The definition of art is broad, and the form itself ranges from Mona Lisa to Bach, from Lady Gaga to the roof of the Sistine Chapel. However, what is always constant in every definition of art are the words “expression,” “emotion,” and “beauty.” According to the Oxford dictionary, “Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks), expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.” Most schools all over the world have always nurtured and promoted art as part of their curriculum. Currently, American public schools, like most public schools across the globe are experiencing budget cuts, and the debate that usually crops up is that the government should cut funding on art programs to reduce costs. For most, reading, social studies, sciences, mathematics, and languages are the core subjects in public education; the other subjects are not necessary. However, I believe that art classes should be taught in public schools.
A large proportion of the students in any class are not going to end up sitting in an office wearing a suit or buried in a lab somewhere; they are going to build things, fix things, and entertain us with their imagination
One might claim that art is unnecessary or even pointless in public schools, as not many jobs require skills that one learns in an art class. Moreover, not everyone has the natural artistic talent, and some students might become disheartened for not doing very well in art. The primary argument for those who want art thrown out of the school curriculum is that students interested in art can harness or develop their skills at home and that students should spend more time on subjects such as sciences and math that are necessary for one to have a successful career. In the developed world, the U.S. is trailing Europe terribly on public education, which makes the argument above understandable; the world we live in today is buried in standardized testing and the need to always be a step ahead. What many seem to ignore is that a large proportion of the students in any class are not going to end up sitting in an office wearing a suit or buried in a lab somewhere; they are going to build things, fix things, and entertain us with their imagination. A school that makes everything an academic subject or removes arts subjects altogether fails a large proportion of its pupils. Their lives effectively put on hold until they get to Art College or some other form of further education.
A school that makes everything an academic subject or removes arts subjects altogether fails a large proportion of its pupils. Their lives effectively put on hold until they get to Art College or some other form of further education
One advantage of teaching art in schools is that it promotes a student’s creativity. Dr. Kerry Freedman, who heads the Art and Design department of Northern Illinois University, asserts that it is essential for children to know that they can learn from more things other than just text and numbers. When art is taught in schools, especially from an early age, students learn how to use visual information, interpret, and criticize phenomenon. The advantages of exposing children to art and music are countless. According to Dr. Freedman, Art improves a child’s motor skills, visual learning, attention to detail, decision-making, inventiveness, test-taking skills, and, most importantly, their degree of cultural awareness. Studies have found out that involvement in art builds self-confidence in children; Art engages a student’s right brain that is associated with creativity, emotion, and music. Hence, they find personal fulfillment and become more confident. Respecting what one creates fosters acceptance of other people and also builds our self-confidence.
Art builds character and self confidence
Even though the country’s focus is on the big four subjects – Science, History, Math, and English – studies show that art is fundamental in building these subjects. Art develops a student’s motor skills and language. Preschool programs provide students with crayons, scissors, and markers because these help children write faster. Art programs in schools teach students that there can be multiple solutions to one question. A study that started in 1982 and ended in 2008 found that students that took art as part of their education performed 50% better than students who did not take up Art. Moreover, students who participate in art programs are more likely to engage in science fairs, essay competitions, and win awards. Professor James Catterall, in his study, found out that several low-income students who were involved in art were 40% more likely to graduate high school than their peers who did not participate in Art. Moreover, Catterall noticed that they engaged less in criminal activity and were more likely to find employment. Catterall’s study above proves that art builds character and is suitable for relaxation.
When it comes to art, it does not matter what environment someone comes from, art finds everyone something they are good at and what they enjoy.
The article “Why Art Matters,” written by Lynda Resnick, sums it all. Resnick claims that art provides a leveled playing field for students in public schools. Public schools are the most diverse culturally and economically in the students that attend. Children that go to public schools have different backgrounds that might influence their performance on sciences or math. However, when it comes to art, it does not matter what environment they come from, art finds everyone something they are good at and what they enjoy. Art provides the ultimate leveling field in public schools.
The short story, “The Garden Party,” by Katherine Mansfield, addresses several themes, one of which is class distinction. In the story, the Sheridans are preparing to hold one of their extravagant parties when they discover that someone from the working class village down below has died from a horse accident. The youngest Sheridan, Laura, is distraught by the news though she never knew the man. She feels that the party should be canceled as a sign of courtesy to the bereaved. Every one of her family that Laura confronts, including her mother, thinks that her idea to cancel the party is ridiculous. Laura’s mother gives her a fancy hat that momentarily distracts her from the plight she feels for dead Scott’s widow and her children. The hat given to Laura symbolizes the gulf between the affluent Sheridan family and working-class poverty-stricken people living below them. Moreover, the hat shows the luxuries and pleasures flaunted by the aristocrats that attract them to their cohorts, fortifies their apathy, and blurs any sense of empathy, decency, and remorse that they may feel towards the poor that live right under their noses.
Mrs. Sheridan’s apathy
The hat symbolizes Mrs. Sheridan’s apathy
for anyone that is not of her social class. When Laura confronts her mother
about canceling the party to show respect for the man who just had a fatal
accident just below their house, Mrs. Sheridan seems unconcerned with the death.
From her discussion with Laura, it seems like Mrs. Sheridan has never even been
to the slums and shows no sympathy or gives any regard to Laura’s claim. The
mother says, “It’s only by accident we’ve heard of it. If someone had died
there normally—and I cannot understand how they keep alive in those poky little
holes—we should still be having our party, shouldn’t we?”
Mrs. Sheridan changes the subject with the
‘nagging’ Laura by giving her a daisy trim hat terming it ‘much too young’ for
herself. Laura takes the elegant hat from her mother, and her beautiful
reflection on the mirror while wearing the hat and the compliments she gets
distracts her from Mrs. Scott’s plight until the party is over. Just by the
sense that the hat distracts her, Laura is starting to become like her mother.
