Black on black education, or whatever

Apparently white teachers are not capable of teaching black or Asian children effectively. Or black and Asian children are not capable of understanding white teachers. Or something.

A third of London teachers and school governors need to be black or Asian in order to help improve the achievement of black children, a report has said.
…
It says black teachers should be fast-tracked and offered "golden hellos".

It’s exactly this kind of “positive racism” that really gets my goat. I mean, what is it about the colour white that makes teachers clad in it unable to effectively teach black kids? Oh look, here comes the mayor of London:

Mr Livingstone said: "To fully meet the needs of London's diverse communities the teaching profession and school governing bodies must reflect the communities they serve.

"This means that at least a third of London teachers and school governors should be of African, Caribbean or Asian heritage."

Utter rubbish, and oh so typical of Mr. Livingstone. His multicultural dream isn’t actually very much like what it says on the tin, you know, multicultural. Sounds a bit like black or Asian teachers for black or Asian schools, white teachers for white (serving the communities of white areas of Britain and all that of course).

Diane Abbott MP (isn’t she the one that attacked private education and then sent her son to a privately run school?) had this to say:

"Black teachers can sometimes relate better to black children and be less inclined to view them as stereotypes.

"But the focus should now be on the recruitment of more black teachers in the mainstream and the support of black people already in the profession."

Yeah, you tell them Diane. I’ll be sure to inform the three white teachers that live in my road. Oh, there’s a white dinner lady that lives next door too; I should probably tell her. You know, just in case she relates badly to the kids she looks after during the lunch break.

Why does this report make me mad? What single piece of scientific evidence can these people provide to show that black teachers are better at teaching black kids than white teachers are? Is it also true that white teachers are better at teaching white children? Would the same people agree with any head of any predominantly white school if that head introduced a policy to ensure that predominantly more white teachers were employed overall?

More to the point, isn't it ridiculous that London, with such a high proportion of black tax payers, has a white mayor? Shouldn't we ensure that more black mayoral candidates are chosen to run for the position by their respective parties? Shouldn't we encourage independent black candidates?

Is it just me, my Italian mother and my Cypriot father who find this aspect of multicultural Britain sickening?

It's funny, that in Britain today multiculturalism means the state supporting predominantly black teachers teaching predominantly black children in predominantly black schools.

Posted by John at September 7, 2004 11:41 AM | TrackBack