Black Lives Matter not allowed to be discussed in class

[Geppili]

AIBU to be shocked that my primary school DS told me that they are not allowed to mention or talk about Black Lives Matter. Apparently teacher said that it is a political issue and therefore against the rules to discuss? They are Year 5. I am angry and shocked.

I can only assume
Quite.
That much is evident given you're assuming people who disagree on how to respond in the classroom must think black lives don't matter and haven't taught a range of children. You assume that because of differences in approaching classroom discussions that I've somehow only just heard of it, which isn't the case.
In fact you're sure as hell doing a lot of assuming.

Maybe on a personal level you may want to research so that if a child does ask, they wont be fobbed off and made to think the issue isnt important and though ‘they’ may not be affected, a lot of people actually are.
It's not fobbing children off to give appropriate time and space to an issue that isn't when a child calls out 'black lives matter'.

Right now your central claim seems to be: if anyone doesn't stop what's going on when a student calls out black lives matter and discusses it there and then, then they think black lives don't matter and the issue isn't important.

I think there shiould be a topic about how the media has become our new politics and the power it has gained in influencing people in which ever direction it feels drown to and the masses are totally oblivious to how their opinions are being manipulated by it.

@solidaritea i just went back and read your post, I actually agree with you. I didnt think it was a case of a white woman telling BAME students how to feel. You were right in telling them that ‘some people are racist’. Luckily for them they dont feel as though racism is an issue in the uk, life experiences will show them different as they grow up. The children I teach could point out racism within the school towards each other ( all of my current yr6 are BAME as is 99% of the rest of the school) but I think they would be hard pressed to give many examples of direct racism outside of school. I would put this down to the area they live in, BAME are the absolute majority. All Pakistani, Bengali, Somali, Gambian etc so they most likely have not experienced racism. Move them 5 miles out of the city to where they would now be a minority and their experiences would most likely be a lot different

dontdisturbmenow
I'm in secondary and this has been covered in English and PSHE in the schools I've worked in.
We look at bias in the media, misinformation on social media, fake news, fact checking and other similar issues. It's interesting and the students are quite perceptive.

@DeeCeeCherry

As I said, I was surprised by the views of these children. It's a very multicultural area of London, which is bound to have an impact. There were three black children, one of whom believed that all the protests were because Donald trump made the police racist. The other two were quieter during the discussion. Obviously this is an insanely small sample and means nothing more generally! I know most other black children I've taught would have different views and experiences. Every child is unique and every parent parents differently.

@dontdisturbmenow create one then

@mum2b2017

You're right there. I had no worries discussing at this school. Would have been much more challenging at a previous school, in a smaller town with about 2% black and 10% Asian among many white British families. It would have been difficult because I knew for sure that some of the parents were racists.

But I would have done it anyway! With prep, and with a second adult in the room for support.

Shouting out something heard in the news does not make the child politically aware. I wish there was more research not less. Many people have supported BLM thinking it is anti-racist without properly researching. A teacher would be behaving unprofessionally to do the same and could mislead the class into thinking that she or the school support a political group without fully understanding the intentions behind it. Thus leading them into being blindly manipulated rather than thinking for themselves.

@LolaSmiles that's good to hear. Is it on the national curriculum?

@mum2b2017, not in education

Many people have supported BLM thinking it is anti-racist without properly researching. A teacher would be behaving unprofessionally to do the same and could mislead the class into thinking that she or the school support a political group without fully understanding the intentions behind it

Do you think there is a difference between saying "Black lives matter" and the political group that you just mentioned?

Or do you think that when someone says "Black Lives matter", then they must be referring to the political group?

13 Finerumpus
You're right. A little planning and consideration goes a long way.

Maybe the difference in approach between me and a PP is the age we teach as I know my secondary students wouldn't be satisfied with a 'yes black lives matter because racism is wrong' response and would probably say 'obviously racism is wrong, did you see this other video of... Apparently... Donald Trump/celebrity said... I saw this thing on Instagram about... did you know...'.
At least that's what happened when BLM came up a few years ago and I planned a lesson around the poem What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us. Personally I thought it was much more thought provoking for the students than if one of them called out "Black Lives Matter" at random and I stopped what we were doing to tell them racism is wrong.

Personally I think that at school they should be able to discuss it. As with any current issues that are going on in the news.

As for people upthread who have made statements like 'since when have black lives not mattered' are very ignorant and dismissive. Unless you are BAME how would you know the lived experiences of others? Do you seriously think so many people are lying about racism in the UK. You've had many high profile people come out about this such as John Barnes, Nadia Hussain, newspresenters, footballers. How much anecdotal evidence do you need? If that's not enough have you read the Macpherson Report or the David Lammy report?

Just take a look at the racism that still exists within football or the disparities in the arrest rates and educational achievements of young Afro-Caribbean boys.
People are not just creating noise and protesting for no reason.
As for blm as a political organisation. One wrong tweet and one persons opinion within blm does not represent the whole movement.
Just how for example one stupid tweet from Donald Trump does not represent every Republican in the US.

Again such generalisations are typical of people who don't want black people to progress, as they see that the movement is gaining traction and attention from the mainstream media.

If we draw comparisons with the feminist movement from the 60s. Those people were not always political correct and non-violent but I feel (as usual) people are looking for reasons to discredit the movement simply because the main protagonists are black.

Once again I will state simply, no-one is saying agree aith the BLM group. They may have ideals and a purpose that you dont agree with.
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ statement CAN, believe it or not, be said without the person aligning themselves with the group.
Anyone who can say they dont agree with the statement is infact a racist

dontdisturbmenow
Not explicitly, no.
The PSHE/citizenship national curriculum is quite thin and schools tend to adapt it regularly to fit changing issues and priorities, either at a national level or a school level. For example, one school I worked in spent quite a bit of time in citizenship looking at extremism because white nationalism and EDL views were more prevalent than in other schools, but my current school is more diverse and although we cover extremism, it's not the same because our cohorts are different and we have other topics that we weight more.

