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.

But how is any of this relevant to what the school did ? And you still haven’t answered the question posed upthread. Was any of this known before the school sent her home ?

Would you? I would have expected more nuance, both from Courtney and from you!

We have a great deal to be proud of, but let’s not delude ourselves. Shakespeare, Newton, and Darwin would be in most top ten lists in the UK, and other western cultures. But there have been many, many important people, and the further you get from England, the less important an English playwright is. It is right to recognise our groundbreaking scientists and philosophers, but we are not unique in having them. Many countries do.

The novel has a long history. It certainly gained popularity in the western world via England, but there are different paths it took in other parts of the world, stemming from much earlier day examples of novels.

We are rich in literary history and it is to our huge credit. But many nations and cultures match it.

Greece, with Herodotus, Plato, Sophocles, Aristotle, Socrates, Plutarch, Heraclitus, Hypatia, Bacchylides, Epicurus, Aratus, Xenophon, Pericles, Homer.

Russia’s Tolstoy, Dostoevksy, Pushkin, Gorky, Lermontov, Yesenin, Goncharov.

The later greats of Hemingway, Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Jack London, Stephen King, Louisa May Alcott, all from the US.

The French greats of Dumas, Hugo, Flaubert, Verne, Zola, to name a few.

We only know ours better.

The left can distort and re-write history as much as they like

Anyone can distort and re-write history. We are a great nation, but it’s as foolish to claim that our scientists, philosophers, and writers are not rivalled by those of other nations. It is no bad thing to have many great people around the world.

As I’ve said, I’m not convinced the school handled it well. But if, as I suspect, there is more to it, including the actions of the father, it could shed more light on the school’s actions. They are bound by confidentiality in a way the father isn’t.

Anyone can distort and re-write history. We are a great nation, but it’s as foolish to claim that our scientists, philosophers, and writers are not rivalled by those of other nations. It is no bad thing to have many great people around the world.

Maybe so. But the post you quoted was in reply to a poster whose assertion was that Britain’s culture is an embarrassment. I think it more than made the point.

I still don’t get why the kid dressed as a farmer was sent home?!
We’re in the SouthWest and there are farming communities all around us, my own grandparents were farmers and I can trace my ancestry back to the 1700s and we’ve always been involved in farming, my DH great grandparents were farmers. That is an amazing cultural outfit!

So what, if anything, do you think the father had to do with this ? Whichever way you look at this even if he had an ulterior motive in sending his daughter in dressed this way, he was ultimately proved right by the very fact she was sent home simply for wearing a Union Jack. And how do you explain the other kids who were sent home for wearing the Welsh flag and the flag of St George - even a kid dressed as a farmer ? Where are your sources for what you’re saying and again, what was the timeline ?

There's no evidence that he was...

What nuance exactly would you expect to see.

It was a short piece on how she values learning about other cultures but does not want British culture to be overlooked in the endeavour to respect other cultures. As all students were expected to write a speech I would have expected them all to be very brief, personal and to the point. Which it was.

I would not expect long 'nuanced' pieces looking at things from multiple perspectives. That does not seem to be the point of the exercise.

I agree.

I think that in reality what happened is the father is known to have right wing views, and be an avid enough supporter of TR to be encouraging his daughter to speak at events.

The school took one look at his daughter’s dress and thought “oh look, Gary is making a point,” and sent her home.

They can’t come out and say that, because of confidentiality etc, but it’s my assumption that that’s what happened.

Define ‘nuance’.

Exactly. To the school she just turned up in a dress and sat in reception all morning waiting to be picked up. Why should a dress result in that?

They made a mistake and apologised for it.

And even if this was the case, their actions would still be wrong.

The biggest mistake made by the school was a failure to understand that in the current political climate, it was almost inevitable that this would backfire.

I hope the person who dressed as St George was Turkish.

Baseless speculation which seems rife, punishing the girl due to the father’s social media. Not much better.

Are they?

I am not sure I’d want someone sending their daughter into school to share their extremist views, thanks.

Tommy Robinson’s views have as much place in schools as Andrew Tate’s. Zero.

We are a great nation, but it’s as foolish to claim that our scientists, philosophers, and writers are not rivalled by those of other nations.

Has anyone said otherwise? The discussion is specifically about British culture.

One thing I bet people from other countries don't do is add disclaimers when talking about their cultures, or say 'yes but other countries....'

I don’t agree, it seems that lack of communication and guidance by the school was to blame. If anyone was a ‘dick’ here, it was the member of staff that arranged the event, and they should get further training…

So now the girl has done this?

When it’s just a Union Jack dress.

I did wonder….
Our school did a cultural day it was non uniform (children could to wear colours of their flag) the children were asked to bring in foods that remind them of home/national dish of their country etc to share.
It was great, if I hadn’t read the article about this yesterday I would have thought someone was making it up 😂

A Union Jack dress, worn by the daughter of a Tommy Robinson supporter.

Pardon me for thinking that had a motive.

Like the majority I think the school got it wrong, regardless of whether the child's father had an agenda.
Pupils were asked to dress in something reflecting their own family history and culture.
I live in North West Wales. Welsh flags are seen around quite often. St. David's day is widely celebrated with children going to school in traditional Welsh dress and Rugby shirts. Schools have their own Eisteddfodau.
My own family background is Lancashire weavers and miners. (I have learned Welsh btw and my children are fluent Welsh speakers).
The English flag, in particular has been appropriated by right wing groups, which is sad. I don't know what an English person would wear that would reflect their culture without someone being offended. I would hesitate to wear a rose on St Georges Day too. It has developed unfortunate connotations.
I think we are expected to feel a lingering sense of shame because English aristocrats and politicians have done some appalling things in the not too distant past.
This has developed into a tricky situation. How can we get the balance of giving children a sense of pride in their culture without veering into xenophobia and racist attitudes.
The school were asking for trouble in the way they set this up, they shouldn't have isolated this girl for the morning.
if your family history was Welsh or Scottish it would be obvious to use a Welsh costume or flag or some Tartan and a parent doing this I think would be dismayed to have their child sent home.
The whole thing was a bad idea.

But the point was that she is British and is celebrating British culture. What is wrong with that?

People are just saying ' But TR' but have no developed views beyond that.

'But TR' is not an argument.

If you have evidence based arguments then present them.

The agreed facts at the moment are that she was sent home for wearing a UK flag dress on a school day when pupils were explicitly told to dress to reflect their nationality or family heritage. And that the school have accepted they got that wrong and apologised.

There's no evidence that he was...

If that’s the case why hasn’t the school denied that the child in the farmer outfit was sent home?