The math book does not explain WHY 1 = 1. It simply tells you that this is in fact, the case. As everyone around you accepts this as fact, it is natural that you will as well. You have been raised in a scenario where no one questions the validity of 1 = 1, despite the fact that it has never been scientifically proven. Because of this you enter into a state of "Blind Faith," in the same way as someone may accept that Jesus is their savior, despite never having studied theology nor having reached personal revelation.

EDIT: Oh, and as for mistakes with basic math, basic math tells us that .99999999-repeating 9 is = 1. So now an infinite .9 is = 1. Despite the fact that they're not the same? UH OH.

EDIT EDIT: I looked for some. Lets look at this
a = b
a(squared) = ab
a(squared) - b(squared) = ab - a(squared)
(a - b) (a + b) = b (a - b)
(a + b) = b
Since a = b we can now...
(b + b) = b
2b = b
2 = 1

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. Using only multiplication, division subtraction and addition, I have made a mathematical proof that 1 = 2. DO YOU BELIEVE 1 = 2?

This post has been edited by Ebe: Feb 25 2008, 04:57 AM