It's really common for English departments to use topical non-fiction to meet the reading national curriculum requirement. Usually it's staff fleshing out the national curriculum that provides these opportunities.

They are certainly issues children should know about but up to schools when and how they are discussed. I live in a London borough where most people are not white so a bit like someone mentioned above (my son was the only white boy in his class at one point) and in our borough I suspect there are more issues about why Asians do so well (we have a lot of Indians etc many of whom work incredibly hard and do well as doctors etc and we have masses of local NHS dentists for example and are lucky because of that) and in schools children work very very hard and have effectivey Tiger Mothers at home too so it is a gerat environment for a white perhaps lazier child as all those mostly Asian children at school are working so hard, with few in divorced families - I think we have the highest level of married couples in London too in our borough. I am sure some of those people do experience racism but plenty do much better than say the white working class boys in Sunderland where my mother was from and largely because they work much harder.

It would certainly be worth talking in schools about why some groups do better than others too eg Sunak's parents and paid school fees as did Diane Abbott presumably to help the children get on and perhaps change how they speak to they will fit in to particular kinds of jobs. My parents in NE England paid for elocution exams for me. Anyway I have got off the point a bit.... certainly schools should have the right to decide what topics are considered in class.

It would certainly be worth talking in schools about why some groups do better than others too

It's depressing that there are a lot of barriers in life that children at such a young age aren't even aware of yet - and some children just don't realise the hurdles in life they will face, that other children just don't get - due to lots of reasons.

There was an interesting experiment on sexism in the classroom and how the children saw themselves (and others) in terms of self confidence, abiliity, the language used about themselves etc

No doubt the same experiment could be repeated for class, different ethnic backgrounds and other characteristics.

From what age can a person experience racism? Because that is the correct age to start talking about racism. Of course it should be done in an age appropriate manner. Schools do need to teach it.

Op I would ask for an appointment to discuss this with the teacher and if you got the time send an email to the headteacher. They can leave the political aspect but keep the social aspect. Saying discussing blm is against rules without explaining why (saying it is political issue is not enough) in an age appropriate manner, leads to a lot of misinterpretation.

Chom- I think some people are being manipulated into using the slogan without considering or understanding the implications and how they are being manipulated.

@Geppili

Sallylovescheese over invested?

It's you and your son who are over-invested. He comes out of school and the first thing he asks is what did MN say about the situation? So you've been telling him all about what you've posted and what people have replied. But you're not even replying to comments about the debate YOU started.

Number3or4
From what age can a person experience racism? Because that is the correct age to start talking about racism.

But this wouldn't necessarily be a conversation about racism.
It could be a talk about racism, but is it going to be a talk about systemic racism, individual racism or both?

As we have people that only believe in the sociology definition of racism, that could well be the first problem.

If we are discussing BLM, what exactly are you going to discuss.
Are your discussing the statement or the movement, and which movement? Because there seem to be a few variations.

Are you going to talk about how it started and the symbolism of taking a knee?

Or are you going to talk about the political movement that it has become and the various manifestos that have sprung up?

Or are you going to talk about the removal of statues?

FrippEnos
I think that's what's being lost here. I don't think anyone is saying schools shouldn't teach that racism is wrong. There's just differing views on how to explore BLM in the classroom.

Certainly if I think back to the classes I've had the best debates with on social and political issues, they'd easily ask 2/3 of those questions, if not more as a discussion developed.
A quick 'thank you for calling out, yes black lives do matter and don't be racist' would be an insult to my students and their curiosity.

Let's face it. In the situation in the OP, the kid is just yelling Black Lives Matter when a black kid won. He's not starting a debate, he's not asking a question of the teacher. He's not politically engages - just yelling something out.

I don't see why there was any need for the teacher to drop everything and deliver an unprepared lesson. I suspect the kid just yelled it out, and other kids were about to challenge or otherwise use the situation for mild disruption. In which case shutting it down at what appears to be the end of the session anyway, would be perfectly reasonable.

engaged, even

Again such generalisations are typical of people who don't want black people to progress, as they see that the movement is gaining traction and attention from the mainstream media
Isn't that statement itself a generalisation?

Who is THEY? I hate the media, so don't engage with what is the current 'media fashion'. That doesn't mean I don't care or want progress. Like some, I'll probably be more engaged with the issue in 5 years time that many who are so engaged now but will have move on in a few month time when the media focus on another societal matter.

[quote mum2b2017]@LolaSmiles
Maybe some of us want to do complex issues justice in an age appropriate way.
Maybe some of us want to allocate proper space to the issues and have done appropriate research.
Maybe some of us care that often with social and political movements the main publicised aim that gets support also acts as a vehicle for other agendas and we don't think that can easily be dealt with each time someone wants to make an off the cuff comment.

Why is racism a complex issue? What would you need to research to know that racism is wrong?[/quote]
Racism isn't the same as BLM though is it?

The BLM protesters, campaigners and organisations have made it clear that this is not about oppression or racism faced by any other group, only black people. So, is that not racist in itself?

If the teacher doesn't address BLM but discusses instead racism how have they done anything different than what they are currently accused of - shutting down discussion about BLM and controlling what is spoken about.

If they allow discussion about BLM who knows what will come up. If they've seen the riots then maybe ACAB, defacing war memorials, pulling down statues. How far do you let this go, bearing in mind they are ten?