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

1000 replies

mids2019 · 16/07/2025 06:10

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.

OP posts:
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Floradear · 16/07/2025 13:47

Was the Robinson link made by the girl when she went to school in the dress?
I thought the Robinson remarks were invented this morning, 24 hours after the schools mismanagement.

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 13:49

JustSawJohnny · 16/07/2025 11:53

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.

The newsletter inferred the dress would be permitted and the teaching staff who sent the child home never read her speach

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/07/2025 13:50

LittleBearPad · 16/07/2025 08:14

She was wearing a Union Jack. It was deemed unacceptable.

The farmer being sent home is particularly mad!

Unless he was wearing a Jeremy Clarkson mask 😁

Rosscameasdoody · 16/07/2025 13:51

MyWarmOchreHare · 16/07/2025 13:29

The idea that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy from China is a myth.

Agreed but that doesn’t mean it originated in Italy. There's archaeological evidence suggesting noodles existed in China as early as 3000 BC and were also part of the ancient Greek diet. The Etruscans pre dated Roman civilisation in Italy and were thought to be making a form of pasta from 4th century
BC, as well as Arab traders who were thought to have taken dried pasta through trade routes across the Mediterranean. So a cultural mix.

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 13:52

Tea is not "uniquely British" for crying out loud, which is the only point I'm making

Given the sentence was about “tea drinking” which is a British tradition I am not sure what your only point was

Dappy777 · 16/07/2025 13:52

BananaCaramel · 16/07/2025 07:06

They were misguided to have held such an event without clear guidelines.

British culture is largely an embarrassment.

If you had to list the ten most important people in the history of human thought, at least three of them would be British – Shakespeare, Newton and Darwin. That's not bad for a small island. Newton and Darwin are two of the most influential scientists who ever lived, and John Locke and David Hume are two of the most influential philosophers, not to mention Francis Bacon, who established the modern scientific method, and Adam Smith, who laid the foundations of capitalism. In fact, Locke is the intellectual father of modern liberal democracy. Without British culture, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would not exist in their present form. Instead, the world would be dominated by Russia, Iran and China. It was our 'embarrassing' culture that produced modern evolutionary theory. It was our 'embarrassing' culture that produced modern atomic theory. And it was our 'embarrassing' culture that discovered DNA.

Then there is literature. Britain pretty much invented the novel, and Shakespeare and Dickens would be in the top ten writers of all time. Find me a nation/culture that has produced a list of writers to match the following: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, John Donne, Milton, Blake, Defoe, Fielding, Johnson, Boswell, Pope, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Keats, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes, Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, W. H. Auden, Tolkien, Virginia Woolf.

People constantly bang on about slavery and colonialism. EVERYONE had slaves and empires. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Romans, Babylonians, Aztecs, Incas, Zulus, Mughals, Spaniards, Mongols, Ottomans, Arabs, etc etc all colonised and enslaved their neighbours. It's what human beings have always done. We still have empires today. Try telling a Tibetan or a Uyghur muslim that the days of empire are over.

The left can distort and re-write history as much as they like, I'll just ignore them. And no matter how much they try and force/impose a new identity on me, I'll resist it to the bitter end. I already know who I am, thanks.

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 13:53

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/07/2025 13:50

Unless he was wearing a Jeremy Clarkson mask 😁

And the Welsh?

Floradear · 16/07/2025 13:58

Do we know for certain that other children were punished/sent home/rejected?

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/07/2025 14:00

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 13:53

And the Welsh?

Sorry, don’t understand?

Rosscameasdoody · 16/07/2025 14:00

Vivi0 · 16/07/2025 13:32

I’ve read back on the thread between you and that poster, and I’m struggling to see where she has said or implied that only white people can be British.

You, on the other hand, seem to be saying that white people (white British people, to be precise) don’t and can’t have a culture. Is that right?

That’s how I interpreted it too. There was a very intelligently written reply on that exchange from @GeneralPeter which clearly went right over this posters’ head because they were too busy shouting ‘racist’ !!

