Research by anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card revealed that racism is rife in English schools with 83 percent of teachers questioned saying that they had witnessed racist comments, attitudes and behaviour from their students.
Research carried out by anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card has revealed that racism in English schools continues to be a signifant problem.
The survey of 148 teachers showed that contrary to popular thought, which says that racism belongs to the older generation, the young generation in England have considerable racist attitudes.
83 percent of the teachers surveyed said that they had witnessed racist attitudes and behaviour among their students. Over 40 percent said they had witnessed similar attitudes from teachers towards students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
According to the Sky News report (Racism Still An Issue In English Schools: Monday, 4 July) some teachers were said to have dismissed Asian pupils who they believed could not speak English well.
A racist culture taking a hold in English schools
The research by the the charity highlights a long history of racism in English schools by teachers and pupils towards black and minority ethnic pupils. What is significant about these developments is that they contradict the popular theory that racism is almost non existent among the young generation. There is arguably a culture of racism deep rooted in English schools that seems to be growing.
In April 2010 a group of academics who looked into the marks given to thousands of children at age 11 revealed that teachers are systematically marking down black pupils because of stereotypes and low expectations.
Gloria Hyatt, a former secondary headteacher of black-Caribbean and Irish heritage mentioned in the Guardian that the results did not surprise her as she had met teachers who believed that black people are great at sports but less able when it comes to academic pursuits. (Read Black pupils marked down by teachers according to report)
In the same month a Daily Telegraph article cited a report in 2009 which said that schools recorded 40,000 incidents of racism involving children as young as five years old. (Read 40,000 racist incidents a year involving children as young as five says report)
Read the comments posted by readers following the Sky News article and you will see an overwhelming right-wing response to the report. Most of the comments suggests that whites feel victimised in their own country, and feel that they, not minorities are the main victims of racism. There is also an anti Asian bias in many of the comments.
Stellaart wrote, “If you are not a Muslim you are treated like an s%@t yet this IS never really shown in the media. Funny that is it not?” This reader is under the impression that the Muslim community in England is treated favourably.
Midsjack wrote, “Yes racism is an issue in our schools and in the wider community but it is getting so that the white people are now the victims. Also the police rarely act when the victim of racism is white but are so quick to act if anyone of Asian origin complains. The authorities bend over backwards to appease Asians in particular and this is of course racism. It’s enough to make us all racist.”
Anthony wrote, “I lived in Birmingham for 2 year not once did i hear a white person come out with a racist remark, but i am telling you now the asians and the blacks are the most racist people i have ever come across not just towards white people but between each other they hate each other! they even had a riot. I am f**king sick to death of reading bullshit like this, since i lived in Birmingham if any one starts talking s**t about how whites are being racist i just f**king tell them the truth that the so called ethnic minorities are the f**king racists i don’t care any more not that i ever cared in the first place.“
I wonder if Anthony would consider the Irish conflict a demonstration of white on white racism?
The overall tone of the comments on this story from whites is that they are the victims of racism and the mainstream media and successive governments are to blame for this perception that many whites have.
In April 2010, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) revealed in a report that an average of five race murders has occurred in the UK every year since the race murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 by a gang of racists. (Read Five racial murders per year says race institute) The report also rubbished claims that the British media has been claiming for years that whites were the predominant victims of racist attacks.
In May 2011 a study study conducted by sociologists from Harvard and Tufts universities in America revealed that white Americans now see themselves as the main victims of racism and believe that black people have ‘gained’ the advantage over them despite African-Americans still being subjected to racial discrimination in the job market, and suffering poverty rates at nearly twice the levels of whites. (Read White victimhood: The new racism)
Whites in the Western world have been deceived into thinking that they are the victims of racism by the media and the governments of these countries; and the irony of the situation is that this convenient deception distracts them from seeing that their government is pitting race against race whilst imposing brutal cuts in health, education and public services on all.
For black and minority ethnic communities the future does not look peaceful at all. With increasing poverty and struggle to find work no doubt as in the past race will become a scapegoat for the problems many whites now face.
For further research:
Please note that the link below is probably temporary and will be removed once it is no longer functional
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/racism-still-issue-english-schools-023148892.html
