After living in Ottawa for several years, a trip down Highway 401 to Toronto provided a kind of street justice for my son and I. A year ago, when James was 15, the City of Ottawa determined he was on the wrong track, but here in Toronto the City is exploring whether it's the public school system that's off the rails.
James is happily enrolled in a Toronto District School Board pilot program called the Oasis Skateboard Factory where, according to the program website, the objective is for "students [to] earn grade 9, 10 and 11 compulsory and elective high school credits. In this community-focused and entrepreneurial program, students learn hands-on to build skateboards, design original custom graphics, work with local artists and community partners, and market and display their work. They also have the opportunity to receive an honorarium."
This is a far cry from the Ottawa program James was pressed into a year ago after being caught for tagging a retail store in the Glebe. To avoid being charged, he performed thirty hours of community service—which included cleaning the aforementioned graffiti and apologizing to the owners of the defaced store—a fair and appropriate consequence in my view.
Then it got ugly: James was placed into something called the “Youth Diversion Program” designed for teens deemed to have serious issues in their personal lives. James' interest in street art and skateboarding culture apparently raised concerns with someone somewhere. He was promptly assigned a social worker and questioned repeatedly about home life and drug use. He was even pulled out of class several times and searched by the vice principal “whenever they found a tag somewhere in the school,” according to James.
I remember about twenty years ago being a youth representative at a Nepean community meeting where they were discussing the problem of skateboarders hanging out behind a local mall. I piped in with the idea to build a skate park in the vacant lot behind the mall. Needless to say, that idea was dismissed outright. As far as I can tell, the conservative method still prevails in Ottawa: try to force disinterested youth to conform instead of allowing them to play to their strengths and interests.
Masterminded by TDSB teacher Craig Morrison (a noted street stencil artist), the Oasis Skateboard Factory is possibly the first full-credit program of its kind in the world. Morrison got the idea when he saw a skateboard manufacturing demonstration by Ted Hunter and Norah Jackson of Roarockit Skateboards. Hunter is a sculptor and professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design who patented a process using layers of hard Canadian maple veneers to construct a skateboard deck.
How is the program doing? Truancy and lateness are nearly eradicated, partly because classes start at 10:30 a.m., taking into account the reality of teenage physiology. Thus, instead of brain-dead teenage zombies showing up late to school, students arrive fresh and eager and looking forward to getting to work.
“They wanted me to stop doing that kind of art altogether,” says James. “Ottawa is smaller so it's easier to make everyone to just do the same thing... the program here is not designed to change your mind, but to expand it.”
