Date published: 2007/03/02
The BBC says:
Black pupils are routinely punished more harshly, praised less and told off more often in English schools than other pupils, an official report says.
It says the staff in many schools are "unwittingly" racist, with black youngsters three times more likely than white to be expelled permanently.
It describes this as an "iconic issue" for black Caribbean communities.
...
The review considered two strands of thought.One argument holds that "largely unwitting, but systematic, racial discrimination" means staff expect black pupils to behave worse.
The other argument is that black pupils, especially boys, are subject to outside influences and cultural stereotypes that cause them to behave more aggressively in school.
The report favours making schools the focus. It says they can be categorised broadly as those that "get it" and those that "don't get it".
The latest contribution by people who have nothing to add to the education debate. When you can't prove your thesis, i.e. that schools are allegedly racist, you fall back on the unfalsifiable proposition that schools are "unwittingly" or "institutionally" racist. And if the Department for Education and Skills is so insistent that racism is the problem, then will anybody in the department resign over this (since they have obviously not been doing their oversight work properly)?
These days boys (all boys, both black and non-black) do worse than girls on average in school. So let's just take the logic to its natural conclusion and say that schools are "unwittingly" sexist. If England spent less money on these useless consultants and more money on education we would all be better off.
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