school

U of T professor’s book explores Toronto’s diversity through local public school

Romi Levine — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:00:17 +0000

U of T professor’s book explores Toronto’s diversity through local public school

Romi Levine Wed, 04/19/2017 - 17:00

Cutline

U of T professor Robert Vipond sits in the library of the Clinton Street Public School (Photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Cities

urban

Diversity

school

Subheadline

Making a Global City by Robert Vipond tracks the history of Clinton Street Public School

The tiny archive room at Clinton Street Public School in downtown Toronto tells a fascinating story, not only about the 129-year-old primary school but also about the city’s journey to become the multicultural metropolis it is today.

Robert Vipond, a ��Ƶ political science professor at the Faculty of Arts & Science and the interim director of the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs, tells the school’s story in his book, Making a Global City: How One Toronto School Embraced Diversity, published by ��Ƶ Press.

Coming across the Clinton’s story was somewhat of a happy accident, says Vipond, whose daughter was a student at the school.

“Most of my academic career, I've worked on American-Canadian politics, especially constitutional politics so I touched briefly on education and immigration but had no deep or abiding interest in it,” he said.

That was until he was told about the extensive catalogue of registration cards – from 1920 to the 1990s – housed in the school’s archive room. The cards provided details about the students and their families – including their ethnicities and parents’ professions – that painted a picture of the school’s population over time, mirroring larger immigration trends in the city.

“I began to realize a lot of the work I've done has centred on the ideas of citizenship and that's what came through in the book – these debates about citizenship changed over the course of the years but were really important for gateway schools, immigration and immigrant kids.”

Researchers sorted through thousands of registration cards like this one to learn more about the students who went to Clinton Street Public School (photo by Romi Levine)

Korryn Bodner worked as a researcher on the book while completing her master’s in political science at U of T. She analyzed the extensive data collected from the registration cards, identifying immigration patterns.

“Delving into the school, it really paints a picture of how diverse it was and is, and how much that's changed over the years,” says Bodner, who is currently working toward a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Bodner says she and a team of researchers were able to spot the exact moments when the school’s population shifted between different immigrant groups.

Through this research, Vipond identified three distinct periods in the school’s history: from the 1920s to 1950s, a large Jewish community came to the school, from the 1950s to the 1970s, it was students from Italy and Portugal, and from the 1970s onward, students came from all over the world.

“Each of those periods have a distinct approach to citizenship, and each of them had a signature issue that distinguished the school from other schools,” says Vipond.

A household science class at Clinton in the 1920s when the school had a large Jewish population (photo courtesy of ��Ƶ Press / Clinton Street School Archives)

In the 1940s, for example, schools were required to provide religious Christian instruction to students, but with a large Jewish population, teachers decided to rebel, he says.

“What happened in that case was the teachers of Clinton took a pass – they showed a little bit of civil disobedience actually in just not complying with that law,” says Vipond.

In the 1950s, Clinton developed its own English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum, long before it was formally a part of the Toronto public school system.

Of the 75 Clinton graduates, parents and administrators that Vipond interviewed, some memorable stories stuck with him.

A notable graduate was Richard Reed Parry, who went on to become a musician in Canadian super-group Arcade Fire. Parry attended Clinton in the 1980s where he was encouraged by one of his teachers to pursue music.

“Music at Clinton really changed his life and made him realize what a great medium it was, and that he could do it,” he says.

Vipond also recalls a teacher named Mr. Timpson who built a menorah from hula hoops so his Jewish students could celebrate Hanukkah at school.

Clinton Street Public School is located on Manning Avenue between College and Bloor streets (photo by Romi Levine)

While countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and even Canada are struggling with their cultural identity in a multicultural world, Clinton can be seen as a crucible for how diverse groups of people can find middle ground, says Vipond.

“The language around citizenship and multiculturalism has been degraded by being set into a polarized binary,” he says. “Either you're in favour of multiculturalism, or you're in favour of something like complete assimilation, or closing doors to immigrants all together.”