Seeds of apathy towards the poor are being planted. Not only does the hat
symbolize the attitudes of Mrs. Sheridan towards the poor, it also reflects on
the pleasures and luxuries that help distract the rich, keeping them aloof of
what is going on with the poor living among them.
Class distinction
Next, the hat symbolizes the class
distinction between the rich and the poor and shows just how objects that the
rich do not give much thought about communicate fundamental statements to the
poor. As Laura skips down the road carrying her bag of ‘scraps’ heading to the
dead man’s house, she is overly conscious of her hat given the way people stare
at her. At the party, she was complimented on her beauty as brought out by the
hat; however, among the poor, the hat has a different meaning; it is no longer
beautiful, it is an object that communicates a powerful and unwelcomed statement.
The people staring at Laura are not marveling at her hat; instead, they are
looking at it in agitation. The hat represents the rich man’s extravagance, and
they feel uncomfortable around it. Even young Laura notices this, and moments
later while she watches Mr. Scott’ sleep,’ she apologizes, “Forgive my hat.”
Laura does not want to be rude to the dead guy by flaunting her extravagance.
Hence, the apology.
Power
Lastly, the hat, as used in the
“Garden Party,” symbolizes power. Just like the little red riding
hood entered the forest with a basket of bread for her old grandmother, Laura
enters her forest. However, for Laura, it is not a real forest but is still
clearly somewhere that she does not belong. Laura’s fancy hat demonstrates the
power that the rich have in society. When she gets to Mrs. Scott’s house,
people recognize her from the hat and disperse. The author writes, “The
voices stopped as Laura drew near. The group parted. It was as though she was
expected, as though they had known she was coming here.” The working-class
people recognized Laura from the hat, the symbol she wears that signifies her
power. They do not have to stop talking or leave, but they do because anyone
who has the power over you makes you feel uncomfortable, even when she is just
a girl.
Walking through the streets
of Shanghai, looking around, feeling the breath of fresh air – yes fresh air, –
the cool breeze by the rivers, looking up at the buildings, watching the Huangpu
river slowly crawl by, droves of people smartly dressed pass by, the vendors,
the beautiful stores, and the huge ships come and go feels nothing like any
other place in China. If Beijing were a man, Shanghai would be his cute sister.
While the beauty of Beijing comes from its imperial past, Shanghai’s charm
comes from her ancient struggles, brush with colonialists, and embrace of
modernity. The city exuberates a sense of familiarity yet distant. If New York
and Paris were to have a baby, the baby would look like Shanghai. Moreover,
Shanghai’s skyline at night looks like an artistic impression of what cities
would look like forty years in the future.
The name Shanghai means “City of Seas,” and visiting Shanghai brings literal meaning to that name. I mean how often does one see cargo ships floating down past great Metropolis architecture, maybe its because the Huangpu River makes the Hudson River look like a stream. Shanghai’s accessibility has tremendously contributed to its rapid development and wealth. Two navigable rivers flow through the city, supported by numerous ports. To the east, the Huangpu relieves its burden to the Yangtze River, which vomits it out into the East China Sea, marking an end to its 6300-kilometer journey. The Wusongkou lighthouse stretches several hundred meters into the Sea; watching it standing there all alone, staring deep past the East China Sea into the Pacific Ocean is melancholic, made me realize how ambitious, lost, lonely, and far from home it might have felt for the first European merchants who set foot in Shanghai. It felt like I was standing at the edge of the world, and if I continued further east, it would have been right to fall out of the world.
Wusongkou Lighthouse
The Bund
One of the most captivating places in Shanghai was the Bund. In the vast metropolis that is Shanghai, the Bund looks misplaced. The Bund looks like little Europe in the middle of East Asia. It lies along the Huangpu River, and one has to cross the river to have a full view of the place. It consists of more than twenty buildings built in the like of Western European architecture. In fact, if a British man were to wake up and find himself in the Bund, he would imagine that he had transcended into an alternate universe where England was occupied by the Chinese. Most of the buildings in the Bund face the Huangpu River. In front of the Bund’s waterfront is a roadway stretching several kilometers and runs along the river. The road is aligned by shade trees and park benches, a characteristic that contributes to the authentic French or British feel of the place. I believe that anyone from western Europe who works in Shanghai and occasionally gets homesick would benefit from taking midnight walks along the Bund’s waterfront while picturing Huangpu as the Thames.
The Bund
One would naturally have an interest in knowing how some parts of Shanghai came to resemble London. After a little digging, I learned that the Bund has some of the oldest buildings in Shanghai. At one point in China’s history, half of China’s wealth was concentrated along with the one and a half kilometer stretch that that is the Bund. Before its rise, the Bund was all but a muddy shore along the Huangpu river, however, after the opium wars of the mid-nineteenth century, British merchants started to take an interest in the muddy shore, and soon after, the shore’s fate was transformed as the British made it their preferred settlement. Next to the river along the Bund is an old metrological tower. I heard that back in the nineteenth century, it had a huge iron ball at its tip that would drop every day at noon and let people sync their watches. Also, one of the Bund’s most prominent building is the majestic HSBC building that has a dome on its roof. It looks like a building one would find in Chicago or Europe. The building was once the headquarters of a powerful bank. The HSBC’s building neo-classical design exudes elegance and has been adopted by many banks around the world to convey an aura of strength and stability.
HSBC Building, now used by a Chinese Bank, The Bund, Old Part, Shanghai, China with Flags. Old and Modern Buildings,
The Yuyuan Garden
The Yuyuan Garden is probably one of the most significant highlights of Shanghai. In the busy Shanghai city, the Yuyuan garden transforms the bustle into tranquility. The highlights of the Garden are its classical Chinese architecture, exquisite sculptures, carvings, and the busy Yuyuan bazaar. The Garden is composed of Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Huijing Hall, Yuhua Hall, and the inner gardens. The Garden was built during the Ming Dynasty and was privately owned by the Pan Family. However, today, it is an oasis of peace and tranquility for all the people of Shanghai. One of the most exciting features of the Garden is the zigzag bridge right in the middle below the green pond. According to mythology, ghosts walk in a straight line. Therefore, the zigzag of the bridge protects one from these evil spirits; walking the bridge brings people good luck. The Yuyuan Garden was one of the most crowded places that I visited, it was more like a market than a garden because of the crowds.
