I find this new woke liberal directive quite disturbing.
Brighton Council, has proposed that school children between the ages of 5 and 7 should be taught about what bast*ds white people are.
They will be told that they are 'not racially innocent', and that even at their young age, they 'subconsciously add value to skin colour; with white being at the top, and black at the bottom'.
What utter tripe. When I was five, colour of skin was of no importance whatsoever, and to be told that children are already giving status to it, is totally false and unwarranted.
They are also to be taught that Christianity was responsible for the slave trade, and that all anti-slavery heroes were falsely claimed to be white.
In my mind, and apparently in the minds of most others, it would be far better not to mention 'racism' at all, but to teach our young children to respect everyone, regardless of caste creed or colour. If indeed that needs to be mentioned.
By continually talking about racism one is making it a part of everyday life; and bringing very young white school children into the mix is wrong.
We now live in an age where almost every action or thought can be twisted to be racist; where of course there was none. We can all remember the fuss about Baa Baa Black Sheep. To extend those accusations to very young children is a total DISGRACE.
All this has been proposed by Brighton's Green Party. As you can see by their election poster (above); they are attempting to paint all men as sexist too.
You are so right here. If you are told often enough that "people believe so-and-so, but it is wrong", the part some of you will remember is just "so-and-so". I could also imagine that to avoid doing something that could be seen as racist, white children will just have contact with other white children.
ReplyDeleteHilde in Germany
It's all so negative. I used to think that in time people would see what's happening, but it seems not.
Delete"Utter tripe"? Indeed.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, children are racially "innocent". It's adults who twist the narrative.
What makes me mad? The very thing you describe is a form of indoctrination, planting the SEED of racism into young minds. It's shameful.
This subject was not a good start to my day; Cortisol level rising but yes, Cro, it needs to be said. In the end though, or so I hope, it's what happens at home, what is being said at home that will shape a child's take - best case scenario providing a counterbalance to artificially created problems where there don't need to be any.
U
Of course you are right, but it's when they leave home and go to school where the trouble starts. One of my children was almost forced to become veggie by his teachers and peers; I fear the same will happen with racism, even though their intention is the opposite.
DeleteYou have introduced a very interesting distinction there - a cultural one: "When they leave home and go to school".
DeleteIn the motherland you went to school early in the morning, came home at lunchtime. Which gave you plenty of time to relate your experiences, joys and questions to those who (one hopes) have your interest at heart: Your parents. Indeed experience the daily minutiae of family life and all the joys and tribulations that brings.
The above being denied to a certain type of the English. It was where conflict lay between my (English) husband and me. Like you he went to public school. Wrenched from his mother (due to her husband's overseas career) to go to one of the finest in England. Age eight. AGE EIGHT"! Be still my beating heart.
Sees his parents, shipped all over the world, during brief holidays. How does one form an idea of family relationships, how to relate? And indeed, see my initial comment, help your own offspring to maybe form a counterpoint to that which those 24/7 schools provide?
My dear sweet parents-in-law were very proud of their son's education. So I bit my tongue as best as I could. If that son (my son's father) had insisted on subjecting the Apple of my Eye to the same experience I wouldn't be a mother today. "Over my dead body", I said. And that was that.
I know you too are proud of your public school education. Out of curiosity, not least because you are married to a multi cultural woman, did any of your children go to public school? Or did they have the luxury of being BROUGHT UP, indeed influenced, by their mother and father - on a daily basis?
I know I have widened your original subject a bit and hope you'll read the above in the spirit it's meant. A discussion, not a criticism.
U
I really don't think that paid or unpaid education makes that much difference. 4 plus 4 will always be the same in all sectors; as should be the approach to social matters. BTW, I went aged 6.
DeleteMay I be honest with you? Your answer is so very disappointing, so lacking. What's four plus four got to do with the essence of what I tried to convey?
DeleteU
Absolutely nothing, I was simply trying to suggest that the 'education' one receives in both sectors is much the same.
DeleteSorry, Cro. I don't agree with that statement. Having benefitted from both the two are a world apart.
DeleteGraham, I am glad you said "benefitted from both". As did my son. His words exactly.
DeleteHe first went to a "normal" non fee paying secondary school. Academically fine but rough round the edges. Made me laugh when one time he came home and declared that he'd never ever become a teacher. Apparently a shit job if ever there was one. Don't say my son doesn't have compassion, nay, empathy for those caught in the firing line.
