Tuesday 8 July 2008

The Red Racist under the Bed

This is one of those stories which really does leave one speechless:
Toddlers should be taught about racism and singled out for criticism if they have racist attitudes, a Government-funded advisory group said yesterday.

It told nursery teachers, playgroup leaders and childminders to record and report every racist incident involving children as young as three.

These could include saying 'Yuk' about unfamiliar food.

Even babies should not be ignored in the hunt for racism because they can 'recognise different people in their lives', a new guide for nurseries and child care centres said.

The instructions for staff in charge of pre-school children in day care have been produced by the National Children's Bureau, which receives £12million a year, mostly through taxpayer-funded organisations.

[...]

The new 366-page guide, Young Children and Racial Justice, warned that 'racist incidents among children in early years settings-tend to be around name-calling-casual thoughtless comments, and peer group relationships'.

It said such incidents could include children using words like 'blackie', 'Pakis', 'those people' or 'they smell'.

Children might also 'react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying "yuk".'

Nursery staff are told: 'No racist incident should be ignored. When there is a clear racist intent, it is necessary to be specific in condemning the action.'

If children 'reveal negative attitudes the lack of censure may indicate to the child that there is nothing unacceptable about such attitudes'.

Nurseries are encouraged to report as many racist incidents as possible to local councils.

'Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution,' it said. 'In fact, the opposite is the case.'
The assertion that it reflects well on an institution to report large numbers of "racist incidents" implies that those institutions which report few or no such incidents are covering something up. The people who drafted this advice must actually believe that "racism" is almost endemic among the tiny tots.
The guidance said that anyone who disagrees is racist themselves.
Well, that attitude is pretty much par for the course with these "anti-racist" types. They're so tolerant and good, you see, that anyone who doesn't share their views must, by definition, be pure evil!

It also suggests cultivating the home languages of new immigrants - despite Government anxiety to promote the learning of English.

It said: 'English is now viewed as the major language of the world but this is not because it has any innate linguistic advantages - it is because English is the language of power in a world dominated by English-speaking peoples.'
Possibly. More pertinently, English is also the native and majority language of the UK, and you probably won't get very far in Britain without being able to speak at least passable English (John Prescott being an obvious exception to this rule). That is why it's considered important that children learn English: astonishingly enough, it's not all about perpetuating post-colonial power structures, or anything like that.
Critics of the race programme for pre- school children labelled it 'totalitarian'.

They would say that - they are, by definition, "racist".

Author and researcher on family life Patricia Morgan said: 'Stepping in to stop severe bullying is one thing, but this is interference in the lives of children. It smacks of totalitarianism.

'It is regulation of private speech and thought. They intend nursery staff to step into children's playground squabbles and then report them to the local council as race incidents. Who would ever have thought that the anti-racism crusade would go so far?'

Well, if you look at the past record of the "anti-racist" movement, and particularly its lengthy record of witch hunts against those who have displeased it (including schoolchildren), then this latest proposal appears, if not predictable, then at least in keeping with its noble traditions.

The very notion that babies or toddlers are capable of being "racist" in any meaningful sense is, I think, ridiculous. I find it very unlikely that children that young are actually able to develop ingrained negative generalisations about groups of people, and suspect that if nursery staff follow this advice too closely, then we may well see large numbers of children being labelled as dangerous racists, for utterly trivial instances of misbehaviour. Certainly, the notion that one can identify actual or prospective racists by their culinary habits is too deranged for words. Still, it does have one benefit: in common with pretty much anyone who dares to express any negative views regarding immigration, multiculturalism, or Islam, I have on occasion been accused of "racism". However, since I like curry, I can now prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that I am not guilty of the charge!

9 comments:

Mercurius Aulicus said...

">Coming soon for a child near you

Anonymous said...

They (the Gramscians) are trying to convince people that speaking English is "racist" in the US too. With some success I might add. You'd better watch out, or you are going to lose your language along with everything else about your country.

Homophobic Horse said...

There we go with the "institutional racism" hustle again.

It doesn't matter if something is true or false, only that it is believed.

It doesn't matter what the word "racism" actually refers to i.e. theories of regarding the mental and physical attributes of humanities various peoples - and nothing else. All that matters is being believed.

It doesn't matter if English is the international language of commerce, and nothing more than that. It conceals "Power Structures."

It doesn't matter if toddlers don't want to eat spicy food because spicy food stinks and causes pain - it must be something else altogether - i.e. a dislike of Indians - who are equated with spicy food because Indians are SPICY PEOPLE.....

A pseudo-intellectual does not believe in objective reality outside of the self. They equate ideas with the speakers of ideas: if someone says something that makes someone else look bad, it's not because that other person might really be bad, it's because of a hidden desire to demonise and dominate.

And that's how we got the police investigation in Undercover Mosque.

Anonymous said...

The concept of "racism" is so elastic that we should not be surprised to learn that toddlers are guilty of it. WE ARE ALL GUILTY - as the late lamented Peter Simple would say.

Homophobic Horse said...

Schooling as a torture institution:

I'm a single parent and my son was finding visits to his father upsetting and had 'accidents' afterwards because of bad dreams. On being told he had an 'accident' in gym, after such a visit, I explained the situation to the teacher and asked her to be understanding with him. I explained there was no need for undue concern as my son was not in a vulnerable situation without me, I was there, he just found the visits generally upsetting. She told the headmaster who summoned me to his office and threatened me with his report to social services (whom he'd already contacted) if I did not disclose the full extent of my relationship with his father, how often I saw him and whether 'it' still happened between us. I was shocked and appalled at this intrusion but he would not accept my reassurance and he continued to threaten me, at one time shouting at me to take my children out of HIS school. (I tought he just worked there).

There were no marks on my son, no other reason to suspect anything (as there was nothing to suspect) other than my appeal to be understanding towards a good boy who was having a difficult time coping with a broken family. Apparently the reason for such bully-boy tactics were 'a duty of care'. Well that didn't seem caring to me - I was only allowed to leave when I burst into tears, which seemed to satisfy the 'man'.


(Taken from a comment on P. Hitchens blog)

Teachers are perverts.

Maybe the all the knife crime we've been having lately, maybe that unpredictable savage violence from chavs and neds is really displaced anger against the schooling system - a system that is designed to mentally rape, demoralise and torture.

Anonymous said...

"Intent" ???? In a 3 year old child??? They must be putting drugs in the water in your country!

GW said...

"Speechless" is an understatement.

Mercurius Aulicus said...

Speaking of racism have you seen This. I suppose some people are rather niggardly with common sense.

Anonymous said...

Children generally learn racist attitudes from parents or peers. Kids of a very young age, therefore unaffected by parental prejudices, left to their own devices when playing with others of different races show no discriminatory behavior.

My advice is research your information before reading a couple of poorly researched newspaper stories in the right wing press.

P.S. I really hope you're not a Fulham FC fan....