One thing someone notices in China is the people’s love for tea. The zigzags Jiu Qu Bridge in the middle of the Garden leads one to the Mid Lake Pavilion Teahouse. Although the price of tea inside the Pavilion Teahouse was high, just being inside the tea house gave me a glimpse of the Chinese culture as portrayed in books and movies. Old ladies were playing traditional Chinese instruments, and I slowly drifted to a land where Sun Wukong was king. I looked out of the window of the teahouse at the myriads of people below and felt glad I wasn’t among them. Although the Garden’s sloping roofs and the charming ancient Chinese architecture was a sight to behold, much of the Garden’s beauty lay in its carvings and sculptures. For anyone looking for a glimpse of ancient China, the Yuyuan Garden is the place to be.
The Yu Garden
I remember Shanghai to be a fast-paced city. Shanghai residents walked quickly, people were easily caught up in traffic jams, and the subway systems were mostly crowded. A friend who worked in Shanghai once told me that the reason most westerners who lived in Shanghai were binge drinkers was because of the fast-paced nature of their lifestyle. It wasn’t uncommon for employers to ask their employees to work from 6 AM to 6PM. Although Shanghai had some of the tallest buildings I had ever seen, fog could sometimes form and block visibility to some of the highest buildings. One night as I sat on a restaurant roof overlooking Huangpu’s golden bend, I marveled at the beauty of Shanghai’s Lujiazui skyline, I believed that it symbolized China’s hard work and perseverance. Then I reflected back to ancient sites like Yuyuan Garden, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. China’s ancient civilizations were rich, brilliant, and powerful. China was not doing anything new, it was only reclaiming its lost glory.
Today, the lines between finance and what is romantic are skewed. I once heard my friend enthuse on how romantic it was that NFL quarterback Russel Wilson proposed to his singer girlfriend Ciara with a 16-carat ring. I would like to remind my friend what romance really is, but first, let me tell my friend why million-dollar diamond rings are not necessarily romantic.
Over a hundred years ago, a British colonialist and politician in South Africa, Cecil Rhodes, came into possession of massive diamond mines. Rhodes, the founder of the once diamond monopoly, The De Beers Company, wanted to create a market for his seemingly useless and yet costly product. Hence, The De Beers company targeted pop culture for product promotion.
Back in the early twentieth century, when Hollywood was all glamour and glitz, De Beers ensured that all the revered actresses wore diamonds in their movies. Moreover, the company-sponsored stories in popular magazines of loved ones who received diamonds as presents and how happy those diamonds made them feel. Within a decade, De Beers sales in the US had risen by 55%. It had become almost impossible to propose without a diamond ring; After all, “diamonds are forever.” De Beers was perhaps the first corporation to put a price tag on romance, and on a grand scale it was.
Romance does not need to cost a thing, and one would be deluding themselves if they thought that being romantic meant jump starting the economy singlehandedly. Contrary to what the commercially driven pop culture has made us believe, romance is something thoughtful that you do for someone you love and has nothing to do with cost. Romance might be as simple as leaving a note on the refrigerator that says, “I love you.”
Moreover, what is considered romantic changes through the stages of a relationship. For example, when people are dating, it could be romantic to change a partner’s engine oil without being asked to do so, a task that might change to just something on a partner’s to-do list once they are married. Additionally, going on a date could not have been romantic when a couple were dating but becomes romantic once people get married because of the logistics involved; one has to hire a babysitter, make dinner for children, and find ways of defying the laws of parenting.
What I want my friend to remember most about romance are two words, “thoughtful deeds.” It is thoughtful to figure out what a partner finds romantic, and it is thoughtful to act on such deeds. Moreover, during stressful times, it is thoughtful to become a rock that your partner can lean on. Helping around with household chores is thoughtful. Being supportive does not mean doing something or buying something, but sometimes it just requires a listening ear. Romance is doing things for one’s partner that shows you value them as a person and not only as bed partners.
About a month ago, I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and one of the paintings showcased on that day was “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh. The painting style used by van Gogh was unique only to him. From my developing and not from a perfect artistic vision, I could tell that Van Gogh’s painting conveyed many subliminal emotions that reflected on his environment and personal life.
The vivid style used by Van Gogh was unusual, the contoured form of the picture communicated feelings that could be understood only after digging more about the artist’s personal life. For example, the dimness in the night’s sky expressed Van Gogh’s stormy quest to overcome his often frequent and anguishing mental illness. Moreover, the Cimmerian village could have symbolized the artist’s sadness while the brightly colored windows returned a sense of comfort.
In a letter addressed to his brother, Van Gogh wrote, “I should not be surprised if you liked the Starry Night and the Ploughed Fields, there is a greater quiet about them than in the other canvases.” Still on the same letter, van Gogh referred to Leo Tolstoy’s disbelief in the resurrection from the book, “My Religion.” He had a reservation whether to believe in eternity or not. Moreover, the artists used words such as quiet while referring to the “Starry Night,” indicating that the picture bought him a sense of calm and mind eternity.
David Hebert Lawrence once said, “The business of art is to reveal the relation between man and his environment” and looking at Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” through the medium of the arts, and the vision of the artists made me understand the artist and his environment on a deeper level. Looking at my situation through the medium of the arts and the view of the artists has taught me to be concise, more observant, and fully appreciate the saying, “less is more.” Moreover, it has made me suspend judgment, increased my curiosity in how things work, and to want to know the “why” behind things. Art has made me empathetic and sensitive to appreciating life’s gray areas and the nuances; which makes me more human.