When he was about fourteen his father suggested (and paid for) a private school (day - not boarding). Having had the chance to experience both sides of the coin has stood the Angel in good stead.
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Graham, perhaps I should have said the 'academical' education is much the same. O Levels and A Levels followed a national curriculum. The extra-mural life is VERY different.
DeleteIt was a warm day and in Prahran Square parents had taken their children to run through the water feature spouting water up from the surface. A white girl about four approached a black girl with I guess what were friendly overtures. They separated but then got back together again.
ReplyDeleteOf course kids must see colour and difference, but I don't believe that because they are white they naturally feel superior to anyone different. It will be their upbringing and peers who do that.
PS, the Greens poster is both provocative and disappointing.
ReplyDeleteDifference does not equate to superiority; of that I'm sure. Yes, the poster is rather sad. The Green Party are unwittingly strengthening both racism and sexism.
DeleteI grew up on a sprawling estate in West London close to Heathrow where our neighbours came from many different parts of the world. As children, my siblings and I played out in the street with kids of all different skin colour and took no notice of that whatsoever. Things have changed over the years since then.
ReplyDeleteSadly it's those woke-folk who think they are working against racism, who are actually provoking it.
DeleteMy parents had friends of different ethnicities and so I was brought up without really thinking about it. However, looking back, it was easy for me in the family. When I became involved with a multi-cultural 'club' in Liverpool I saw a different side to racism. And I saw a different side to working together when, in the NHS, we all worked side by side and the only thing that mattered was rank and competence. I'm sure it wasn't the same everywhere but we had excellent management back then (60 years ago).
ReplyDeleteAt school I had friends of various ethnicities, and although we understood that they were from different cultures, they were treated no differently to anyone else.
DeleteMy son and daughter went to a secondary school where they made friends with non-white children who remain friends to this day. They are colour blind when it comes to meeting new people. It is the content of the heart and the character that matters.
ReplyDeleteThat's how it should be, but making the very young think that they are intrinsically racist is NOT the way ahead.
DeleteHow can they suggest that the christian church was responsible for slavery, when slavery trade was rife throughout most civilizations, long before christianity arose. ?
ReplyDeleteThey grasp at invisible straws.
DeleteI totally agree with everything you say Cro, it's getting absolutely ridiculous, you can't even step out of the front door without upsetting somebody!
ReplyDeleteI can understand people wanting to be seen as 'liberal' and even 'woke', but they often make matters far worse than they were previously.
DeleteI don't think (in my country at least) that racism can be denied. Yet it is. Kids are being twisted by the narratives that they are raised with. Left to their own devices, I believe that they would always see people as people.
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a racist home. Like the redneck sort of racism, the very stupidest rhetoric. I grew out of it as I met and interacted with people of different backgrounds.
I understand what these people are trying to do, but a 'one approach will fix everything' is misguided at best. Children do need to see old prejudices challenged, but trying to hammer that into a five year old is making an assumption re: their backgrounds that may simply not be true.
Children should be led by example, both at home and at school. When I was teaching, any mention of politics was forbidden. These days it's almost obligatory.
DeleteHere is the thing, to my thinking anyway: when I was in school 60 years ago, we were taught the Golden Rule. Those words (or words like them) appear in every religious text I know of, so no faith would be offended. Yet it covers it all, doesn't it? If behavior needs to be addressed, the offender can be called to the side and as the behavior is discussed. The children with appropriate behavior do not need to be lectured.
DeleteSorry. My meaning may not be clear. If every child was counseled with 'how would you feel...?' It is an opportunity to teach empathy, which is the final aim, right?
DeleteAbsolutely.
DeletePeople like you need to counter this destructive thinking that often causes more harm than good. I also find it very disappointing that even in our schools some teachers promote "causes" that have no place in school programs. Yet school administrators, in the name of social justice, give it the go ahead. Not on my watch!
ReplyDeleteSadly this is now often the rule. Teachers target the vulnerable, who are easily convinced. By making controversial subjects seem like advanced liberal thinking, it's easy to convince the 'floating thinker'.
DeleteThe current directions being taken with racism is doing the opposite of ending racism. Racism is the dumbest damn waste of time humans have ever engaged in. Subjecting children to such hateful teachings is child abuse.
ReplyDeleteMy own view precisely. Forgive them (the liberal politicians/teachers) for they know not what they do!
DeleteRacism everywhere should die a speedy death in my opinion. We are all people, after all. Take away the skin and we are all exactly the same.
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