Schools report 40,000 cases of racism a year

London Telegraph ^ | 10/28/2009 | Martin Beckford

[Saije]

Primary school pupils and toddlers in nurseries are being punished for making racist insults, according to a report, even if they don’t understand the terms they use.

Teachers are being treated like counter staff in police stations as they have to fill in forms detailing name-calling and jokes.

Meanwhile diversity “missionaries” are said to be increasing the divide between white and black children by forcing them to see everything through the prism of race.

Adrian Hart, the author of the report published by the Manifesto Club...said: “The obligation on schools to report these incidents wastes teachers’ time, interferes in children’s space in the playground, and undermines teachers’ ability to deal with problems in their classrooms.

“Worse, such anti-racist policies can create divisions where none had existed, by turning everyday playground spats into ‘race issues’.

“There are a small number of cases of sustained targeted bullying, and schools certainly need to deal with those. But most of these ‘racist incidents’ are just kids falling out. They don’t need re-educating out of their prejudice – they and their teachers need to be left alone.”

Martin Ward...of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Certainly any racist incident in schools should be dealt with swiftly but the definition of racism can be taken too far, especially with young children who clearly don’t understand the connotation behind the words.

***After the introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which put a duty on public bodies to eliminate discrimination, schools were told they had to monitor the impact of their policies on the educational attainment of pupils of different races.

***Special forms were created that require teachers to name the alleged perpetrator and victim, and spell out what they did and how they were punished. Schools can keep details on file.

[Saije]

I wonder how soon someone will decide we should be doing this here.

[SIDENET]

Schools report 40,000 cases of racism a year

That's racist.

[buccaneer81]

Schools report 40,000 cases of racism a year

Awwww...Too damn bad. These Brits need to grow a pair.

[CanaGuy]

A $100 for each phoned in tip about anyone committing a hate crime.

Hoo boy. Hate crimes. America died the moment the ink dried on that bill. As Lewis Grizzard used to say, "They tore out my heart and stomped that sucker flat".