Racist teacher from when I was at school

[judsey]

I just had a discussion with my daughters about bullying at school and how they should be aware of it and report it to teachers if they see it.

It brought back memories from my childhood. I have an English first name and Chinese middle name. I was one of a few non white girls at an all girls Grammar school in Kent. The male Geography teacher in particular used to make racist comments in class and mock my non English name which resulted in the other children calling me by the same name he called me. When I told him that I didn't want him to call me Ping Pong Pang Yang, he wrote scathing comments in my report calling me rude. All the other teachers pretty much called me a model student. My lovely French teacher went so far to write that she disagreed with his comments

I didn't have the courage to complain to the headmistress at the time as I felt she too was biased and used to laugh it off instead but it destroyed me inside. I just looked him up and discovered he is now a parish councillor and was awarded an MBE.

Should I write in to the parish council to let them know he was a racist teacher?

I personally would. He shouldn't get away with his abhorrent behaviour.

I'm sorry you had to have that experience. Especially as a child 💐.

I think it genuinely was a "thing" then to pick on a difference. I was picked on by several teachers for my hair colour.

I'm a teacher now myself , wouldn't dream of singling anyone out and I haven't heard of any teacher doing so in many a year.

It was "of a time" thankfully it's rare now and the teacher would these days face disciplary action

I don't know what you think you would gain by reporting this year's afterwards. Nothing will happen now but it will bring it all back to you. Choose to live in peace now.

You have nothing to lose. And might gain some justice. Why not?!

Too bloody right.
Racist bastard.

Should I write in to the parish council to let them know he was a racist teacher?

I'm not sure what you will achieve I'm afraid.

Should I write in to the parish council to let them know he was a racist teacher?

What would that achieve? The parish council were not responsible for his teaching duties. I am sorry that you suffered and he was a dick but remember "the best revenge is to live happily".

His behaviour was disgusting but I honestly don't think you'll gain anything by raising it now. And this far down the line there's no way of knowing whether he'd even deserve any fall out from it if there was any. He might have spent the past 10 years regretting his behaviour.

Should I write in to the parish council to let them know he was a racist teacher?
What outcome are you hoping to achieve? Some kind of compensation? Or to get him sacked?

Definitely. Im so sorry that you were subjected to such abhorrent disgusting treatment not racism alone but encouraging the other children to mock and bully you.

There is no excuse whatsoever for prejudices be in present future or past.

I was bullied, not by other students but by a senior teacher. I was embarrassed to be Chinese and still am. When I asked him to stop calling me names, he slyly deflected by calling my sadness - rudeness then he sabotaged my school reports. I did not have the sophistication to manage the situation back then.

I had thought I could let it go but to be honest, I am finding it hard as I realise it still affects how I live.

This is no way comparable to historic violence that elderly perpetrators are still being charged with but it is still a version and from a person in a position of authority and a role model.

How I'm feeling right now is "What does it say about society if it's okay to have someone with his track record making decisions for our community?"

Perhaps I will feel differently after a good discussion with my fellow mums netters.

Yes, do something.

There was a male chemistry teacher at my school who ignored the girls in his class. Wouldn’t let them ask or answer questions, participate in demonstrations etc.

That put a lot of girls, me included, off picking chemistry as a subject for study psy 14, in case they were assigned his class.

Pretty damaging for future career paths.

I'm so sorry, judsey, it makes me feel ashamed.

You don't say how old you are or how many years ago this happened. Abhorrent though his behaviour was, people were insensitive in years gone by and said things that nobody would say now. It is possible that his views have changed if it was all a long time ago.

That is just a thought, obviously you knew him and I didn't.

I witnessed things like that when I was at school and when I first went to work, which I found acutely embarrassing. I was ashamed of those who said such things, acutely embarrassed and wished I was not there. However I am 61 and my school and early employment days are well in the past.

Do it! It sounds like you've made your mind up anyway so I'd trust your gut. Others are saying what's the point but honestly it's not always better to stay silent when he could still be doing it to other children. Plus, something may come out of it and if not, at least you tried. Your teacher was being racist to you - a child, and setting a really bad example for other children, how messed up is that from a teacher?

Absolutely shocking.
Wasn't there an incident recently when an editor was fired for racist comments made in her youth ? Sorry, I can't remember details.
I think you should say something. Even if nothing comes of it ( and be braced for this), you've had your say.
Honestly, I am angry for you. But know that my sharing this, you have inspired me to do something that I should have put a stop to long ago. I won't go into details as it's not my thread, but it's my way of putting a stop to racism, and if we all do our bit, one day we could finally eradicate the monster.

How long ago was it and what are you hoping to achieve? I ask because it is worth considering that with social media, these things can become very public. If it were me, I would leave the past in the past if I had moved on because sometimes raking things up in the public gaze (even if only at the local level) can be as stressful as the original situation, or worse if that is a long way in the past and you are otherwise happy.

YES!! 100% yes. I would be definitely complain, I would write to the Parish Council and expose this horrible man. He is a member of a Parish Council, there is a reasonable chance given his age that he is a Christian. Nothing about his behaviour to you was Christian. And there should be repentance for his sin, if that is so. And if you can’t get that, then you might get some kind of apology

Racist bullies should be named, and an apology should be published. And it is rubbish to say, “oh this is what people thought back then, let it go.” These racists are alive and active in our community. They may not be racist now but does that mean they should not face a consequence for their actions? There should be an acknowledgment, a conversation with his peers, a feeling of shame and a sincere apology, at the very least.

