To not want to be the minority where I live?

[Charlottehines]

It really saddens me that in parks and soft plays with my children, that I am in the minority and my children can't play with other children there as they all play together and obviously can't speak English.
I'm in no way racist, my husband is of mixed origin but I do find it incredibly sad that my children are growing up the minority especially when these other groups make no effort to integrate with other mums or the children.
Am I completely unreasonable to feel sad about this?

Also for those who mentioned benefits upthread at the beginning - you might be interested in this - .www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10392257/Thousands-of-Britons-claim-dole-in-Germany.html

dancingnancy I wasn't born in Britain.

I am however British, as are my parents and their parents before them. In fact I can trace my lovely British family back several hundred years (at which point it became Irish).

However i wasn't born in Britain.

What does that make me then, in your book?

Misspixieteix "Some of my Asian friends < but are they Asian or are they British? I had to point this out to Grandma Pixie a few weeks ago when she described her black British born English speaking (no accent) Doctor as 'someone from the Caribbean' ."

The friends in question are British, not sure if they would call themselves British Asians as they are very proud of their Asian background. Strangely some of the more recent abuse seems to be more from Eastern Europeans than British. This is what they have found anyway. Then my Polish friend was abused by a foul mouthed British lout and told to go back to where she came from. It's getting hard to keep up with who is abusing who.

Is Birmingham diverse enough

leftwing it is twisting his findings - in his own words - because it (wikipedia and the articles wikipedia is based on) only selectively report his short term conclusions, not his overall conclusions from the research article E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century which states as early as the abstract that "In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits."

It is deliberately misinformative to leave out his final conclusions and only chose to take the pov about the short term problems, not the long term benefits.

Adoptmama - well, if you have a British passport, parents are British etc and call yourself British then you are British. Of course you don't have to be born in Britain to be British. I'm really not that precious about the term "British" - don't really refer to myself or think of myself as British often though I have a British passport.

leftwingechochamber given that the ancestors of many black Americans were forcibly removed from their 'own countries' and enslaved and have been subject to racial discrimination ever since it's hardly surprising really that there is all this antipathy. The whole of the US is made up of migrant groups many of whom have faced some sort of persecution or subjugation at the hands of another groups.

The truth is these studies are worthless and unscientific as there are no control groups on earth where one set of peoples have not experienced harmful practices by another group which have lead to learned reactions. They are however politically motivated pseudo scientific papers. Every political or faith based perspective generates such material. It's designed to support arguments that will preserve the interests of the commissioning group.

But It's not going to help any of us make the best use of the worlds scarce resources into the future. We ( the adults ) have to stop focusing on race/ faith/ cultural difference land borders and ancient notional kingdoms and start thinking in term of one world. Where all people are equal, have the same rights to life and work together to provide food and other resources for us all to survive. It doesn't really matter what colour you are, language you speak, spices or herbs you prefer to flavour your basic ingredients to cook up a meal if there is not enough, fuel, food, water, minerals etc to go round. No one patch of earth has the right mix for its people to survive on its own, and no one colour of people has the rights to dictate how all of these resources are shared or where people choose to make their living. After all we all benefit from economic migration, otherwise why are there huge ex pat communities across the globe.

If we spent more time supporting our children to come to terms with and embrace this new global reality, teaching them the skills they need to co-depend with respect for each other we'd be doing them a better service than all this totally pointless racism which is leaving them a terrible legacy.

And therein lies the problem with propoganda (sp?) dancing.

OP YANBU - it hasn't happened here yet but I give it 10-15 years. Unless UKIP win the election.

Adoptedmama - sounds like you are trying to trip me up there or something, I really don't care what nationality you are. I Don't go round smugly telling people they can't be British.

dancingnancy I don't equate with being British as being 'white'. I class anyone as British as someone who was born here and identifies as being British.

dancingnancy Of course you don't have to be born in Britain to be British.

so which is it?

and please do answer my earlier question - why would it be ok for your white DC to go to a school where brown skinned children like mine made up a minority, but not the majority? Why do you think that would make his educational experience negative?