“I'm reminded of the old joke, ‘Why did the Canadian cross the street?’ The answer is ‘to get to the middle.’ I think that actually describes the Clinton approach to diversity.”

TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at U of T

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:27:53 +0000

TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at U of T

geoff.vendeville Fri, 01/20/2017 - 15:27

Cutline

A student tries on a pair of virtual reality goggles during the event (photo by Yana Kaz)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

City & Culture

Roger Martin

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

Rotman School of Management hosted event for Toronto elementary and high school students

Elementary and high school students, their teachers and parents came to U of T’s Rotman School of Management this week to unveil projects they completed using an innovative problem-solving technique coined by business strategist and former Rotman dean Roger Martin.

Called integrative thinking, the method is meant to help anyone wade through enigmatic choices by weighing different ideas and coming to a “creative resolution of the tension” between them.

It may sound complex, but teachers at the Toronto District School Board had apparently no trouble explaining it to students ranging in grades from 2 to 12. Students used integrative-thinking to solve an array of problems.

Jade Mantadee and her classmates in the combined Grade 4 and 5 class at Fairbanks Public School tackled the question of whether to keep animals in captivity.

“We were trying to see if we could make both sides into one solution so we came up with virtual reality,” she said.

Becky Zaimi, a teacher at Fairbanks Public School, uses a virtual reality headset, which was part of her students' class project, looking at whether there should be zoos (photo by Yana Kaz)

Their teacher, Becky Zaimi, a graduate of U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said her class came up with the idea themselves after they read a collection of persuasive texts by fourth graders entitled Should There Be Zoos? and a book about cyberspace.

They used a pro/pro chart, an integrative thinking tool, as opposed to the traditional pro/con chart to arrive at a solution.

Another group, the Grade 1 class at Park Lawn Junior Middle School, analyzed problems of racism and sexism raised in the children’s book, Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman.

Students at Park Lawn Junior Middle School explain their project to grown-ups. Their project was based on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Yana Kaz)

“It’s about a girl, Grace, who wants to be Peter Pan in the school play. But the other students say Peter Pan is a boy. He’s white, and you’re black,” said a volunteer and recent OISE grad at the school, Kathryn Bryce.

After a discussion about racial and gender stereotypes, the class – including Deandray Spencer – concluded that Grace should play Peter Pan anyway.

“It’s awesome because they’re so young, and yet they were still able to think in a good and productive way,” Bryce said.

Deandray Spencer presents a class project on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Mitzie Hunter, Ontario’s minister of education and a Rotman graduate, came to the event to tell students that integrative thinking has applications outside the classroom.

Speaking about the pro/pro chart, she said it was useful because it helps her balance the interests of many different stakeholders: teachers, principals, boards and labour unions.

“When I use pro/pro, I try to find elements of common ground where we can work towards an outcome, taking the best ideas from both sides,” she said.

Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter spoke to students at Rotman about using integrative thinking in her work (photo by Yana Kaz)

For Grade 12 students at John Polanyi Collegiate, integrative thinking helped them take on a challenge posed by Metrolinx.

The students were asked to find the best way to build “employee resource groups” within the transportation agency's workforce as part of a new diversity and inclusive intiative.

One group suggested organizing a "discovery fair," where employees could set up booths, showcasing their hobbies so they can find co-workers with similar interests.

The Grade 12 business leadership class at John Polanyi Collegiate brainstormed ideas for building "employee resource groups" at Metrolinx (photo by Yana Kaz)

A first-year Rotman commerce student and former intern at Metrolinx, Kate Azizova, helped arrange the partnership.

She had once learned about integrative thinking in Rotman's business leadership class. Martin is now the academic director of Rotman's Martin Prosperity Institute.

“This class is very different from any other you take in high school,” she told U of T News. “There are no tests. Everything is based on whether you choose to speak up.

“The biggest thing I learned was to take initiative.”