Carl Degler, a historian and a Pulitzer price winner once accused his collegues of dereliction of duty. According to Degler, these people had abandoned the study of the nation. In the article, “A New Americanism: Why a Nation needs a National History” by Jill Lepore, the author argues that historians have abandoned writing about America’s national history, a phenomenon that has detrimental consequences.
First, when scholars stop writing about a nation’s history, nationalism does not die, instead, it eats on liberalism. According to Lepore, lack of a nation’s history leads to the creation of nationalists. To illustrate, the current American history does not seek to answer “significant questions,” which gives rise to the likes who want to make America ‘great again’ and call immigrants ‘animals.’
It is understandable why historians in the second half of the 20th century shied away from writing about the nation’s history. America had just been drawn into the deadliest bloodbaths in the history of human kind, thanks to a rising wave of nationalism that had taken over Europe and influenced many in the United States.
Nationalism was no longer something admirable; it was associated with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, individuals that embodied evil in the American eyes. Lepore writes, “If love of the nation is what drove American historians to the study of the past in the nineteenth century, hatred for nationalism drove American historians away from it in the second half of the twentieth century.”
Nationalism had changed beginning in the 1910s, Lepore mentions that the more illiberal nationalism increased in the 1930s, more liberals concluded that “liberal nationalism” was something impossible.
Whenever I study about American history, I learn about the atrocities and prejudices that were done in the name of white supremacy. One purpose of history is to help the modern man learn from past mistake. However, how will the learning happen when people, like ostriches, hide their head in sand by avoiding to write about a nation’s history in the fear of nationalism.
According to Lepore on Degler’s comment, “He issued a warning: “If we historians fail to provide a nationally defined history, others less critical and less informed will take over the job for us.” Degler’s prophecy is coming to fruition as anyone in America will have noticed the growing amount nationalism. Maybe, liberalism is already in its death bed.
I had never noticed that few historians were writing about a unified American history. As a history student, the focus of my education is on American history, which seem to be well documented by American scholars. However, one of the books that I know about that writes about the nation’s history is “America: Empire of Liberty” by David Reynolds.
Reynolds is a British historian, which makes me realize that Lepore might be onto something. What’s more, most of my knowledge about American history in an unbiased way comes from college, a privilege that I did not enjoy before. Lepore explains this phenomenon by asserting that in the second half of the 20th century, women and people of color began writing about history.
Racial history was written from the perspective of minorities, and the history of women was written by women, therefore, most of the new American historical scholarship was not about America, but was rather in America. In addition, during the 1980s when Degler was expressing his concerns, most American historians were advocating for a historical cosmopolitanism, encouraging people to write about global history instead of the Nation’s history. Michael Walzer asserts, “The tribes have returned, they had never left, they only become harder for historians to see, because they weren’t really looking anymore.” Walzer is only sharing in Degler’s concern.
The book by David Reynolds, “America: Empire of Liberty” chose to use the term America instead of calling it a nation. The common understanding of what an empire is that an empires seeks to deepen its influence over territories beyond its sovereignty, and from this understanding, America’s influence can be realized worldwide, which qualifies it as an empire.
In the 19th century, America was divided ideologically between the north and the south. Something that both Reynolds and Lepore mention. According to Lepore, there was a contrast between nothern nationalism and southern nationalism. Michigan congressman mentioned in the year 1850 that American needed to cultivate a national instead of sectional patriotism, this was to criticize the division that was manifest in America then.
Moreover, distinctions between northern and southern nationalism are criticized for terming one kind of nationalism as bad. America is still divided along these lines and it is important to study past history so that we do not draw ourselves into another civil war.
I had never noticed that American historians were shying away from writing about the nation’s history in fear of nationalism. However, I have to acknowledge that most Americans have inconclusive knowledge about their nation’s history. I believe that the work of history is not to indoctrinate but to teach. Writing about the nation’s history might be ugly, but it is worse not to write about it at all. America is the empire of liberty, and avoiding to write about how it came to earn that title will only dilute what America stands for. What’s more, studying American history gives the people a unified understanding and would eliminate most of its social problems. Therefore, I stand with Degler when he mentions that not writing about the nation’s history will kill liberalism.
American journalist Ellis Cose observed that matters pertaining to race are often discussed in two ways; in shouts or whispers (Choi, 2008). According to Cose, most of the time, the shouters are engulfed in ignorance and pain that the audience tunes them out. On the other hand, the whisperers are timid and are scared of the sting of the truth that they would rather not say anything at all (Choi, 2008). Many would agree that discussing racial oppression, power, and privilege in the modern educational structure invites heated debates. Due to these difficulties, Canadian educational legislators have introduced Critical White Studies and Critical Race Theory to allow prospective teachers look into the curriculum in the perspective of institutional racism, challenging any ‘colorblind’ ideologies that they might possess.
The S.S #. Ontario’s Last Segregated School
Canadian schools were initially segregated in the boundaries of race, which resulted in Black schools having underpaid and underqualified teachers, insufficient funding, poor quality of education, and dilapidated and inadequate schools. However, Canadian schools have since been integrated but some still complain of anti-black racism and a biased curriculum when it comes to teaching Black history.
History of Black Education in the British North American Colonies.
Black persons have been present in British North America for over four centuries; in fact, the first recorded Black person to set foot in the land presently known as Canada was Mathieu de Costa who accompanied explorer Samuel de Champlain into present-day Nova Scotia in 1603. Years before the American Revolutionary War, Black persons in Canada served as slaves; some were captured from Africa and sold into slavery while others were brought in from the United States. However, during the American War of Independence, the British in dire need of soldiers, promised to free black slaves if they agreed to be their soldiers, a move that drafted twenty thousand Black soldiers (Milan & Tran, 2004).
Although the British lost the war, some five thousand Black soldiers were freed from slavery and allowed to enter and settle in the Canadian Maritimes. Also, after the American Revolutionary War, some of the colored loyalists left the United States and settled in Nova Scotia, most of these were colored folks who were born free and bought into the British promises of equality after the war (Milan & Tran, 2004).
