To have sat open mouthed at this comment?

[isit]

Met a woman on a course this week. She was complaining that she has to work full-time, because she has to send her DS to private school, because all the state schools in her area are rubbish because of the immigrants. This was an (otherwise perfectly pleasant) Asian woman, with good, but heavily accented English.

She is unreasonable to say it but no because she was Asian. Although the group in society that performs the worst in schools and I suspect disrupts the most are white working class boys not immigrants.

A lot of people think like that. I know a mum of a child in ds' tennis class (most of the kids there go to private school) and she comented that her kids were in private because you get "all sorts" in state schools. Some people are very narrow-minded.

Are you suprised at her comments or her ethnic background?

I think perhaps the irony, as if she has a heavil accented English it would appear that the woman herself is an immigrant - which isn't to do with her ethnicity really is it?

I can kind of get the "all sorts" comment although it depends what she meant by it of course. I have taught al sorts of unpleasant disruptive children that would not be allowed to stay within the private sector. I would not want my dd in the same class as some of the children I teach.

I was surprised that an immigrant (or someone from an immigrant family?) would be of the opinion that immigrants make for bad schools.

Immigrnats aren't all one homogenous group you know.

LOL twin - I work in finance and most of my customers' children are in private schools (FTB) TBH most have made their money only just the right side of the law and have no morals at all - I wouldn't want my kids in classes with theirs !

ah well, just shows you can't lump everyone 'foreign' together just cos they're all immigrants. wonder if she meant 'lower class plebs from the villages' kind of thing or 'asylum seekers'.

Moondog - it was her word, not mine.

Moondog's right...

My parents are immigrants and have been here a very long time... so much so that more recent immigrants are "outsiders" to them, especially if they aren't very integrated in British society....

it is true, there are affluent immigrants who perceive non economic immigrants as lower class.
Not shocking, there are daily mail immigrants as well as home grown mailies...

Seriously, why are you surprised, you think people of different ethnic backgrounds stick together because why?

Well I used to work with a black woman from Grenada originally who didn't want to live in Willesden Green because she said there were too many blacks.

I was shocked that she said that, just cos it was a horrible thing to say, but I was also shocked that she said it.

I get what isit is saying. It was the woman's words about immigrants when she's an immigrant herself (we're assuming due to accent)

What I'd like to know is what isit said next? It's the kind of thing where I'd like to have said "how do you mean, immigrants?" but when you're too stunned it's a bit difficult to probe further sometimes.

Since we can't ask the woman what she meant, it's a bit tricky really.

There are people on MN who think the same way (although the poster I'm thinking of didn't mention race).

It is ironic that someone who is presumably an immigrant (accent) or the descendent of immigrants should moan about more recent arrivals. But when the BNP gained some council seats in East London, the vox pops on the TV news showed several Black people who had voted for them because of immigration.

I'm afraid Mary I didn't say anything, other than that my Dcs school is poor on paper (poor league table possn because of high proportion of low income families, another sweeping generalisation) but that we'd been very pleased with what the school is actually doing.

Sorry, it was just your OP I was talking about. Sounded quite reasonable to be a bit open mouthed at it, imo.

Directly where I live there are many eastern european immigrants but it is so ironic that it's the non-white minority ethnic origin dc that are always on the publicity photos for the school to show how diverse and PC the school is!

I think it's quite refreshing that the area is becoming much more multi clutural.

I don;t teach those children though isit only commenting on the ones I have

her money.up to her.maybe the schools are rubbish?why did you comment on the lady's accent btw

btw,i also speak accented english.audibly scottish.does that differentiate my schooling choices

We were assuming (perhaps wrongly) that her accent suggested she's an immigrant herself. Hence the surprise at her comment about immigrants.

If there is a very high proportion of non-English speakers at the school it could very well be having a negative impact. She is as entitled to be put off by that as anyone else is surely?

That's funny. My DC's Ofsted report stated the ethnic minorities are the highest achievers in the school.

Of course her accent is relevant! If she has a strong accent it rather indicates she is an immigrant herself.