Unless UKIP win the Election < which Election Phoebe? European or General? It's just I have this awful habit of liking the Party I vote for to be abundant of MPs.

I would like Leftwing to come back and respond to my post. You asked how many of us "self righteous arseholes" actually grew up in a multicultural area, and I told you that I did. Did you choose to ignore me because I'm not from the race that you wanted to hear from? Or because I had a concrete example of someone who is from the race that you wanted to hear from but wasn't having the same awful experience you are having?

Leftwingechochamber I live in Luton and have done all my life and am bringing my children up here by choice, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that it's a mixed area and that's one of the great positives about being here.

What do you mean by "foreigner in your own country"? What happens to make you feel foreign?

Not really Phoebe since children learn a new language at an astonishing rate. I taught in international schools for years where there might be only one or two native english speakers in a year group but the children learned English rapidly on entry. Whilst it takes between 5-7 years for a child to acquire CALPS (academic language), BICS (or social language fluency) takes far less. Most children are socially functional within a few months of entry into school. Many immigrant children arrive already speaking some English as, unlike refugee families, they have time to plan the move and prepare. Many schools in eastern europe begin teaching children a second language (normally English now) at age 7 and a third language (generally German) 2-3 years later.

when the majority of a class can't speak English in Englad we have a problem . Seriously where you do all you people live? Because that's just bollocks. Also what else attracts you to UKIP may I ask? what is their policy on Healthcare Education Housing the NHS? What is going to happen to MEP Farage after he pulls out of Europe? And presumably he's going to pull these non-existent MPs out of his arse too?

Yes really adoptmama. Let's make teachers spend even more valuable time teaching kids how to speak basic English when they could be actually teaching the syllabus to the ever increasing new "minority"

By and large, people like to associate with those like themselves

You know what, leftwing, I think you're right.

As a well-educated, intelligent and open-minded person, I generally prefer to associate with others who are well-educated, intelligent and open-minded. I don't like spending time with stupid bigots, regardless of their skin colour.

And yes, I currently live in an exceptionally diverse area, and I do have experience of living as part of a visible minority. It has made not a jot of difference to my views.

eh? you do know that schools employ EAL support staff don't you?
and you do know the overwhelming majority of migrant children come from families who are very supportive of schools and education and push their children to acquire english and learn? you do know this right?

and I spend a considerable amount of my day teaching things like basic english to native english speakers, as well as basic manners, basic behaviour, basic study skills, basic respect...... i don't find immigrant children eagerly learning english is high on my list of things that make my day super difficult.

but what do I know - i'm only a teacher of 20+ years experience so probably i am just lying or something to help further outrage DM readers

There is only one side of the argument throwing names around like they are going out of fashion.

Adoptedmama - regarding the school issue. I looked at around 8 schools in my area. My first criteria was a good school with a hopefully longstanding good reputation. Most schools were mixed, reflecting more the cultural and racial diversity of the town. One school for some reason has 90% Asian or non white pupil intake. Out of 8 schools I looked at I think it would have been stranger actually to send my non Asian child there - making him very much a visible minority. I've read on here and other places that some people had bad experiences being a minority so I chose not to make my child one when there were many other options.

Wouldn't be surprised if Asian or black parents would make a similar choice and send their child to a more diverse school if they could rather than choose the one school with the 90% white pupils.

My children have attended school in the past where most of their classmates were Asian (this time we actively chose a more Asian school over the other more 'white' one) and actually it was a positive experience.

Why do I like UKIP? ___ (Their policies off their website)
vote to leave the EU and recover power over our national life.
Regain control of our borders and of immigration - only possible by leaving the EU. Save £55m a day in membership fees by leaving the EU and give British workers first crack at the 800,000 jobs we currently advertise to EU workers. No tax on the minimum wage. Make cuts to foreign aid that are real and rigorous. No cuts to front line policing. Make sentences mean what they say. Prevent foreign criminals entering the UK - by re-introducing border controls that the EU forced us to abandon. Prioritise social housing for people whose parents and grandparents were born locally. The law of the land must apply to us all. We oppose any other system of law.

Sounds pretty good to me.