John Simcoe, Governor of Upper Canada passed a law in 1973 that restricted further introduction of slaves into his province and limited the years one would take in enforced servitude (Winks, 1997). Although, the law did not abolish slavery; it established Canada as a safe haven for slaves escaping the United States. Waves of black refugees fleeing the United States during the War of 1812 entered Canadas and settled in the Hammond Plains, Beechville, Lucasville, and Africville (Winks, 1997). Today, many Black Canadians live in Nova Scotia, and Southern Ontario, most of whose ancestry is traced to African America (Winks, 1997). Most of Black Canadians came through the Underground Railroad, some who remained after the United States emancipation, significantly scattered in both rural and urban Canada.
The flow of Black immigrants seeking a better life in Canada continued into the twentieth century, mostly during the 1920s when Blacks from the Caribbean went to work in the Canadian steel mills at Cape Breton (Amadahy & Lawrence, 2009). Others fled racism from the United States, primarily from Oklahoma and Texas (Amadahy & Lawrence, 2009).
In 1842,
abolitionists Josiah Henson and Hiram Wilson established the Dawn Settlement
where escaped slaves could go to school, learn a trade and live peacefully as a
community, shielded from the harsh realities of racism and discrimination (Yee,
1997). Wilson and Henson’s black utopia received financial backing from
abolitionists in both Canada and the United States. The Wilson and Henson
settlement had a school and a lucrative timber industry. Similar communities
like the Dawn Settlement arose in Canada soon after, a notable one being the
North Buxton community that was founded in 1849 by abolitionist Rev William
King (Hepburn, 2002). King, who worked as an Educator in Louisiana, married
into the family of a planter and later inherited 15 slaves after his wife’s
death, all of whom he freed and resettled in Canada shortly after (Hepburn,
2002).
Josiah Henson
Reverent William King worked with Lord Elgin, the Governor General, where he helped develop a 9000-acre piece of land to establish North Buxton, a settlement where freed slaves and fugitives would find shelter (Hepburn, 2002). Land at the settlement was provided cheaply to African Americans who were also provided with financial aid to help in securing such properties (Simpson, 2005).
The North Buxton community operated three schools, and former slaves, excited by the further freedom that came with education, embraced both child and adult education with such vigor that the community’s education curriculum and structure soon stood out as superior to government education (Schwieder, Hraba & Schwieder, 2003). Prominent white businesspersons from Buffalo and Toronto were attracted by the high quality of education at Buxton Mission Schools such that they started sending their children to Buxton. At some point, there were just as many White learners as Black learners at Buxton Schools (Schwieder, Hraba & Schwieder, 2003).
As the Black
population increased in Canada’s West, many parents and leaders in white
communities advocated for separate schools for Black children (McLaren, 2004).
Most trustees and white parents rejected integration; the few schools that
admitted Black children forced them to sit in separate benches. Many
communities in Canada still excluded black children from public schools, which
forced black educators to start their schools (McLaren, 2004). Elsewhere, Mary
Anne and Mary Bibb opened schools that took in colored learners (Blackhouse,
1994). Most of the newly established black schools received little funding, the
teachers were underpaid, which led most of these schools to close down shortly
after their creation (Walker, 2008).
The Superintendent for Schools of Canada West, Egerton Ryerson, responded to the concerns by providing a segregated education system based on race in the Schools Act of 1850 (McLaren, 2004). Section XIX of the Act reads, “It shall be the duty of the municipal council of any township, and the board of trustees of any City, town or incorporated village, on the application, in writing, of twelve, or more, resident heads of families, to authorize the establishment of one or more separate schools for Protestants, Roman Catholics, or Colored People” (Blackhouse, 1994).
Ryerson’s new school reforms were unpopular with a section of white and black groups who publicly declared their opposition (McLaren, 2004). According to a petition from Toronto, the new Education Act was detrimental to the forward growth of Canada and was a step towards the infringement of equality that the British Law promised its entire people (Walker, 2008). During the decade of the 1850s, the Canada West Education Department received more than 20 petitions from Black Canadian parents, lobbying for the inclusion of their children into public schools (Walker, 2008). A particular petition mentioned that Black children had been denied the privilege of going to common schools yet their parents were required by law to pay education taxes (Walker, 2008). Most parents expressed that the taxes that they paid benefited common schools yet their children had to walk up to 15 miles to attend the segregated schools (McLaren, 2004).
The structural disadvantages
The segregated schools lacked public funding, as most of the trustees never came through with the allocated government grants. Additionally, most black children were denied education altogether because some of the segregated schools were located too far for them to attend (McLaren, 2004), 1994). According to the 1852 report by the Anti Slavery Society of Canada, teachers in Negro Schools were underpaid, under-qualified, and the quality of education in these schools were significantly lower compared to the one in common schools (Walker, 2008). In Windsor, A black separate school was never built until 1859, nine years after the separation law was established (Walker, 2008).
A majority of schools run by Black Canadians accepted Canadians from all racial backgrounds; these schools welcomed all Canadians regardless of race, which sometimes included white children whose parents noticed the high quality of education provided by some of the missionary teachers in the separate black schools (Blackhouse, 1994). For example, a Separate school in Brantford, known for its quality education, accepted white children until the school was eventually integrated.
Racial segregation of schools in Canada was maintained by the judicial system as the courts always upheld the practice whenever black parents sued the school trustees (Walker, 2008). While some schools had different building set aside for Black learners, in places such as West Flamboro and Hamilton, black students would go to school at separate time with the white children, or if they attended school at the same time, they would sit on separate benches (Blackhouse, 1994).
An 1884 amendment to the Education Act of 1850 suggested that Black Canadian should be allowed to go to school in areas that they resided; however, racial segregations in schools still prevailed (Walker, 2008). Nova Scotia did away with its racial segregated laws in 1950 (Blackhouse, 1994).
