To wonder if this is racist?

[winkywinkola]

Friend looking at UK boarding schools for her son.

Says she has discounted a few because there are too many Chinese students there. Schools teach in English, UK curriculum.

I couldn't see why it mattered myself but it seemed really important to her.

Is it racist to prefer not to have too many of one race in one school?

Yes, i would say that is pretty much textbook racism. Did you not ask her about it further?

Yes.

Whilst it might have a degree of racism there is also something about ensuring appropriate peers for your own child. There is also something about wondering why they need to have lots of Chinese students to be viable.

How much more racist would you like it?

I watch a lot of American tv and " the asians"
Are generally made out to be the cleverest and most disciplined. This is not my opinion but something I thought of as soon as I read your post

Maybe she is worried her child won't be one of the most academic?

In the context of 'I am concerned that DS may find himself isolated due to so many children sharing the same cultural heritage he is not part of' no.

If it's 'I don't like Chinese people' yes

I think there are valid practical issues to worry about - a huge number of students from one country makes it more likely that they'll speak their home language, for example, and may make it harder for her DS to make friends. Likewise concerns about the quality of teaching (esp English) if you've got lots of second-language speakers.

Is the school lowering its barrier to entry by allowing a huge contingent of overseas students?

It's pretty much the definition of racist.

The conversation moved on somewhat.

I think they can charge overseas students more? Perhaps the number of Brits able to afford boarding school has reduced. I don't know.

Anyway, it wasn't until some time later that I considered this.

Whatever her reasons, yes, racist.

She is not considering certain school because of the race of a number of students.
How is that not clear racism?

No it's not. There is a problem at times in the boarding houses with the Chinese kids not speaking in English, and not adhering to the rules.

Yes it is racist.

It is clumping chinese students together as one entity who all share a fictional stereotypical characteristic that she does not like. Rather than seeing them as individual children who are all different.

To be honest though I find this happens in state education too.

Parents get concerned about non English speaking children at the school. They opt for another school, which excacerbates the problem.

It depends why.

If it is because she doesn't like Chinese people, yep, racist.

If it is because she thinks that if the school appeals to Chinese families then it might not be a good fit for her son, because of the fairly full on way that many Chinese approach studying, not necessarily racist.

She'd be stupid to pick a boarding school where that's not the case. Wealthy Chinese families expect the very best and can afford to pay for it. If she sends her kids to a boarding school without a significant far and middle eastern presence it's going to be a second rate institution.
She's missing out on a fantastic opportunity for her kids to make friends with the future leaders of a major economic force - even the chance to learn mandarin on cantonese would give them a head start. And yes, it is racist.

I suppose it might be easy to believe that stereotypes must have a basis in fact on some level and that your child will struggle to excel academically amongst a large contingent of Chinese students. Racist, yes, probably, but not springing from dislike.

scaryteacher "There is a problem at times in the boarding houses with the Chinese kids not speaking in English, and not adhering to the rules"

But OP's friend equally isn't asking if there's a dominant group of Russian kids for example (who may not speak English in the boarding houses etc.)

No. Racism is a strong word. I would rather my son be in a school with a nice mix of kids of different races and cultures.

We discounted two primary schools as there were far too many Polish children in the classes. All classes had 1 teacher and 1TA. Most of the children had very poor English so we discovered they polish children required much more attention than in a classroom with fewer Polish children.
It's not because we are racist ... it's because we want our children to get the best education possible.

As teaforbreakfast said. Could be, but not necessarily racist at all.

Just in case anyone is actually listening to this drivel... DD was in a preschool with mostly Chinese, Korean and other CoC. She was frequently the only white kid at parties. It was inclusive, people spoke English to me and her, and everyone was lovely.

DD can still say hello and thank you in Mandarin!

No. Racism is a strong word. I would rather my son be in a school with a nice mix of kids of different races and cultures.

There's nothing to suggest there isn't a mix of races and cultures. All she has said is that there are 'too many' Chinese children.
How many is too many? Where is the cut off line between an 'acceptable' number of Chinese children and too many ?Two kids might be too many in her opinion.

I struggle with this one. On the one hand I like to believe I haven't got a racist bone in my body. But on the other, I'm not sure there's anything wrong with acknowledging that people socialise and interact in line with their culture. And that subsequently, feeling more at home when you're not in a minority group is ok.

Have to disagree maggicate, ours went to a very, very good (top 10) boarding school where although there were a few international students they were most definitely the minority and no single foreign nationality group dominated.

Unless you question her, then you cant really tell. On the surface, it could sound like a racist comment. If she were to qualify it by saying, well, a language barrier may be an issue for my child interacting or too much teacher time may be spent with children who may need explanation of English, then maybe not.