School "Culture Day' - why didn't school see this coming?

[mids2019]

https://www.joe.co.uk/news/school-issues-statement-after-sending-girl-home-for-wearing-union-jack-dress-496690?fbclid=IwY2xjawLkEB9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmXD4szLMfsqNubbE12kCn_Noe5jb2VGlNFVU0_IUIevHxzByCQ-5GXFN8F8_aem_P-q7I_yFCq82TY-Qr8mGdw

A local school state d a huge debate by sending a girl home on school culture day for wearing a union Jack dress. The question is why the school should have naively held an event which actually least a to more division than unity?

My daughter (white British) attended a similar event, for which she paid a pound, and dressed in jeans and t shirt. I asked how she had decided upon the attire and she stated 'well I don't have a culture'. I then had to explain that she did have a culture and even the jeans and t shirt were a product of fashion changes in western liberal society. We had a discussion about all the great products of white British culture, the music,science, results of the industrial revolution, shared experience in great wars, monarchy etc.

There is a white British culture but going into detail about this obviously brings into focus cultural divide and opens up divisive areas whether white British culture benefited from colonialism and past oppression.

Of course culture day probably was meant to highlight minority cultures and act to promote dress etc. from ethnic minorities as a welcoming inclusive gesture but by allowing all pupils to think about their culture we have to define 'white British' culture and by defining 'white British' culture schools have inadvertently started a discussion they didn't intend.

So?????

If you read the news, see the photo of her outfit, see the school’s invitation flyer and read that other iterations of ‘British’ culture were also sent home, what other information do you need? The school have apologised and it appears that as a 12 year old girl she’s not exactly going to be a menace to society. Was being sent home from school really proportionate?

@CurlewKatewhy do you think a girl should be punished for who her father follows on social media?

And can you answer this question from @TheCrenchinglyMcQuaffenBrothers

Please highlight where I said anything like that. Go ahead.

British culture is regularly described on all those ‘American living in tbe UK’ videos.

I think sometimes it’s difficult to see the water you are swimming in.

I'll believe that other kids were sent home when I hear it from anywhere other than this dad... zero evidence of it thus far

My daughter could have written that at 12,I doubt an adult wrote it.

And they is a massive issue right now hit there that

Genuinely, what?

@Digdongdoo "We actually have no idea whether or not child (or her parent) did anything wrong. We only have dad's word, and a very diplomatic response from the school. Very little to go on at all really".

Why are you trying to poke around behind the obvious?
All that mattered to the school was the dress the girl was wearing. What she wore on the day: - Simples!
Speculation about other relatives ideologies is nonsensical irrelevance.

Mumsnet people do not like Tommy Robinson as the tellybox told them he is bad and they STILL (despite everything that has happened in the last few years) believe everything they see on the tellybox. Anyone who has done any research or engaged in critical thinking knows that it is alot more nuanced than that.

SO he's a twat and EXACTLY what I expected.

How do you know they sent her home becuase the dress was a union jack? The school haven't said that. Only the dad has. It's never wise to believe everything you hear without queation.
Perhaps it is all that happened, but I'm no convinced yet. We shall see.

Of course not as you’re coming at it with non existent information and spreading that instead.

The school have apologised. Not much else to say.

And that’s why you’d punish a girl in a dress that fits with what she was asked to wear?

THIS is the problem. Being or referring to oneself as "white British" does not make someone a racist. It makes them white British!

No proof?

I read the essay. I thought it was goady.

As an ex teacher, I'm saying I'd love to hear the actual opinion of her teachers, because sometimes there is fire alongside the smoke and because the school could never say it if there was.

Now I'm hearing her Dad is an alt-right bell end who wants her to speak at a Tommy Robinson rally, I'm feeling like the 'proof' is adding up!

Don’t forget it wasn’t just this girl that was sent home. Apparently Wales and Farming are not acceptable cultures either

I am struggling to see how a burqua was acceptable given this is a religious outfit and not the traditional dress of anywhere I can think of.

So you normally punish children for the sins of their fathers. How very North Korean of you. Exactly what I would expect

Punished or asked to change?

No way would the school not have allowed her back in without the dress and the goady essay.

Dad's not selling that narrative though, is he?

My point remains that from the off I doubted we'd heard the whole story.

Now it's looking increasingly like that is the case.

What part of the essay that was no one at the school even read was goady?

How can referring to yourself as white British be racist?! What other box can I tick on an ethnicity questionnaire 🤷‍♀️? That’s bonkers.

Had it been my daughter that was punished by being kept in solitary for a school day for the flimsiest reason, (not sent home) I think I might have turned to social media.

And what is your view on farming and Wales Why are they unacceptable

You should no more presume her innocence....

People are presumed innocent unless or until they are found guilty. That is a fundamental part of British culture. It doesn't apply in all other countries.

(Though judging by many of the posts on MN whenever there's a prominent criminal case, too many people are not aware of the 'innocent until found guilty' principle.)

I felt, as did many other locals I've spoken to and others on this thread, that the ending took a turn for the 'Farage'.

It was more than a tad 'you can't say anything nowadays'.

Feels manipulative, pointed, goady and like a dig.

Right up Dad's street, by the look of it!