In 2020 a 93-year-old was prosecuted for Nazi war crimes. We aren’t saying, “ohhhh it was AGES ago, lots of people just didn’t like Jews back then, let it go, people don’t think like that now. And those Jews are long dead, what difference can it make now?”

It. Makes. A. Difference.

But you need to go in armed with a requirement- not just a vague complaint. What do you want out of this now?

I would suggest the following: phone the parish council and ask for an email address to send a complaint to about actions by Mr X, don’t say what it is about specifically. Then send your complaint anonymously from a new email address you set up for this purpose. Explain you do not wish to reveal your current name or real life contact details at this initial stage, but you wish to report the fact that Mr X spent a long period of time bullying you as a vulnerable child with racist language whilst he was teaching and now, as an adult, you need closure and want him to know how he made you feel and the impact on your life. You want the Parish Council to be aware of the views he held and the behaviours he demonstrated, so they can watch out for recurrence, and you would like him to be challenged about it in a Parish Council meeting, minutes taken in the public record and shared back with you, and then ask to phone or Zoom in anonymously for the next parish meeting so you can confront him and ask for an explanation, an apology, and an assurance that he is neither a bully nor a racist these days.

If this yields nothing, I would see if the local press is interested in talking to the Parish Council about it, but with the proviso you remain anonymous.

I hope you do this, and perhaps get some kind of closure. I was bullied (not racist, but brutal all the same) and I would love to face my bullies now and honestly get some kind of revenge, or at least know they are forced to feel shame and sorrow for making my life a living hell for years, and the repercussions I have had to suffer my entire life trying to recover. Unless you have been a child who was isolated, ostracised, picked on for no reason other than you exist and have a difference, you cannot know how it feels.

Ignore the MN posters telling you to pretend it never happened. Go get your closure, and I wish you good luck.

PS I was at primary school in the 80’s. Lots of bullying, name-calling etc. It was a mostly white-British school, generally kids were poor, a few ethnic minorities in each class. Racism was part of the culture - but the teachers always told people it was wrong and it should stop. I remember in year 4, a girl arrived in my school from a foreign country - I don’t know where but she was considered to be “Indian” - I doubt she was, actually. She spoke little English, was large for her age, smelled very weird to us and had oily hair, and had a strange rash all over her brown skin. She was bullied with silly, rhyming names by many kids - it sounds like nothing, but I remember her crying, a lot. She was so alone.

To my shame, I did join in. Because I was considered to be a kind girl, at break times she would be regularly foisted on to me and my friends to play with, and I didn’t want to play with this sad, silent, uncooperative child because no one wanted to play with me when she was around and she just stood there, she never really joined in. So sometimes I would be mean, to make her go away. My best friends at the time were two local white girls and an Indian girl who had moved to my town from Rugby (she was fabulous fun, and I thought Rugby was in India until I actually looked at a map of the UK in my teens and had a light-bulb moment), so I was capable of not being racist, and somehow that deepens my shame because even the, age 9, I did know better.

It makes me so ashamed, and genuinely tearful now, to think of how we, how I, treated that poor girl, how badly educated we were about where she came from, why we should welcome her, and how her differences should be understood and not ridiculed.

I hope it helps you a little bit to know how sorry I am. If I could find that girl and say sorry, I would. If I could go back and behave differently, yes yes yes I would.

I found that many of the teachers in Primary school were bullies but when it got to secondary school some teachers were nasty racist bullies too! I was never bullied by other children but by teachers with nasty comments about my red hair ! I was far to afraid to tell my parents.

Op what do you want as an outcome?

I would write to him. Explain how this impacted you.

I was embarrassed to be Chinese and still am.

Why are you still embarrassed?? That is so sad.

Although it went on years ago I still think it was unacceptable even though though we didn't have the laws we do now. Teachers got away with a lot. One teacher absolutely hated me and send me to speech therapy. There was nothing much wrong with my speech, none of the kids pronounced TH. It was that sort of area! I am white, unless she objected to my Irish surname????

Completely abhorrent to single out a young girl like that and then to ramp things up when you made it clear you weren't in on the joke.

Have you thought about writing directly to him to remind him of his behaviour and to see if that provokes an apology of some sort, that may make you feel better? It also gives you a chance to have your say as an adult, the voice you weren't confident enough to have as a child.

Hello as a fellow Chinese woman damn right you should be writing a letter of complaint. I would also be writing a letter to the teachers. Actually I'd have the balls to request for a meeting with this old man and tell it to him in person. Racism is a fact in this country. I experienced it both subtle and not many times. As a minority group unfortunately we are faced with it and it's not going to go away but we can stand up and call it out. You have nothing to be ashamed about. Be proud of our ancestry, heritage, it is rich and amazing in many many ways. And be proud of being part of Britain's fabric too.

I would write explaining dispassionately exactly what he did.
Point out that you're disappointed that the parish have appointed a racist and can only assume they wouldn't have done if they had realised his true nature.
Even if nothing changes he will feel some of the discomfort that you felt because inside he knows the truth and some people will doubt him.
You won't be the only person he's upset in his life.
He's a bully but also a coward because he picks on those unable to defend themselves.