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Original poster

Where are all the WHITE kids gone?????

133 replies

drosophila · 04/02/2006 11:35

I live in a multicultural area in London where maybe 50% of the people are white. Our local school is mainly non-white. In DS's class there is about 5 white children and about 21 non-white children.

The school has a good rep and twice was in the OFSTED top 300 schools in the country. Why do you think it's not representative of the neighbourhood. The other schools around have very strict catchment areas so I don't know where they go to school.

OP posts:
batters · 04/02/2006 16:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
drosophila · 04/02/2006 17:02

My DP was the only black kid in his primary school and he hated it. To this day he talks about it and would never hear of us moving out of London.

Being in a minority can lead to difficulties in school. DS is not the only mixed race kid in his class but because he is so pale he stands out. He has been critised for being white by another mixed race child. I have never mentioned it to his teacher cos they do seem to do a lot to encourage harmony including teaching them about Martin Luther King.

OP posts:
Twiglett · 04/02/2006 17:09

DullWitch do you live in SE London?

TheDullWitch · 04/02/2006 17:29

Twiglett > yes

ScummyMummy · 04/02/2006 18:00

We're in Central London and the two non religious schools in our area (out of 9) have many fewer white pupils. So far my (white) kids, who attend one of the community schools, have been fine, thedullwitch. I tend to think that because there is not wider discrimination against white people in our society they will be fine and so far so good. They are still wee though. I do agree that friendship is often based on feeling that there is common ground and it has been quite interesting to watch them staking out that common ground. One of my sons is struggling with his best friend's strong feeling of perplexity at our lack of religious faith, atm. His mate told him that believing in Allah meant he would live forever... I said "OMG! What did you say?" And he said "er you know, living for now is pretty good and do you want to play football?"

fullmoonfiend · 04/02/2006 18:03

I live in a VERY 'white' town where it was actually a problem when my 3 yr-old had never seen a person of colour before (except in books) and cue loud comment in supermarket about why as that man got chocolate all over him? It is getting more diverse now. when ds1 went to playschool all kids were white. By the time ds2 went we had a much more multicultural mix - though no black children. Both are at primary school now and though there are several mixed race children, lots of europeans, asian and some chinese, I do 'worry' in my m/c way whether my kids are growing up with a warped view of mainstream britain. But short of moving, not sure there's much i can do about it. I jsut try to do what we all do - teach them to judge people as individuals and not by appearance.

tamum · 04/02/2006 18:13

TheDullWitch, I can honestly say it's not been an issue for my children at all- I'm really sorry about what your son has been through, but in terms of friends I'm glad to say my children and the others in their class appear to be completely colour blind. It's a complete mixture and in terms of "best friends" most of the pairings I can think of consist of one mixed race or Asian and one white child. I don't mean to sound all Pollyanna-ish, I do realise it may not continue into secondary school but I can at least hope....

ScummyMummy · 04/02/2006 18:15
  • lovely and reassuring to read that tamum. Thank you.
frogs · 04/02/2006 19:29

Your ds is a philosopher, Scummy!

ScummyMummy · 04/02/2006 19:46

lol frogs. If he turns into R Dawkins I will be quite quite horrified! I have wishy washy Phillip Pullmanesque type ideals along those lines though and founnd it quite funny to hear him paraphrase these prefaced by "er, you know" which is his current refrain of choice.

frogs · 04/02/2006 19:56

Don't worry, scummy, a budding Richard Dawkins would never be as chilled as your ds. R D at 6 would have cornered the poor muslim boy, fixed him with mad, staring eyes and lectured him for the duration of playtime about how he was solely responsible for world poverty, the oppression of women and the destruction of the ozone layer.

ScummyMummy · 04/02/2006 19:59

{grin}. Too true, frogs.

ScummyMummy · 04/02/2006 20:00

oops I meant.

Hallgerda · 04/02/2006 20:30

I also live in a multicultural area in London. My children have friends of different races; it really doesn't seem to be an issue. I think that's largely because the school works very hard to ensure it isn't; I've heard about problems similar to those DullWitch describes in one of the nearby schools.