Over time, schools that denied entry to Black children in Ontario have eventually been removed, thanks to the continued persistence activism of Black parents. In 1965, MPP Leonard Braithwaites tabled a successful motion for the removal of racially segregated schools from the education policy. In Nova Scotia, the last segregated schools closed in 1883 (McLaren,, 2004).
Nova Scotia and Ontario were the only Canadian provinces that legislated separate schools; however, it was a common practice in other Canadian provinces to restrict black children from attending public schools. Black parents would be intimidated into not sending learners to common schools, which forced colored communities to open their private separate schools (Walker, 2008).
Racial segregation in the Canadian education sector went beyond elementary and secondary education. Before the American civil war, it was not uncommon for Universities to admit black students; however, social and institutional attitudes quickly changed for the worse (Henry, 2019). For example, in the beginning of the 20th century when the United States was struggling with segregation and racially charged violence towards its Black community, the Queens University Senate voted for the restriction of the admission of Black students in the University’s Medical program (Henry, 2019).
The given reasons for the University’s decision was that the local white community of Kingston were racially intolerant to Black doctors and wanted no contact with them. An unmentioned reason was the American Medical Association was pressurizing the University to expel Black Students (Henry, 2019). In the same spirit, the Montreal Maternity Hospital stopped the admission of Black Students in 1916, McGill University stopped the entrance of Black Students from 1920 to 1930, also after the Second World War to the 1960s. In 1911 to 1931, Dalhousie University stopped admitting Black Students who were not British Subjects (Henry, 2019). Additionally, the University of Toronto did not accept Black students in the 1920s. As nursing was picking up in Canada at the beginning of the 20th century, Nursing schools did not admit Black students (Henry, 2019).
The Benefits of Integration
The integration of Canadian schools brought several academic and socioemotional benefits to the Canadian population. Firstly, black students started recording higher test scores than their predecessors who had been restricted to racially segregated schools. Second, the number of Black students enrolling in colleges significantly increased regardless of their economic background (Maynard, 2017). Most importantly, the integration of Canadian schools reduced the racial achievement gap; following the great period of de-integration in the mid 20th century such that currently, black students have almost similar achievement gaps when compared to their white counterparts (Maynard, 2019). When it comes to public and social-emotional benefits, research suggests that diverse schools have helped reduce racial bias and stereotypes and have contributed to increasing integrated settings throughout the country. Moreover, integration improves student satisfaction and intellectual self-confidence (Maynard, 2017).
Persisting Challenges
However, some of the challenges present in the Canadian segregation era in schools did not disappear once public schools were integrated, most notably the challenges that come with racism. Some instructors in Canadian schools continue to hold stereotypes that affect how they interact with Black youths (Maynard, 2017). In the illustration, Black students in Alberta have expressed that their teachers have given them the silent treatment or have shown doubts when they towards their higher education ambitions by expressing uncertainty in some of their goals such as studying medicine (Maynard, 2017).
A survey of Black student needs revealed that a teacher’s expectation significantly contributes to their academic engagement. Black youths have expressed that they are pressured into vocational training or are steered away from the traditionally challenging courses. A survey conducted in 2006 reported that only 54 percent of Black students believed that they had the support of their teachers (Maynard, 2017). According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, student-teacher relationship affects the development of how children perceive themselves. Therefore, discriminatory treatment from a teacher at an early age can cause lasting damages to a child’s development (Dei & James, 2002).
Additionally, there arises the issue of racialized punishment. For example, on September 30, 2016, the mother of a grade one student missed several calls from her six-year-old daughter’s school. When she called back, the teacher handed the phone to a police officer who informed her that her daughter had been handcuffed (Maynard, 2017). Apparently, the forty-eight-pound girl unarmed girl was a danger to others, and her wrist and arms had to be handcuffed together.
The stereotype that Black students are less innocent than white students, and that their presence harbors danger to others still exists (Dei & James, 2002). Although disciplinary laws affect all students, black youths are exposed to severe disciplinary measures than their white counterparts. A survey by the provincial Human Rights Commission in Durham Ontario found that Black students were eight times more likely to receive disciplinary action for the same crimes as compared to their fellow white students.
Between 2011 and 2012, nearly half of expelled students in Toronto were Black; expelled white students were white. During the 2015-2016, Black students accounted for 8 percent of student bodies but made up 22.5 percent of total suspensions (Maynard, 2017). The CDPDJ reported that black students were suspended for minor infractions such as being late (Maynard, 2017).
Besides racisms in Canadian schools, several equality groups have shown concern towards the way that Black history is taught in schools. Boggs (2011) observes that the education system continues to deny young people the right to social consciousness and social responsibility, which further prevents them from judging social issues. Hudson and Kamugisha (2014) assert that the historical presence and contribution of Black Canadians is a neglected discipline.
The effect of the neglect is that many students, even those with Black ancestry, have no idea about the history of Black presence in Canada. African Canadian Scholar Agnes Calliste mentions that one of her students once claimed that African Canadians did not deserve educational equity because like most minority communities, they had no significant contribution towards the development of Canada (Calliste, 1996).
However, Calliste maintains that Black persons had significant contribution to Canada’s development in the past by providing labor in the form of slavery; moreover, they continue to provide professional and domestic labor in the science, education, and arts.
Este
(2008) writes, “The educational (Canadian) system has maintained and
perpetuated the common perception that Black people were either non-existent in
the development of Canada, or only arrived in Canada through recent migration
from the Caribbean and Africa.” The widespread ignorance about the historical
presence of Black people in Canada is the reason why many scholars are asking
Canadian Educational institutions to follow America’s footsteps and introduce a
department committed to Black studies. Initiatives such as the introduction of
Black studies in American schools has improved the country’s racial awareness,
and Canada could do the same (Ferguson, 2012).
According to Choi (2008), White teachers who come from societies that claim to be progressive experience what she terms “color blindness.” Color blindness comes in the early stages of racial development where people start believing that they do not see race; therefore, failing to tackle some of the racial concerns that they are faced with in their daily lives.
