BNP teachers

I'm sure I came across a factoid the other day that there are four, I think it was, registered teachers who are also BNP members.

Relative to the number of teachers who are for other reasons unfit to hold their post - it's not actually the biggest problem we face as a profession.

Also, as others have said: the BNP is currently an entirely legal political party. Very slippery slope if we start taking away the right of teachers to belong to legal organisations, however disgusting those organisations might be.

If you want to tackle racism within teaching, the BNP members wouldn't be where I'd start.

I'm shocked that someone should come on here and admit openly to being a member of the BNP. Years ago I don't think anyone would have dared admit such a thing but with the increased electoral success of the BNP - albeit regionally rather than nationally ( thank goodness) their voters and supporters are starting to put their heads above the parapet. I find this both insiduous and terrifying in alternate measures.

What are the BNP if not the National Front in ( thin) disguise and what are the NF if not the British Nazi party? If you vote BNP you are voting Nazi. And I for one not only would not want a teacher of my children holding Nazi idealogy but would not want that person as a citizen of the UK. Full stop.

Let's not legitimise these scum by including them within the virtues of a free society and earnest debate. The Germans did that too in the 1930s and look where it got them.

Also, I'm tired and that you should say who.

I wouldn't want anyone you in anyway had anything to do with supporting racism (or any other discrimination) anywhere near children.

And as for the slippery slope, that slippery slope could work both ways. Eg. if the BNP are allowed, who's to say that KKK members could be stopped from teaching?

There has to be a line drawn, and for me personally I'd like that line to exclude any group affiliated with racism and extremism.

And I don't yhink a BNP supporting teacher could do their job properly.

Grumpy - your experience of yhe BNP must be very limited then.

Colleagues of mine have been physically threatened bt them. They are thugs. I've seen the marches up
our local high street. They make me sick.

How very patronising Speedy.

I genuinely find it hard to understand how otherwise intelligent and reasonable people conflate the dislike of a policy of importing millions from alien third-world cultures, with the creation of social division and problems where previously there were none, with a personal animus against the immigrants themselves

My experience of the BNP is that its members are not twisted with hatred for anyone, sadness and anger maybe at how things are maybe, but not hatred.

Hatred is driving decent people out of their profession because they lawfully stand up for what they believe, like this man:

www.thelawyer.com/st-philips-barrister-resigns-to-stand-for-bnp-in-general-election/1 003905.article

Wannabe (and also a reply to uberalice): "Also, you don't have to be a member of the bnp to be a racist. In fact, you don't have to be white to be a racist. As long as you don't bring those views into the classroom how you vote/feel/think is not for anyone else to dictate." - Quite so. Much racism/ prejudice full-stop is hidden, you can't prove it but it lies beneath the surface and colours people's actions. Which is what makes it so dangerous and so uncomfortable for minority groups to have to live with.

Alouiseg - but atheists do have a bias against religion, frequently a very strong one, IME. So their biases would colour the way they teach religion. The only people who I've ever met that can be considered anywhere near 'objective' on religion are certain agnostics.

Grumpy (are you a namechanger?), you've missed the point - that the BNP is not first and foremost about politics; it's a group of people who are focused on fear, ignorance and, ultimately, hatred of certain minorities. That is what makes them unacceptable, unlike the genuine political parties. Their use of politics is a tactic to sublimate and legitimise their hatred; the hatred is not just an inconvenient by-product of their otherwise innocent viewpoints on life. They've clearly fooled some people, including you.

i worry that people want to be 'openly' supporting the bnp. what do you want a badge? oh yes maybe you do!

wear your badge outside for all to see, go on, dare you

I couldn't imagine ever wanting a teacher to be sacked for their political views, whatever they are.

Then again, I'm a BNP voter.

Maybe this shows why social "liberalism" is the dominant ideology and the only view tolerated in many places today.

To its adherents, their worldview is the only one that a reasonable person could hold, and any departure from it is fundamentally immoral.

Dissenters just think it is a difference of opinion. Without moral self-righteousness, how can they win?

Incidentally, the BNP MEP for Yorkshire taught Politics at an FE college for many years.

It's a horrible to think that a teacher may support the BNP, but I wouldn't want to see them prevented from joining any political organisation. What about teachers that are not members but hold similar views? I agree it's a slippery slope.

I agree that if I found out a teacher was a BNP member, I would freak out completely.

But what if the teacher has BNP views but isn't actually a BNP member?

In other words, what is it about membership of a legitimate organization which underpins ineligibility?

Very very slippery slope.

Better to actually try to take on the BNP, address the legitimate issues of the many non-racist voters who turn to them in despair, and marginalize Griffin's thugs. This is quite hard, of course.

Speedy, referring to your last para, surely if a teacher discriminated against a student on the basis of gender, race or sexual preference, then that would have to be dealt with anyway, regardless of whether or not they were card carrying BNP members.

But I do see your point all the same.

I would be shocked if a teacher I worked with was a member of the BNP. However, everyone has the right to their own beliefs as long as they leave them at the door. Maybe they can't but the policies within all schools should be robust enough to weed them out. We can't rely on people carrying BNP membership cards for us to be able to stop discrimination.

I actually loathe R.E. being taught because of the reasons mentioned.

If it has to be taught i would think it sensible for it to be delivered by an atheist as religious bias will inevitably creep in.

It's a very slippery slope though.

Whether we like it or not, the bnp is a legitimate party who has democratically elected MP's in parts of the country. And To single out that one party runs the risk of dictating to people against their democratic right, however distasteful their beliefs.

Also, you don't have to be a member of the bnp to be a racist. In fact, you don't have to be white to be a racist. As long as you don't bring those views into the classroom how you vote/feel/think is not for anyone else to dictate.

Of course I can understand why people would be uncomfortable with this, but as speedy says what about all the other beliefs.

Personally I'm uneasy about religious people teaching children anything in case their beliefs colour what they teach.

uberalice - that's what I was referring to in the last para of my first post. Their prejudices will always bias the way they treat they children in their care. So for people like me, it's one of those uncomfortable thoughts that we just have to live with. Welcome to our world!

Lynette, even if they were doing a good job and not spouting racist views?

Very true, uberalice.

But oif I found out my childs teacher was a BNP memeber, I would hve them out of that class, quick as a shot.

But surely there will already be teachers who are BNP members, and we just don't know who they are. So if they're not vocal about their views within their job, surely it shouldn't matter? Or maybe it does? To be honest, I'm not completely sure. But it just doesn't feel right to ban then. We are a liberal, democratic society. And this seems to go against that.

Riven - wouldn't it be interesting if such organisations had the same public profile as the BNP in this country? i.e. elected representatives, recognition as 'authentic' political parties, etc. It would be SO interesting to see how people responded to that and what impact that would have on the response to the BNP being allowed to, well, exist.