Yes, of course, as Nicola Sheldon points out, family background/stability is
very important. However, most children of Afro- (and Indo-) Caribbean
background are not 'immigrants' as it is most likely their grandparents who
emigrated to Britain. Those grandparents were ambitious, wanted to do well,
earn enough money to return home. They did not succeed in this. Why not? No,
they were not all unskilled, by any means. And they were certainly ambitious
for their children....
And you cannot leave out of this discussion the racism 'by omission' of the
school curricula, in which no achievements/discoveries/inventions by anyone
except the English is usually acknowledged. Those of African origins, if
they exist in the history curriculum, is often only as slaves.
Neither should we omit the teachers' own ignorance - after all, they are the
product of the same school curricula. And of the same general culture in
which 'Black' peoples have been depicted as hopeless savages for a long
time. Yes, such depictions are now illegal, but have we dealt with the
underlying racist ideology? The Lawrence Enquiry suggested that we had not,
and that it had to be dealt with, among both the police and teachers.
Marika
|