To think that one of saddest things I've seen on TV is..

[WantedGSOH]

The little girl on My Big Fat Gypsy Ladies Day, saying with hope & innocence in her eyes, that she wanted to grow up to be a vet.

Just that really, I found it heartbreaking and turned off. I shouldn't have had it on really, but was emailing & was on in the background.

I wasn't watching. Why shouldn't the child become a vet?

Because in that culture she has no chance :-(

She does have a chance, she will just have to break down more barriers than most.

No sadder than any other child saying it IMO

I wasn't watching, but I'm guessing she felt she would never be a vet because generally the travelling community don't value education in the same way other cultures do and the women are generally expected to stay at home and raise the children rather than having a career. I think you would be extremely lucky to find a gypsy family willing to put a daughter through a long university course. It is sad if that's what the girl wants to do and isn't going to be given the support to follow her dreams.

Theres a traveller girl in my DDs class she comes in a few days one week and then nothing for a month and then back to a couple of days, its such a shame

There was a programme on R4 over the summer about a young lady from a travelling circus family that had just gained a place at Oxford or Cambridge (sorry- can't remember details) she had just worked, and worked and worked all hours around the shows, went to school when her family happened to be in the neighbourhood, etc.
She was the first ever to even go to university in her extended family, but they were all really proud of the achievement.
It can be done.

I thought you were going to say the Iceland adverts.

I don't find it any sadder than any of the other millions of children who live in poverty in Britain who don't stand a snowballs chance of affording to study either.

the odds may be stacked against her, but it's the exceptions that prove the rule.

our local school has a success story - a traveller girl previously expelled from her school , from a very dysfunctional family, father served several prison sentences etc

all it took was someone to care, take an interest, raise her aspirations, tell her she COULD do it - she came away with a handful of gcses and a place on a vocational course. far more than anyone ever thought she wold achieve. Not a university degree to be a vet, but still a huge achievement and possibly a new way of life for her.

There is a massive difference between the gypsy/travellers and the travelling performers.

When the gypsy/travellers are in town they don't bother sending their kids to school. When the circus is in town their children come to school dressed in polo shirts/sweatshirts, proper trousers/skirts and are generally smart, polite and well-presented. Their uniform may not be the school colours but is recognised as a uniform not just ordinary clothes IYSWIM.

They also have an educational log which details what they did at their previous schools to provide some form of continuity.

The odds were stacked against her because her family has just been evicted from their fairly settled site and she will have to move schools again.

I thought it was sadder when Alice said "dresses keep you company when you're alone... You can never have too many dresses."

PTA- I know Irish travellers in UK that do the same tbh, I think it depends on the family.

Perhaps IABU. I think it made me sad seeing the contrast between her aspirations & the other, older (but still young) girls & their obsessions with their tans, 'diamonds' etc etc. I would love to think she won't change but it seems so unlikely.

YANBU. She would have to fight more battles than any of us has ever done in order to realise that dream. It is very sad.

bac - the Cambridge graduate is Zoah Hedges-Stocks, she has said in interviews that her mum really encouraged her to get a good education. Another girl from a different show family is currently at Oxford, she has said that Zoah's story inspired her to aim for uni.

Thanks give- as I said... no details were retained

I live in Ireland. There's a settled family at our school, really respectable people, parents really involved in the school, one of them is on the PTA committee, child does very well in school and they're hugely supportive of her education.

Don't assume anything based on the heavily edited, biased view you're given by a C4 'documentary'. Yes there are members of the community that don't respect education and are misogynistic. There are people like that in every other culture unfortunately, plenty of travellers do want more for their kids however.

That little girl may have to work hard for it but if she really wants it it is entirely possible for her to go to university if she chooses. The sad part is that most of them don't want it anymore by the time they're teens. I've spoken to traveller girls of 16/17 and all they wanted was to get married and have babies. Yes there's an element of cultural conditioning but of the few I met not one was going along with early marriage because she was forced to, they wanted to do it and talked about nothing else at that age. I honestly believe if they had desperately wanted an education they could have gone for it, maybe they wouldn't have had 100% enthusiasm from their families but they would't have been prevented from staying in school at least until the leaving cert.

there are Circus kids at DCs school - they disappear over the summer and reappear in the winter having clearly kept up with the work they have been set.

Attitude creates opportunities

Sorry, obviously made a massive generalisation and not all gypsies/travellers are the same. However here, travellers come to town and don't attend school, performers do.

Was she the British traveller? The one that was going to be kicked off get site?
If so, she said earlier that she was in school.
We no nothing about her parents, they might really value her education.

The Oxford girl is reading English. She must be exceptionally bright, not just academically, to get there as she probably wouldn't have the guidance, knowledge and help that many (private) schools would have provided to get her there.

I caught the end of that prog . What struck me was that she was dressed nicely not like a cake topper and she was very bright and articulate. Don't judge all travellers based on the narrow view projected by c4

My friend came from a traveller family. She didn't make it to uni but has a very successful career trading some things I don't understand, always travelling (oh, funny enough!) to South America, Africa, the East, emerging markets... If you are smart and work, you can change your path.

I think that's great. Far better than her saying she wanted to be a nail technician or a page 3 girl or summat.