Yesterday was my high school graduation. All of the African Nova Scotian students got special sashes different from the sashes all the other students had, and way over half of them got special African Nova Scotian scholarships.
I personally know a lot of them just slacked off all year and now they get scholarships because of the colour of their skin, scholarships that students of other races can’t get.
It just seems to me like giving them so many benefits and waving it in front of the other students faces is a form of segregation that can’t help anyone out. —Graduate
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.
ooo boy…. I think I’ll lay low on this one.
Same here, zZz. *Ducks for cover*
Well before you get all worked up you need to find out who donates the $$ that goes into these scholarship funds. If the money is donated from from the African Community and is for the African Canadain Community then I don’t see why your complaining. It would be different if all tax payers were paying into this and only Afrian Canadains were eligible for the scholarship. You may find out you have no reason to be upset.
As for the different colored sash I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe ask the principal why.
Welcome to the world of reverse discrimination.
While I don’t understand the different color sash… I don’t think giving scholarships to minorities is necessarily a bad thing (even though I can understand where you are coming from).
These scholarships are given out in hopes that the recipients can get a degree in some field and go back and inspire their communities to follow their lead. If that happens then it is a very good thing. It would be nice for African Canadians to have other African Canadians to look up to.
There was a big article somewhere about how Obama is going to inspire black youths in American communities and they won’t look up to rappers as a role models/what I can achieve if I work hard as much anymore. This is the same thing, on a smaller scale (if these kids end up as lawyer, engineers, politicians, doctors, etc).
I agree 100% – CowboyJon
welcome to the new world order; get used to it there’s more to come MUCH more 🙁
all for all, or nothing for all. and people wonder why there is racial hatred and shit like that. ut one group over another, and just watch what will happen, again.
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It looks like ANS grads may have gotten something else as well: http://www.novascotialive.com/index.php?to…
People complain about racism still being a big issue, but they have no problem about commemorating or giving something special to someone who is racially visible. You really can’t have it both ways. It’s not like it’s physically harder for and asian or black person to succeed in something. Sure they have to worry about discrimination, but I don’t think continuing to point it out, even in a positive light is the right way to combat it.
I like the way Cowboy Jon and Enough said put it. First, if the money is coming from a certain community, then I have no problem with the special scholarships. It just means that maybe some other Ethnicities should step up and put their money behind the children.
I do remember feeling the same way as OP when I was in high school, however. I’ll admit to being jealous of friends I had who got full rides through university because of being a certain color. When I was younger, I couldn’t quite grasp all the aspects of the situation. It does suck though, to work your butt off all through high school and watch slackers get a free ride. Oh well. It really is true that if you don’t earn it yourself you won’t appreciate it. Most of those scholarship kids end up flunking out of university. I’ve seen it happen. Party all year, and waste the opportunity. So sad…
Those scholarships, if paid for by private donors, seem fine to me. The big problem I have with reverse discrimination is that Native Canadian teenagers get to go to university absolutely free, including room and board, paid for by the government. While the rest of us struggle under student loans.
I have a feeling the native community would be a lot more industrious if we hadn’t killed most of them. I don’t mind that natives get free school, because they need more educated, working people making a difference in their community. Same with any other minority we spent years beating the piss out of.
If you look up the statistics, the percentage of black kids who end up in post-secondary education compared to the percentage of white kids who end up in post-secondary education is significantly lower. Why? MANY REASONS. Unfortunately, the majority of the children in HRM who are black do not come from homes that foster learning and encourage education, a lot of this has to do with oppression (past and present) and a myriad of other reasons.
These students may not be able to afford to go to University without those scholarships, and maybe once they get the chance to get in to a post-secondary institution they will make something of themselves and encourage others to do so.
Fortunately for white kids, we already have a lot of really great role models, for the most part.
About the Obama thing, I was substitute teaching the day after the election, and I had a student tell me that he didn’t have to do any work because “Obama is president”. I told him that I didn’t think Obama would encourage his slack attitude toward education, I’m not sure I got through to him, but hey, maybe.
I don’t like how Natives get free shit. Some of our ANCESTORS treated your ANCESTORS like shit, not us personally. I have a friend who was adopted, his adopted parents where 1/4 native so he gets all those lovely tax breaks and free things and he’s not even actually native.
What would the natives be doing with the land today that we’re not doing if we didn’t ‘take’ it? I’m actually wondering how much different it would be..
If a private donor wants to make a private donation they should do it… in private. No reason for the school to embrace racist tactics. There’s no other way to describe such a thing without uttering the word “discrimination” or “special treatment”. This sort of thing ensures we teach our children to expect special or differential treatment because of their skin colour. Isn’t that the source of racist behavior? And if this scholarship was available only to the African Canadian community then where are the same opportunities for all the other students? If the school presented this “in association” then they’re not doing their jobs in terms of presenting EQUAL opportunity for ALL students.
something tells me LS wants to make a ‘private donation’ to some of these grads…
don’t do it LS!
you’ll go to JAIL!
Is it worth 5 years to give them the ‘special treatment’?
Question: why would a white kid get a scholarship from an African organization?
What happened is not racist nor discriminatory. Next thing people here will cry that white people are the minority.
graduate, if you worked hard enough you would have gotten your own scholarship. you’re a young adult now; stop pointing the finger and start taking responsibility for your own actions.
meletric – you sound no different from your ancestors….
Natives would probably still be living the good life they had before whitey showed up and ruined the party.
here have some small pox and christianity…grrr
There, pay taxes and enjoy this wonderful new product called “toe-back-oh”