Black Canadian scholars such as Calliste maintain the Canadian Education curriculum lacks a marginalized perspective and experience; hence the introduction of Black Studies would change this by opening avenues for such. Moreover, Biondi (2012) argues that Black studies would do away with the pretense that exists in the universalism of the Canadian intellectual thought.
Factors and Individuals responsible for Canadian Black
Education reforms.
In the Canadian West, individuals that mostly pushed for the removal of segregation laws in the Canadian education system were Black parents, some trustees, and Christian missionaries. When faced with exclusion from common schools, groups of Black parents worked with missionaries to establish Black public schools. For instance, a group of Black persons in Amherstburg partnered with Christian missionary Isaac Rice and opened a school that accepted all people regardless of race, after which they appealed for their share of the government grant (McLaren, 2004).
Mary Bibb and Mary Anne also opened schools that accepted all people when Black children were denied entry into common schools (Blackhouse, 1994). When the Black schools excelled, white parents would send their children to these schools, a practice that laid the first seeds of integration. Mary Anne Shadd observed that the Black common schools had more complexional character than the private ones which were open to all. Black educators kept their schools open to all because they were ambassadors of integration (Walker, 2008).
The Black Learners Advisory Committee (Black) established by the Nova Scotian Black population in 1990 continues to fight for inclusion and the eradication of racism in Canadian schools (Hampton, 2010). Also, in the same years of its establishment, BLAC came up with forty-six suggestions that it hoped would help in eradicating systematic racism in the Canadian Education system. An Afrocentric Learning Insititute has been opened in Canada to help come with a racially sensitive curriculum and research on racial issues that affect Black learners (Hampton, 2010).
References
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I. M. (1995). Racism in Canadian schools. Harcourt Brace.
Amadahy,
Z., & Lawrence, B. (2009). Indigenous Peoples and Black People in Canada:
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Springer, Dordrecht.
Backhouse,
C. (1994). Racial Segregation in Canadian Legal History: Viola Desmond’s
Challenge, Nova Scotia, 1946. Dalhousie LJ, 17, 299.
Biondi
(2012) The Counterrevolution on Campus: Why Was Black Studies So Controversial?
University of California.
Calliste,
A. (1995). The Influence of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement in
Canada. Race, Gender & Class, 123-139.
Choi, J.
A. (2008). Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class. Educational
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Choi, J.
A. (2008). Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class. Educational
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S., & James, I. M. (2002). Beyond the rhetoric: Moving from exclusion,
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Research, 48(1).
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C. (2008). Black Canadian historical writing 1970-2006: An assessment. Journal
of Black Studies, 38(3), 388-406.
Ferguson,
R. A. (2012). The reorder of things: The university and its pedagogies of
minority difference. University of Minnesota Press.
Hampton, R. (2010). Black learners in Canada.
Race & Class, 52(1), 103-110.
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& Kamugisha (2014) On Black Canadian Thought. The CLR James Journal.
McLaren,
K. (2004). ” We had no desire to be set apart”: Forced segregation of
black students in Canada West public schools and myths of British
egalitarianism. SOCIAL HISTORY-OTTAWA-, 37, 27-50.
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& Tran, K. (2004). Blacks in Canada: A long history (Vol. 72). Statistics
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History, 3(2), 25-68.
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D., Hraba, J., & Schwieder, E. (2003). Buxton: a Black utopia in the
heartland. University of Iowa Press.
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D. G. (2005). Under the North Star: Black Communities in Upper Canada Before
Confederation (1876). Africa World Press.
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(2008) The History of Immigration and Racism in Canada. Canadian Scholars’
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W. (1997). Blacks in Canada: A History (Vol. 192). McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
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(1997). Finding a place: Mary Ann Shadd Cary and the dilemmas of black
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in Anti-Black Racism. https://thewalrus.ca/canadian-education-is-steeped-in-anti-black-racism/
In August 2017, President Trump walked away from the Paris Climate Agreement talks, citing that the deal was not good for Americans. Russel Jones, the author of the book, “The Gilgamesh Gene,” likened Trump’s approach towards environmental issues at the Paris Climate talks to that of Gilgamesh in the epic poem by the same name. What then is it about Gilgamesh that makes his story relevant to today’s ecological discourse? The ecological message in Gilgamesh is about the prosperity of humanity at the expense of nature, and the consequences that follow.
Gilgamesh was a ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk. Like most modern civilizations, Uruk had exhausted its local resources and had no option but to expand through trading by its neighboring societies in items such as cedarwood and lapis lazuli. However, Uruk could not get enough cedarwood because within the massive cedar forest prowled Humbaba, a monstrous creature anointed to protect the forest from loggers. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, both strong in might and spirit, viewed Humbaba as a threat to Uruk’s prosperity and embarked on a journey to slay the monster; a quest in which they succeed.
Ancient city of Uruk
After decapitating Humbaba, Gilgamesh keeps its head as a trophy and descends on senseless destruction of the cedar forest in the name of prosperity of his people; thus, introducing readers to the book’s first ecological themes. According to the poem, “the cedars shivered when Enkidu felled the watchers of the forest.” Not only is Gilgamesh and Enkidu one of the first loggers in history, but Gilgamesh is also the first trophy hunter.
Slaying of Humbaba
In the epic poem, the slaying of Humbaba could be a representation of the psyches of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who have to destroy nature for the prosperity of their nations instead of seeking harmonious balance for the existence of both. Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s arrogance towards the environment is an exact representation of the senseless destruction of nature that humanity has been responsible for in the last three centuries. For instance, the American manifest destiny; when humanity spread like a virus across the subcontinent and brought with it massive ecological destruction.
irresponsible logging
Enkidu and Gilgamesh faced the consequences of their actions. While the gods sentenced Enkidu to die a horrible death, Gilgamesh embarked on a desperate search for immortality. Likewise, humanity is starting to reap the consequences of its actions in the form of global warming, rising sea levels, and extreme weather conditions.