In our area many black parents choose to go private because of fears of discrimination; there's at least one private school in the area where almost all the pupils are black.

tamum · 04/02/2006 22:01

You're welcome Scummmy It was interesting actually, that's the first time I've mentally listed the best friendships and worked out whether there was any pattern. I did love your ds's comment!

jennifersofia · 04/02/2006 22:29

What an interesting thread. Within 5 minute walk of our house there are two schools, one is has mainly white population and is RC, the other is 98% asian and is a community school. In speaking to the head of the community school I asked her about it and she said, "I really really wish that I could wave my magic wand and make it more culturally mixed, but it just doesn't happen." Both schools are good schools. I didn't want to send my child to an RC school, and while I think it is a shame that the community school isn't more mixed, I also decided that it would be better not to send my child there because she would be one of 5 'english as a first language' in the whole school.
Interesting point that Caligula made about being more relaxed in your own culture - although there are many aspects of my home country that make me recoil, there is a level of relaxation that I feel there that I just never feel in this country. I like it here and have chosen to live here, but when I go back everything is so so familiar that I don't have to think about it (which has it's good and bad points.)

Original poster
drosophila · 05/02/2006 08:00

What I find interesting about the schools near where I live is that on paper DS's school is the best. As I said earlier it has been on the OFSTED top 300 schools in the country twice and yet white families are choosing not to send their kids to the school. Some of them probably go private but not all. Are these parents deciding not to send their child to such a multicultural school because it is multicultural?

The number of white kids is higher than your school Jennifersofia and I would guess it is probably 20-30% white. Also there are many different races in the school nit jsut one race that dominates. Most speak English as a forst language or have very good english.

OP posts:
Kelly1978 · 05/02/2006 08:17

this is wht we found in croydon too. The area where we were living was a really good mix with only about 33% white, then large numbers of black, indian, and muslim families, and a few other groups. Our local school was prob only about 5% white though, hardly reflective of the community.

On the way to school we would see countless white children being ferried over to the other side of town, to the dominantly white school. And it was true in reverse, non-white parents were travelling to get to the school as well. Dd's school had good results, it wasn't a bad school by London standards. The children mixed really well, and she had close friends from all races.

I would have liked my dts to go there. Where we are now is predominantly white. I think there are only three non white children, and two of those are mixed race. My dts will prob not get chance to mix with many others from the indian side of their heritage which I find I think dd also misses it, as she was fascinted by different languages and picked them up so easily.

Caligula · 05/02/2006 08:29

This is very depressing. It really does sound like White Flight is going on.

Original poster
drosophila · 05/02/2006 10:40

I think you are right Caligula. White flight does seem to be happening.

OP posts:
Caligula · 05/02/2006 10:41

So the next question is - why?

moondog · 05/02/2006 10:54

We get a lot of white inner city families moving into rural North Wales who openly tell you that they are fleeing from 'multi culturalism'.

Original poster
drosophila · 05/02/2006 10:57

Why? now that is the six million dollar question.

Anyone any ideas?

OP posts:
moondog · 05/02/2006 11:01

Why is there white flight?
Because multiculturalism isn't working.
Hence young Muslim men going overseas to embrace radical Islam in madrassahs.
Hence Afro Caribbeans sneding kids back home ot receive a 'proper' education.

Meanoldmummy · 05/02/2006 11:50

But why isn't multiculturalism working moondog? Was there a period when it was working, and things have now soured? If so, why? Or was the idea of a rich, vibrant "crucible" culture in whixh nobody felt subsumed or undervalued an unworkable myth in the first place? Are there communities in which multiculturalism does work beautifully, and if so, what distinguishes them? There are a great many questions that need to be addressed. Unfortunately we have become so prickly about this issue that it's difficult to have a proper frank debate about it. To some people, even discussing the contention that multiculturalism isn't a total success has the taint of racism about it.