To expect my white dd not to be an ethnic minority in her own country

[squatchette]

First of all i would like to make it clear that i am in no way racist.My childrens father is half asian (although he is also an irish catholic too).
Anyway today i was late dropping DD2 at pre school and i got to see her whole class for the first time.This is when i was shocked to realise that she is the only white child in her class.
I think i was shocked as we don't live in a particularly ethnic area or so i thought.I read in the schools ofsted report that 40 % of the kids in the school speak English as a second language.
At first i thought it would be good that she can mix with children of different races and i am all for a diverse society.However something about the fact that she is the minority has worried me.AIBU?

"Would you expect the only black child in a class of white children to complain? "

oooo I'd better get onto my SIL - her DD1 is the only black child in the entire school surely she should be complaining about it.......oh actually she's not because her DD has got lots friends none of who judge her because of her different coloured skin.....

Although her dad is slightly concerned that living in deepest darkest Hampshire she says "po" for pooh and is starting to sound terribly English

I think it is the underlying assumption that in modern Britain "your own country" that the basic default is white.

Like Lulumama says, I'm white to look at, but the product of generations of pan-European peasants.

When my DS started at a very middle class small pre-prep he was in a minority being monolingual - more than half of the children were bi-lingual and one, at 4 was tri-lingual. So diversity is even reaching the middle class bastions, LOL. I certainly thought all this was a huge plus - my children live in and take for granted a multi-cultural community which I think is very good news.

Last November DD (3) looked out of the window at the fireworks and said in an off-hand way "Oh, its probably Diwali".

No, I think you ARE being reasonable. Could you write to the nursery and ask that they exclude some of the current children and get some more that look more like your dd?

Strange that there are no white children in your dd's class.............in her own half English-quarter Asian, quarter-Irish country too

@ "an ethnic minority" in OP

troll......

Consider it an exercise in broadening your own horizons about what it's like to be the 'one-with-the-difference'.

sparkles - I've just searched for messages by her and she's got 304.......so perhaps not???

Anchovy! I love that - your dd syaing about diwali. Because dd does the same. Comes home and tells me about her "new word for hello" - "shalom" and explains about Hannukah and Eid and other festivals and religious holidays.
Think it's brill.

TBH think it was the "in her own country" bit that got me foaming at the mouth. How daft and so last century.

Yes that's what I thought, sparkles. hmmmm.

D'oh QoQ never thought of looking ! Time for me to parp I think

BTW When I said 'legitimate concerns' they were directed at dealing with a classroom of children speaking different languages. I could see that being difficult. Just wanted it to be clear I wasn't supporting the racist overtones of the post. [phew]

Before you get hung, drawn and quatered I think you need to say what exactly is concerning you.

Are you really worried, or were you making an observation that has made you stop and think?

As Escapefrom pointed out, your dd is not white if her father is half asian. she may look white.

YABU.

Nasty little thread title too. "In her own country" indeed. Just like all the e.g. British Asians who are in a minority in their OWN country.

Pooka: Ilove that sort of thing too. I remember ds1 and his Bhuddist friend discussing heaven, and concluding that Christian heaven was in the sky over England and Bhuddist heaven in the sky over Sri Lanka. Slightly muddled but they were both happy with the solution.

ok QoQ maybe i should check that first it just sounded like a wind up thats all

It'll be great for her. I was the only white child in my class at primary school and it meant that I learnt a lot more about other cultures from a young age. I can't see why you'd be worried about it.

I think you lot are being unnecessarily hard on the OP. It's badly phrased, yes - but she may have concerns (which some of us may feel are groundless) about her child's teacher having to deal with language barriers to the degree that her dd won't get enough attention, or that her dd will find it harder to make friends within her peer group.

I think pitchfork-waving accusations of racism - in response to remarks which are at worst a bit ignorant, and at best understandable - do NOTHING to promote harmony and tolerance.

And of course I know that different coloured skin doesn't always equal different language etc, but if I took ds1 to school on Monday and he was the only obviously caucasian child in the class, I WOULD feel a bit perturbed. Sorry.

Squatchette - you're fucked. By the end of this thread you ate soooo going to wish you had not used the words 'in her own country'.

Did you not look at the Ofsted report before you sent her there ?

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and try to answer what MAY be underneath what your saying (even though the words you've chosen may not be well thought out).

If I took a child to our local primary school I would be surprised how many children of different races there were unless I had looked at the Ofsted report and unless I had asked my husband (who is a teacher). Our very small area is mostly caucasion (though lots of mixed race and white eastern european). However our local primary actually has 50% of children as English as a second language - I can only assume that a lot of parents put that to reflect their own language (it's not actually tested). The reality is that English much be picked up so quickly as they have amazing sats results.

Just think about all the fab experiences she will have of Diwali and Hannukah and try not to worry.

oh come on you lot

I smell goat....

(if you are real then god help you)

"Why don't you leave the OP alone and hear if she has anything to say? "

what do you mean by leave alone? asked a question and made certain statements on an internet forum, so obviously she wanted a responce to her racist comments.
still i reckon this is a wind up.

"However our local primary actually has 50% of children as English as a second language - I can only assume that a lot of parents put that to reflect their own language"

Good point there - my SIL's DD is down as a ESL child......but speaks perfect English - it's just that their "mother tongue" isn't English, although they speak both languages fluently (the parents that is)..

agree with coleyboy-

what exactly are your concerns, can you be more specific?
is your dd having problems? unhappy?

wording of title of thread was offensive though I'm afraid...

I went to school in Asia and was at various times either the only white child in the class or one of only a handful of children of European descent. I did encounter the odd bit mild racism in the form of taunts from the Chinese children about having round eyes but nothing more than I would have encountered in an English school for being tall/short/thin/fat/whatever. My school was a total ethnic mix, all the world was represented apart from perhaps Africa and I learned from a very early age that we are all different and no one is superior. For this reason I get really incensed at bigotry about the colour of people's skin and different cultures. I certainly learnt a lot in terms of acceptance and open-mindedness and this is something I want to pass on to my DD.

BTW my schooling did not suffer, in fact I had a hard time beating the Korean and Indian kids (easily the brightest in the class) and when I returned to the UK I was academically streets ahead. Oh, and English wasn't their first language either.

I will say that I got teased far more upon my return to the UK for being tanned with dark hair in a school of blond, blue-eyed children. I also got strange reactions from some of the parents - I used to get spoken to slowly and in a loud voice as if I didn't speak English (despite the fact I have a very English name). They were always surprised at my crisp middle class accent.

Is this the Friday "hunt the troll" thread?