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 was alive in the 90s when America was 80% non-Hispanic white.

Things have changed quickly, and non-Hispanic whites are less than 50% of the population in the youngest age groups.

So is it time for you to move from ‘it’s not happening’ to ‘it’s happening and it’s a good thing!’?

Why would I have any problem with that .....??

I am telling you they don’t care about democracy, they don’t share your values and why should they? It wasn’t democracy or human rights that gave them a wealthy country.

Your values are not universal. I’m sorry to have to tell you that. Honestly, you sound just like a missionary, believing your way is the best way.

Probably, even if the country is becoming more diverse - I already don’t see it as being “taken over.”

I personally have no issue with the country being or becoming a big melting pot of different cultures, identities and ethnicities.

I don’t see it as an erosion of anything, it’s a development of a different (better) society.

It’s a bit silly, IMO, saying you’re being taken over or minimised when you’re in the group that makes up over 80% of the population.

But as I said, even if the ratio is shifting - no issues here.

It’s happening and it’s a good thing.

Ok so be clear about your feelings from the start and stop being dismissive by saying it’s not happening.

But maybe you should be a little understanding that not all British people want this for their country—this is their only home.

i can see how people might be worried if it was being taken over. But it isn’t. The country is still
around 80% white!

It’s not happening at anywhere near the level people claim. Which is proven by the fact the people complaining remain in a majority of 80%.

Begs the questions how/what they even feel threatened by.

However you’re right, some British people don’t want to share. It’s their island, and it’s not for outsiders. Very “little Britain” and exclusionary.

The fact some of those who feel that way miss, is even those in the remaining 20% are British, in many cases.

I work with a guy who is third generation. He would fall into the Asian category on the census, because his family are Asian. He was born here, his father was born here, he is British.

We invited these people, or destroyed their countries until they fled here, and then complain that they live in our communities.

America went from 80% to 55% non-Hispanic white in less than 30 years.

But I’m sure Britain is so competent as to handle these demographic challenges better than America 🙄

Do you live in an area of high immigration ? I do, and it affects everything from getting a GP appointment to securing housing. It’s fine to say the country is still 80% white, as a generality, but that’s not how people who live in high immigration areas will see it because the landscape in which they are living is changing beyond recognition.

Begs the questions how/what they even feel threatened by

It’s not always been positive, has it? Admit it.

However you’re right, some British people don’t want to share. It’s their island, and it’s not for outsiders. Very “little Britain” and exclusionary

They don’t have to share their island if they don’t want to.

I work with a guy who is third generation. He would fall into the Asian category on the census, because his family are Asian. He was born here, his father was born here, he is British

Sure but you’ve plenty that are not assimilated at all, and worse, have contempt for mainstream British culture

We invited these people, or destroyed their countries until they fled here, and then complain that they live in our communities

Yeah you probably shouldn’t have done either of those. But nobody told you to take in endless fake asylum seekers or gut your health service (the pay of your GPs is practically third world).

To fix will unfortunately take something like what we Americans are doing with ICE, and even that won’t be enough. I don’t see British having the capability to even do mass deportations, so better to stop it now.

Now, no. I moved to Cheshire, as that’s where my partner is from.

I do however come from a high immigration area of the NE. My first teaching job had over 80% EAL; many of them first generation. We’d use a PD day for Eid, as otherwise my class, for example, would have 3 children in.

My hometown and the towns surrounding have large Asian, Eastern European and traveller communities. They also have increasing Reform support amongst the white British population there. My parents & family are amongst them. My mum, is racist.

I have never seen the diversity of my local area as a weakness, a threat or an issue. That isn’t why I moved, not even close to a factor, and I didn’t feel in any way disadvantaged by living in a mixed community.

A lot of the British don’t have any desire to do ICE style deportations.

Rightly so, IMO.

Good for you. Each to his own. Depends on how deprived the area is. Your experience is not universal, and the biggest problem I can see as evidenced by this thread, is that any attempt to speak out against what’s happening is immediately met with shouts of ‘racist’.

Very deprived, one of the most deprived in the country - as far as I’m aware.

Still isn’t an excuse to be racist.

Whilst I’m completely aware that not everyone who has immigration concerns is racist, those who veer towards the far right are.

I’m talking about ordinary people who are being disadvantaged and marginalised in many areas. Because immigration is high and the infrastructure which should be supporting it is non-existent. In some places services are overwhelmed. You’re conflating anger and frustration with racism.

Services are overwhelmed because the government has destroyed them and not invested in them.

That’s not the fault of the immigrant.

And I’m not - it is racist to block a road and let people through based on colour, it is racist to burn down a hotel because it houses immigrants, it is racist to smash up a mosque. All of those people - love flags, hate the obvious.

It’s an unfortunate fact that being patriotic, which I’m sure some reasonable people are, associates you with the unreasonable.

And this is the same thing how exactly ?

A previous poster had said that her local village wasn’t allowed a Christmas tree because of non-Christians.

Hopefully you can now see the link between that, and my comment.

You’re not mentioned in that comment thread, and it was nearly 24hrs ago. Which would imply you’ve looked through the thread to find that. Are you bored? 😂

I think when you face being a minority in your own country, you’ll start to see things a little differently.

I think, as mentioned earlier, I come from a town in which many already feel they’re being “taken over,” and already don’t feel that way.

So, I won’t.

I meant British as a whole. Some will quietly accept their erasure, but others will fight back against becoming a minority in their own country.

Your values btw will also necessarily become minority values. You cannot force them upon people and already they show you who they are, repeatedly, and you do not listen.

I didn’t say the lack of infrastructure was the fault of the immigrants - I agree that government is responsible for the lack of investment. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s ordinary men and women that are feeling the consequences of that, and feel unlistened to. You seem totally unprepared to accept that, and if you really do consider patriotism or feeling disenfranchised in your own country as associated with the far right, then I think that’s far more unreasonable than any of the views expressed here.

Fight back against erasure 😂. Sorry. But that’s honestly hilarious.

Who shows me who they are?

Do you mean the colleagues I work with? The many employees I have from overseas working largely in caring roles? The taxi companies, retail workers or doctors who aren’t originally British? The teachers, pharmacists, restaurant owners?

I know fine well who many of “them are,” thank you.

Several posters have addressed you with well thought out and intelligent posts. You’ve dismissed them all in pretty much the same way, with shouts of racist. See above for the latest example.