AIBU?
To be shocked at what happened at ds school today
Thisismydilemma · 15/11/2019 20:20
DS is in year 9 and told me that the teacher decided to choose places for the students to sit. (Normally they choose who they sit next to) Which is fine. However, what shocked me was that all the BAME dc were sat together in one row and all the white skinned DC were together in another row. When my ds asked why they had been segrated to the teacher, they told him to keep quiet 
aibu to raise this with the school?
Am I being unreasonable?
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BlueScreen171 · 15/11/2019 20:22
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LolaSmiles · 15/11/2019 20:22
If they are being sat BECAUSE of their race then that's an issue.
If students have been sat in order to promote a positive climate and to reduce disruption from talking then that's totally reasonable.
I'd question why you're taking "DC told me teacher sat students to reduce off topic talking" and jumping to complaining on race grounds to be honest.
churchandstate · 15/11/2019 20:24
Were there only two rows? That’s odd.
But as hard as it might be for you to believe, there are several reasons why this might be the case. The teacher might have been asked to seat children of one particular target level together, and this was how it looked. Or it might be that they’ve been told they have to do boy-girl-boy-girl, make sure X and Y students are never together and higher and lower ability are paired up...and this is how it looked.
If you impose silly rules for seating plans at SMT or HoD level, sooner or later a particular formation will arise that is problematic for some other reason, like this.
LolaSmiles · 15/11/2019 20:25
Sorry I misread, your DC was told to be quiet, not that was the reason.
I still don't think there's anything wrong with telling a student to be quiet instead of getting into a debate around student over seating plans.
I'd be very careful about complaining on race grounds when there's lots of factors going into seating plans.
WaggleWiggle · 15/11/2019 20:26
If there’s a class of 25-32 children it’s unlikely that they sit in two long rows of 12-16 children. So the simple logistics of this don’t ring true. Is there not, by complete coincidence, just two clusters of children with the same skin colour? Ask your DS to draw out the layout of the class and see if it looks like it could be anything other than chance.
MitziK · 15/11/2019 20:30
Ooops. The Law of Unintended Consequences there - they'll have been ordered to Have A Proper Seating Plan by SLT.
Of course, SLT will deny it when the unintended consequence is pointed out to them - the teacher could well have tried to point this out themselves, but been dismissed as Being Obstructive or Ridiculous.
Don't give the teacher a hard time over it/complain about 'their' racism - explain this to your DC as well, as a pissed off teacher who knew this was a Fucking Stupid Idea in the first place will not appreciate being seen as That Racist Teacher if they've been threatened with dire consequences after their appraisal by their Line Manager/SLT.
But drawing attention to the unintentional effects of the seating plan in a polite way could get them out of having to do such things ever again.
WaterSheep · 15/11/2019 20:31
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MrsTerryPratchett · 15/11/2019 20:34
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churchandstate · 15/11/2019 20:36
WaterSheep
It’s not that hard to believe. I taught in inner London schools and they can be real cultural melting pots. This could easily happen by chance and (as a PP says) be the unintended consequence of a directive from elsewhere. The “white-skinned” children might not be British, and the BAME children might all be born and bred in Harrow. It’s just how it goes in some places.
FrancesFlute · 15/11/2019 20:37
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MitziK · 15/11/2019 20:39
It's easy to happen in some areas, depending upon demographics. In my last school, if you put all the children with SEN in the front two rows, you'd have got the same effect in three classes, in another, you'd have got it reversed and in the last, you'd have had attractive stripes based upon placing children in alphabetical order - placing them into a semicircle formation and allowing for SEN/disabilities created a beautiful multitonal arc.
But these things always sound good when somebody in SLT announces them.
MitziK · 15/11/2019 20:49
For example, a lot of children with West African heritage tended to have surnames starting with A and O, Polish children, B, S and W, White British J, T and P, Irish, D, G, M and O - pure coincidence in a diverse demographic, add Pupil Premium indicators in, and it's all too easy to have lines that are theoretically based upon chance demonstrating the lack of randomness in naming conventions.
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