RingoJuice · 16/07/2025 14:02

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 13:52

Tea is not "uniquely British" for crying out loud, which is the only point I'm making

Given the sentence was about “tea drinking” which is a British tradition I am not sure what your only point was

If it helps, Chinese people always whine that matcha and tea ceremony was invented in China (as well as the Zen sect), but all these things have been associated with Japanese culture.

And, one should say, better preserved and spread by Japanese too.

Violinist64 · 16/07/2025 14:04

RingoJuice · 16/07/2025 13:28

America doesn’t really do ‘culture days’ like this because both white and black Americans have been deracinated (probably better to say had an ethnogenesis) and thus has no attachment to any sort of external homeland. It would just be a celebration of various aspects of American culture.

Only more recent immigrants would have this, and they are still a minority.

This is nonsense. The USA is a much more racist country than the UK. In addition to this, they have nearly all done their family trees (fair enough) and claim to be 1/16 German, 1/16, 1/8 Norwegian, ¼ Scottish, ½ Italian and ½ Irish. When they visit any of these countries, they proudly exclaim: "I'm Irish!" One American told everyone that he was Italian and that one day he would get around to learning the language! Lots of lovely Americans around but they are far from the perfect example of anti-racism.

Violinist64 · 16/07/2025 14:05
  • Just noticed that the halves in my post should be quarters.
nomas · 16/07/2025 14:06

CrazyOldMe · 16/07/2025 06:39

It’s a Catch 22:

If the girl had worn a traditional dress from India, China etc., she would have been slammed for cultural appropriation.

If she wears traditional British clothes, she’s slammed for that too!

What was she meant to do?

I’m glad the school have apologized, but that won’t undo the damage this has done. Reform will use stories like this in the next election.

I think she should have been allowed to wear the dress but calling a union jack outfit 'traditional British clothes' is a stretch.

I would have loved to wear a Victorian dress, as made famous by Queen Victoria. Although perhaps not practical 😂

hotlegshoolahan · 16/07/2025 14:06

SleeplessInWherever · 16/07/2025 12:19

@OhCrumbsWhereNow

I’ve just read the letter. It said the day was;

“designed to promote inclusion, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds, traditions and heritages”.

Different as in not British. Inclusion as in the inclusion of minority groups.

It’s patently obvious what it meant. It was a cultural diversity day - White British isn’t culturally diverse, as Courtney rightly points out.

Its not even remotely patently obvious.

There is not a plain meaning of different as meaning ' different from British' in that sentence. That is a layer of interpretation you have put on it.

Different there can mean 'all the various cultures in our school'.

Given that this was a letter that seems to have been given to all the students then the plainest meaning is that it meant the various cultures at the schookl

Rosscameasdoody · 16/07/2025 14:07

Dappy777 · 16/07/2025 13:52

If you had to list the ten most important people in the history of human thought, at least three of them would be British – Shakespeare, Newton and Darwin. That's not bad for a small island. Newton and Darwin are two of the most influential scientists who ever lived, and John Locke and David Hume are two of the most influential philosophers, not to mention Francis Bacon, who established the modern scientific method, and Adam Smith, who laid the foundations of capitalism. In fact, Locke is the intellectual father of modern liberal democracy. Without British culture, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would not exist in their present form. Instead, the world would be dominated by Russia, Iran and China. It was our 'embarrassing' culture that produced modern evolutionary theory. It was our 'embarrassing' culture that produced modern atomic theory. And it was our 'embarrassing' culture that discovered DNA.

Then there is literature. Britain pretty much invented the novel, and Shakespeare and Dickens would be in the top ten writers of all time. Find me a nation/culture that has produced a list of writers to match the following: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, John Donne, Milton, Blake, Defoe, Fielding, Johnson, Boswell, Pope, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Keats, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes, Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, W. H. Auden, Tolkien, Virginia Woolf.

