Racist or just inquisitive?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....rown-come-Africa.html

/// ‘I was told I would have to sign a form acknowledging my son had made a racist remark which would be submitted to the local education authority for further investigation,’ she said. ///

Absolutely disgusting, this type of thing is reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

/// Last year, it was revealed that teachers are branding thousands of children racist or homophobic following playground squabbles. ///

I wonder how many of these thousands of children are black?

[lcg]

innocent...but you sully the debate yet again with your own narrow minded racist viewpoint. shame on you.

[anotheoldgit]

lcg76

Just to make it clear, who are you referring to?

Could you please name names, when you accuse someone of sullying the debate yet again with their own narrow minded racist viewpoint.

It would also help others, including the ED, if you could please post the example of the narrow minded racist viewpoint you accused someone of committing.

sully the debate yet again with your own narrow minded racist viewpoint.

[FredPuli43]

So it was the black child's mother who started this complaint, and she did that because her son told her of the remark. He's probably asked his mother 'Am I African?', in all innocence. Pity she never thought that black Americans call themselves 'African American'.If ' African' is taken as a racist epithet, then millions are wrong ! She might then have seen the non-racist nature of the question, if for no other reason (common sense should have been enough!)

[humbersloop]

Evening AOG,

if you don't live in the circulation area of the HDM -like any other local paper- I'd be very wary of knowing your a%*e from your elbow about the story.

[NOX]

I personally would not have signed the form either, acknowledging, on my child's behalf, that he had made a 'racist' statement, as the words he used, in the context they were used were not racist. Whilst I do have some sympathy with the school needing to follow guidelines, one cannot simply have a blanket policy which allows over senstive people to become 'offended' whenever the fancy takes them with no good cause and for that offence to cause an innocent child to be branded a racist. The schools need some flexibility in dealing with scenarios where some parent's may be over sensitive without having to fear that their own judgement might be brought into question. that is, the head should have had the good sense to be able to say to the offended lady 'This is clearly NOT a racist incident, if you disagree you are of course at liberty to appeal my decision with the LEA'. There should be no automatic referral of every little incident when there is clearly no case to answer.

[jno]

agree with Nox.

aog, the reference to a racist viewpoint might possibly point to the last sentence in your original post.

[grasscarp]

The whole thing is very worrying in that why does what one child say to another become debatable, newsworthy, come in to any kind of category. To my mind the whole world has gone mad.

[jno]

it's also alarming that kids can be punished for asking questions at school. That's what schools are supposed to be for.

[grasscarp]

exactly jno. Let children be children, without fear or repercussions.

[Ankou]

"Whilst I do have some sympathy with the school needing to follow guidelines, one cannot simply have a blanket policy which allows over senstive people to become 'offended' whenever the fancy takes them with no good cause and for that offence to cause an innocent child to be branded a racist."

agree to some extent, but then that would apply to bullying too. procedures and forms are there for a reason.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// aog, the reference to a racist viewpoint might possibly point to the last sentence in your original post. ///

I know that the word 'racist' is widely misused these days, but to construe that it is racist just to ask a question is taking it a little too far.

All I was asking , how many amongst these thousands of children that some teachers are branding racist are black?

Would you like to hazard a guess?

[jackthehat]

I'll have a guess......but only if you can supply the definitive answer.

[THECORBYLOON]

Anotheoldgit, you say thousands are being called racist, do you have a link to the figures?

[THECORBYLOON]

I see it's stated in the article as 20,000 but it does not break it down into categories.

[anotheoldgit]

THECORBYLOON

That is precisely the question I am asking, and for which i have been called racist.

And yet no one seems able or willing to come up with the answer.

[Ankou]

"how many amongst these thousands of children that some teachers are branding racist are black?"

not sure i see the point to the question, only whether to detrmine that white children are more racist than black childrenor vise versa. check out the manifesto club, you might find your answer there.