To think I should be able to express a desire to not want to send my child to the local school which has more than 95% asian children and not be called a racist!

[Sails]

The school is a few minutes walk away from me but I have no intention of sending my children there. Most classes there isn't a single white child in it especially the younger end of the school. The other nearest school is about a 25 minute walk away. It has a 50% mix have absolutely no problem with that whatsoever. I have asian neighbours and even they don't even send their Reception child to the local school. Told my hairdresser that I don't want to send my child to x school and she said "thats a bit racist!" Told my neighbour and she too was shocked and said I am probably the least racist person she knows!

do people not see the difference between choosing a school becasue of a language issue of any sort and between avoiding a school becasue of the colour of the pupils.

I'm beginning to think I'm going mad if people are trying to impy the two are the same. Think I shall go lie down in a darkened room now.

I think almost everyone has pointed out that language issues/skin colour are different issues...

so why ask "So am I showing prejudice?" when discussing a school educating in a language your DC's don;t understand?

Kew I don't think Sails or anyone else is implying they are the same. You can't say everything you want to say in the title of a thread and unfortunately once it has been posted it can't be changed but Sails has said there is a language issue so I presume that's why she doesn't want her DS to go that school not just because the pupils have a different colour skin to him.

my point earlier nappy was if she said what she said in her OP to her hairdresser and neighbour - yes it was racist, it mentioned nothing but colour.

Kew I share your pain...

• dare I add that assuming the children will all speak in a different language to English in the playground could well be unfounded? I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but a lot depends on how good the school is. Most schools where there are different languages have strategies and ways of making all feel included, and work hard to make sure that there are no cliques or exclusions due to language or anything else. Kids in general are fair and like to be fair. If the school works with them from reception up, they instill a sense of community by virtue of the fact that the kids are in the same school together. I'm not being utopian here, it happens quite a lot in good state schools. Ignoring someone due to the fact they don't speak your language and actively excluding them is bullying.

Talbot: "I'm not making generalisations because that's what the studies show re Somali and Bengali kids." - as I said earlier, my information came from an expert in that field, so we're both quoting experts in our generalisations.

Ditto Kew on language v skin colour - smallorange, if you'd mentioned language earlier it would have been helpful, you little monkey!

small orange is a monkey?! this is becoming surreal..

smallorange

At least the op has a choice to send her child to a different school. ALL of the schools in my cacthment area have a high proportion of children who do not start school speaking english it is noted in all the ofsted reports that the schoolspupils are well below average when they start.
So what do I do? I don't particulary want my child to go to a achool where the majority do not speak english and the class is being taught at a very low level. There's no way I can afford private schools. So my dd is stuck.

TBH I think going to school where they teach in a different language is a different kettle of fish especially if they start in reception. In that situation all the children will be in the same boat and everyone will know at least 1 if not 2 languages that they can talk to eachother in, so no one will be left out or whatever. A couple of years ago I was very excited at the prospect of DS attending a welsh nursery and school.

any group of people who exlude anyone from a conversation by convercing in a language which they know the other person to be unable to speak/understand are increadably ignorant and it is tandamount to bulling.it doesnt matter which language, which colour of skin, or where you are from, its a lack of respect for another human being. sadly this is being misconstrued into a raceism argument and i dont think that was the OP's intent. rasism sadly does happen, but the tone of skin is only one reason for it. i doubt there will ever be a truely intergated society, there will always be ignoramuses of all colours.

excuse my spelling, im having a thick a two planks day!

I think the only thing I can do is to become a devout catholic. Then dd has a hope of getting into a school where there is a good mix, and there is more people that do speak english than don't. It is something I don't really agree with but I don't see that I have much of a choice! all of the local community schools are barely reaching national levels especially in english.

nooooooo ! dont do it. i went to catholic school- its horrific, your child will end up getting very sore knees(all the kneeling to pray), end up with terrible guilt issues( sex- bad, sinners the lot of you kind of crap, only marry a catholic and stay married regardless of spouse beating shag about, ) and dont get me started on nuns - miserable bunch dont even like children IMHO !

nooooooo ! dont do it. i went to catholic school- its horrific, your child will end up getting very sore knees(all the kneeling to pray), end up with terrible guilt issues( sex- bad, sinners the lot of you kind of crap, only marry a catholic and stay married regardless of spouse beating shag about, ) and dont get me started on nuns - miserable bunch dont even like children IMHO !

oops i posted twice! must have been twice as ment the

I do find these threads depressing. I feel like going through the posting names with a pen and paper and ticking off the people who are bigots and not to be 'ed at again...

I am catholic, although not practising anymore. Irish family, used to be an altar girl. went to catholic schools myself so I know what you're saying! But I would prefer it to going to a school where standards are not being acheived and the majority do not speak the same langauge.
I honestly am in such an shit position here!

I think it is reasonable to want your child not to be one of a small minority of white/black/Asian/Christian/atheist etc in a school where you have a choice.

I think it is wrong that schools are so polarised as regards race, religion, social class and so on in this country and that is what creates this sort of dilemma.

I chose a private school as I wanted my children to go to a school which reflected the ethnic diversity of the area where we live. I didn't want them to be the minority white kids in an almost entirely Asian Muslim school and neither did I want them to go to an entirely white Christian school.

do you think I am A bigot then? For wanting my child to go to a good or even an ok school? I want her to start off learning at the usual level allthe ofsted reports forallthe nearby schools state because 2 thrids or more do not speak english it means the first year is spent trying to bring them up to the right level. Howis that going to help someone who is at the right level already. It also states that by year 6 standards are still not very good. Whereas the schools near me that have for e.g 1 third or less of non-english speakers are doing amazingly well. They are religious schools however.

I think YANBU.

Why is it ok for a poster on mn to express that she only lets her dc watch programmes that have black people in it (instead of shows that have ALL white people) and that isn't classed as racist? Yet when it's the other way around, someone wants there dc to go to a school where 95% aren't Asian, it is racist?

Throws hands in the air.

MsSparkle, who said it was okay "for a poster on mn to express that she only lets her dc watch programmes that have black people in it"? Not me. I'm black, and I would have my multi-ethnic DS watch programmes with people of all colours. Though at the moment it's only trains he's interested in watching .

how this ? - " i think im going to have to remove dc from local school and Home Educate, as 99.998% of the kids at school are non-ginger.now as my kids are of the rusty-head type im worried they'll be targets for bullies and excluded from socialising" ginger is a caucasion sub-culture, not understood unless you are ginger.is this a racist statement? think about it!

How does a school get like this in the first place? Is it because as the Asian population increases more white families decide not to sent their kids there? This is a genuine question. I dont understand how it happens in a multi cultural area. I think steps should be taken to stop it happening. It obviously causes resentment (dont ask me how to stop it though) Round here there seem to be parents who whip their kids out of school and chop and change on a whim. When a new school opened loads of them pulled their kids out and moved them. I hear the 'too many P*s' thing a lot too. When you actually LOOK at the school, its not the case at all. People round here are stupid

My kids are mixed race and prefer them to go to a mixed school. I want a whole heap of different cultures and races. That way they are less likely to get picked on. They will also learn about different cultures etc.

I went to school in North London in the 70s. I was the only white kid in the class. It didnt bother me and I had loads of friends.

I dont get the Halal thing to be honest. Meat is meat. The non Halal way of killing animals is not exactly cosy. It has always seemed strange to me that meat eaters make that much of a distinction.

I think its ok to want your kid to go to a culturally diverse school. To go around telling people that you dont want your kid to go to a school because its predominantly Asian is asking for trouble really.