People constantly bang on about slavery and colonialism. EVERYONE had slaves and empires. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Romans, Babylonians, Aztecs, Incas, Zulus, Mughals, Spaniards, Mongols, Ottomans, Arabs, etc etc all colonised and enslaved their neighbours. It's what human beings have always done. We still have empires today. Try telling a Tibetan or a Uyghur muslim that the days of empire are over.

The left can distort and re-write history as much as they like, I'll just ignore them. And no matter how much they try and force/impose a new identity on me, I'll resist it to the bitter end. I already know who I am, thanks.

This. Well said.

nomas · 16/07/2025 14:07

Violinist64 · 16/07/2025 14:04

This is nonsense. The USA is a much more racist country than the UK. In addition to this, they have nearly all done their family trees (fair enough) and claim to be 1/16 German, 1/16, 1/8 Norwegian, ¼ Scottish, ½ Italian and ½ Irish. When they visit any of these countries, they proudly exclaim: "I'm Irish!" One American told everyone that he was Italian and that one day he would get around to learning the language! Lots of lovely Americans around but they are far from the perfect example of anti-racism.

Yes, Americans do this a lot. I can see why they may care but I never understand why they need to share the fractions with strangers.

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 14:11

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/07/2025 14:00

Sorry, don’t understand?

Why was there someone who was celebrating their Welsh culture sent home

Rosscameasdoody · 16/07/2025 14:15

FairKoala · 16/07/2025 14:11

Why was there someone who was celebrating their Welsh culture sent home

Yes. Some pupils were stopped at the school gates and turned away. The girl wearing the Union Jack was one, a pupil wearing the Welsh flag and one wearing the flag of St George were all turned away as was a pupil from a farming community who turned up in a flat cap and checked shirt.

Rosscameasdoody · 16/07/2025 14:16

Floradear · 16/07/2025 13:58

Do we know for certain that other children were punished/sent home/rejected?

Just re-read the article. The girl in question wearing the Union Jack, a pupil wearing the Welsh flag and one wearing the flag of St George were all turned away along with, for a reason that’s totally unfathomable to me, a child who was from the farming community who turned up in a flat cap and a checked shirt.

HonoriaBulstrode · 16/07/2025 14:17

Excellent post, Dappy. You might also have mentioned British engineers, one of the greatest of whom, Brunel, is an illustration of British diversity, in that his father was French.

Also the British (originally English) constitution and legal system, which has gone on to form the basis of the legal systems of many other countries.

If I was celebrating English culture, I would focus on language. Beginning with the Laws of King Ethelbert, Anglo Saxon poetry, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Chaucer, the Book of Common Prayer, Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and so on and so on.

GameBoy · 16/07/2025 14:19

For those saying the girl didn't write it, I disagree. As a nerdy 12 year old who went on to study politics at uni this is TOTALLY the sort of thing I could have written at this age!

CurlewKate · 16/07/2025 14:20

Alltheprettyseahorses · 16/07/2025 13:32

Why are people saying they're trawling his facebook as if it's something to be proud of and not weird stalkery behaviour? His politics are irrelevant whatever they may or may not be. It was a mistake by the school, pure and simple. If anyone doesn't like that they need to examine their own motives.

The fact is that his political allegiance is obvious on glancing at his FB page. And his behaviour is very much in keeping with that allegiance. And he appears to be happy for his daughter to address a TR rally. What is it they say? If you hear hooves going past your window in Kent, it’s reasonable to assume it’s a horse not a zebra.

TicklishBeaker · 16/07/2025 14:21

CurlewKate · 16/07/2025 10:58

It’s not.

It seems to be if this story is true.?

gottalottodo · 16/07/2025 14:22

My daughter has a ‘culture day’ tomorrow. She is anxious about what to wear as all the other girls (mostly Indian and Pakistani) make fun of how she dresses! They will be wearing saris etc and she will be the odd one out in her football kit! What is meant to be a big show of inclusion is having the opposite effect on the kids in a minority

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