The right combination of lyrics and rhythm accompanied by musical instruments and the right beat can have a general good feeling, stir intense emotions, or incite people into mass action. Hence, music is a powerful tool for creating social change. America is a country divided on almost every issue, ranging from abortion to the death sentence; however, the issue of LGBT rights seems to be collecting more traction because it is a civil rights issue; it involves the rights of citizens to political freedom and equality. In the song “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift, the musician uses her musical stage to advocate for LGBT rights, urging people to calm down.
The central theme in Swift’s song is homophobia, the song is conveyed in the form of narration, and the musician uses pathos to move her audience into action. Some of the themes tackled by Taylor Swift in her song are LGBT rights, discrimination, homophobia, and intolerance. The song is more of a narrative than a story.
Taylor Swift assumes the life of a ‘queer’ individual mentioning how someone that she does not know is taking shots at her like its Patron and its only 7 am; that person needs to calm down. The overall narrative of the song is how some people are negatively obsessed by the lives lived by the LGBTQ community, hurling attacks, “but you coming at my friends like a missile,” and being mad for no reason while they could be maintaining the peace.
Haters can’t spell right
The narrative of the song is more evident on the song’s music video which is full of celebrity cameos including the likes of Hellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, Courtney Cox, and Katy Perry, all of whom seem to be having a fun party in a rainbow-themed trailer park, while a group of LGBT haters protest across the fence, carrying signs that communicate their hatred for the gay lifestyle. As the song progresses, the song takes its stance, criticizing homophobia and gay haters.
Calm down. We all knew Deadpool was gay
However, Taylor Swift does not want to change the opinion of the haters, she wants them to keep it to themselves and not try to make other peoples’ lives miserable, “control your urges to scream about all the people you hate.”
Taylor Swift sings throughout the song. However, other voices join her to harmonize the word “Oh” every time that she sings the chorus. Additionally, Swift’s voice is somehow low and a little bit hard when she is singing the verses but rises at the chorus to become very soft and feminine. The most dominant instrument used in the song is the bass guitar; however, other instruments such as the acoustics drums, rhythm guitar, electric guitar take the stage appropriately to complement the main instrument.
The bass guitar played throughout the song gives the song an energetic tone. Moreover, the lyrics, Swift’s voice, and the musical accompaniments, create a bittersweet and sentimental mood. Listening keenly to the song reveals several technological aspects in its production. For example, the sound of the drums and the guitar has a modern electronic feel, meaning that sound synthesizers were used instead of real instruments; the use of sound synthesizers creates balance among the instruments and gives the song its energetic appeal.
Taylor Swift can evoke various emotions to her listeners, thus creating a powerful pathos in her music. She has a way with words that stir powerful emotions. For example, when she says, “we all know we all got crowns, you need to calm down,” one cannot help but feel comfortable about their sexual orientation. Additionally, the song has some compelling logos that moves the audience into pondering over some of the underlying prejudices and blatant hate that comes with homophobia. For example, when she says, “Making that sign must have taken all night,” one cannot help but wonder why some try so hard to protest the lifestyle of people that they do not know and have never even met.
For assignment help on literary analysis, please email zackodhis21@gmail.com
The article, “Your Boss Wants to Friend You on Facebook, What If You’d Rather Resist?” that appeared in the New York Times on November 8, 2018, written by Bob Walker, showed that many employees had a problem with allowing their bosses into their social media life. The author mentioned that ignoring the boss’s request might work for the short term or even in the long term, but what if the boss confronted the worker about their pending request. The author then says, “You will have your social media house in order” before accepting the boss request. Moreover, the author also gave people tips on how to manipulate their social media settings such that even after approving their friend request, they would forever block the boss out from viewing their social media activity.
In chapter nine of the textbook “Business Essentials,” it is written that the use of social media is a growing trend in the world of business, and there are many benefits to it. The book also suggested that social media as a tool could be incorporated to increase employee engagement. Employee engagement is vital in a company setting because it improves an employee’s happiness and creativity, which eventually leads to increased productivity. Employers realize the importance of social media in the workplace, and many are allowing their workers to use social media while at work. According to the textbook, “Now managers realize that social media can be helpful in connecting workers with each other…About 75 percent of Canadian workers now use social networking sites while on the job.”
Why then do many people feel uncomfortable in letting their bosses
be a part of their social media community besides the many benefits mentioned
above? I believe that the answer to this question lies on the kind of things
they share and their level of job satisfaction.
Many people have a formal relationship with their bosses and would like to appear before them as focused, determined, and hard working. Moreover, these might be the same people who leave work in the evening, put on a crop-top, hit the bar, drown a dozen tequilas, take a selfie and post it on social media. Nevertheless, many people have a lot of content on their social media that they would like to keep away from their bosses, hence the fear. The textbook says in page 203, “An estimated 93 percent of recruiters check the social media profiles of potential recruits,” moreover, “A potential employer may not tell you that you didn’t get the job because of the drunken, embarrassing picture you posted, but make no mistake, quite often these images are a determining factor.”
There are many examples of people who have lost their jobs because of how they behaved on social media, and this has to do with their level of job satisfaction. For example, a teen lost his marketing job because he described it on Facebook as very “dull” (Ebert 2017). Job satisfaction reflects on the extent to which people have a positive attitude toward their careers. Less satisfied employees are more likely to express their dissatisfaction outside work environments, and social media has grown famous for communicating feelings. According to the textbook, disparaging comments made about the company by employees, even when outside their work environment may be viewed as a sign of poor organizational commitment.
Even though the popularity of social media use in the workplace is increasing, the boss will still be locked out from being a part of the junior employees’ social media circle. The reason is that people care about how their employers view them and the laid-back nature of social media may ruin this image. Moreover, employees are more wary of including their bosses in their social media circle because of the chilling stories of careless people who lost their jobs because of how they behaved on social media.
Zac Viper 