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.

I think you might find India was not invented by Britain. It was there all the time🙄

Designated days for flying the Union Flag on UK government buildings 2025
1 March: St David’s Day (in Wales)
10 March: Commonwealth Day (second Monday in March)
17 March: St Patrick’s Day (in Northern Ireland)
9 April: His Majesty The King’s Wedding Anniversary
23 April: St George’s Day (in England)
6 May: Coronation Day
14 June: Official Birthday of His Majesty The King
21 June: Birthday of HRH The Prince of Wales
17 July: Birthday of Her Majesty The Queen
8 September: His Majesty The King’s Accession
9 November: Remembrance Day (second Sunday in November)
14 November: Birthday of His Majesty The King
30 November: St Andrew’s Day (in Scotland)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/designated-days-for-union-flag-flying

I suppose it is not enough flag for some.

We have loads of traditions here. Just look at how Parliament is run, how the judges still dress up, the gowns/wigs etc, the old traditions in the oldest unis and public schools. It is all very traditional and pompous really and very evident when there is anything royal on as well.
And we do celebrate all of this, very unashamedly. Spend millions on the royal family, for example.

Most of the history and English curriculum is centered on our culture too. We do not even bother learning other modern languages much.

I really do not see the problem with celebrating other types of cultures once a year. Although in our school, on international day, everyone brings a dish from their heritage, culture or a country they particularly like and the kids write a note on it. The idea is to share and the kids dress up how they like. We do not have many Reform types though, or if they are, they are closet about it. I am in London where it is generally embarrassing to be a Reform voter, not something people would readily admit to.

I wouldn’t agree it was accepted before TB. My experience was different.

It’s a dress people are apparently objecting to.
That looks like one pop stars have worn, even recently at Glastonbury, albeit shorts.

The school realised their mistake, it’s just mners spinning it out to some prevent reform thing.

Yes, I accept that. It can’t possibly be the standard though for a school culture day. Because if so…

India, Pakistan and China are obviously out. They’ll be told they don’t get to do culture day. Israel and Palestine clearly. Most other Middle Eastern countries too. Russia obviously. Those children can’t participate. US is pretty iffy. Perhaps Germany wiped the slate clean with a new flag? The Japanese kids are an interesting case: it was the civil flag during the fascist period though the military flag was more prominent. Sri Lanka’s clearly out. France, Holland, Spain obviously out. Mosambique and Angola clearly can’t join. Those kids can stay at home. Africa’s all a bit complicated and murky: best play it safe and avoid them. They’re all either colonial constructs or dodgy Marxists, aren’t they? Certainly not safe, you might get flak from both sides. So leave them out. Naturally Central Asia has to go. Some pretty horrible history in South America too — Argentina? Something about helicopters far worse than rabble rousing English nationalists. Can’t be seen to endorse that.

So who’s left? Maybe some nice Scandinavian kids can dress up? It’s a bit Aryan coded though.

Perhaps call the whole thing off.

@generalpeter as long as the Scandinavian kids don't dress in any way like a Viking invader, don't want to reopen that trauma!

We are probably down to Inuit now, who are probably not widely represented in Warwickshire

Obviously it’s very complicated, and you might know it much better than me. But my anticolonialist, academic Marxist, Indian tutor of Indian politics at Oxford was pretty adamant that India was a British creation. The idea that the way that Britain left it was the way it inherently, latently was, that they just hadn’t realised yet before we arrived and organised it right, is a bit Anglo-centric isn’t it?

Yes, my bad. Certainly no Scandinavians. Don’t Inuits do the seal-clubbing though? That seems a bit risky, even if you can find one.

Most of the history and English curriculum is centered on our culture too

Out of curiosity and in the interest ofbalace because this seems like a rather spurious complaint, which countries' history and native language curriculum are not centred on their own culture?

I think that is appalling!!

I am a teacher, we do culture day. I am also British Muslim of South asian heritage and I don't think there's anything wrong at all with what she chose to wear! I would happily wear something with a union jack myself! I was born in this country, so why not?

anticolonialist, academic Marxist, Indian tutor of Indian politics at Oxford was pretty adamant that India was a British creation

idk seems like they had something of an axe to grind, perhaps not the most dispassionate of observers

@Araminta1003 but it was a culture day

It wasn't an international day.

Well the school did say no flags and look what she wore. There were other children sent home as well that had flag costumes. She broke the rules then they go crying to the media.

Where did they say no flags? The letter only says no football kits.

No, it wasn't - and I did not mean that Britain 'invented' India. The subcontinent was a conglomeration of independent states - a bit like Germany - most of which spent their time fighting each other. The Moghul Empire, which occupied northern India had fallen to bits and was surrounded by independent princely states, divided between Hindu and Sikh rulers and speaking several different languages (Tamil, Gujurati, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi etc with no 'unifying' language - unlike Germany). The southern, Hindu empire, had disintegrated by the eighteenth century. British rule unified the country. Had France and Portugal continued as the colonial powers that integration would most likely not have happened and what we call India (or Bharat) would be divided up into countries the way the continent of Africa is, though on a slightly smaller scale.

Why? She looked great and the school staff are idiots.

She certainly had an ideology, but I also think she had a point.

In the case of India, it’s a sprawling, multilingual, multiethnic, multi religious state that had never been run as a single entity before the British arrived. The idea that it existed all along but the inhabitants had somehow just never noticed until the Brits pointed it out seems a bit of a stretch.

It’s like saying the UK always existed, though the Scots, English, Irish, Welsh didn’t know it. Or ditto back in history. Or that greater Brittany exists, but currently in abeyance until they get their act together again.

History is contingent and in the case of India I think it’s fair to say that state and identity was largely a British creation. By the British or in opposition to them, both.

Actually, the Spanish flag is pretty controversial within the Spanish state (and to whoever said upthread that Spanish kids would happily drape themselves in flamenco outfits on an equivalent day...lmfao, tell me you know nothing about Spain without telling me).

The reasons are quite complex - the civil war, legacy of Franco, monarchism vs republicanism, strong regional identities - but interestingly, the discourse is very similar. Discussions about the flag being appropriated by the far right are extremely common.

What's funny is that I often hear Spanish patriots exclaiming that theirs is the only country in which the flag is considered controversial, while other countries like the UK wave their flag with pride...

Of course it is.

It was ‘culture’ day, which means a celebration of ALL cultures - including British culture. If that’s not what the school intended and they wanted it to be a celebration of all cultures, excluding British culture, then they should have been clearer and called it ‘international day’ instead.

Where does it say no flags

No sports kits such as football kits is all it says.

Where does it say no flags or flat caps. Interested to know what the children who are culturally British wore.

Equally it is reported that children turned up in religious attire. Not in “traditional cultural dress”

Why wasn’t it pointed out to them that there is a difference.

No idea.

Yep.

Do we actually know the farmer and the Welsh person were sent home or that there were burkas and niqabs? Or is that just what the father says….

We do not know this at all, No Welsh person or farmer has come forward locally