So, white working class children are being failed by schools and society in general.

[mrsruffallo]

Held in contempt by the middle classes (much evidence of that on here)
Industry no longer provides these people with a job for a life, dismissed as chavs, it seems that these are the the people that it is okay to ignore.....

So why were Black boys underachieving..?

Same reasons..?

I couldn't care less who you were...and I said your posts were annoying...

CliqueOff yiu are being very insulting to white working class people. Not all of them come from broken homes or have ASBOs. The NUT recognises that it is a problem and says that more money should be spent on the problem, just as money is spent on black and Asian children. Your previous statement "White families blame everyone else, they blame ethnic minorities, poverty, resources, etc, etc when in reality the buck stops with them." was also insulting. These poor white families don't have a voice, the problem has been known about for years and no one was prepared to help them. Instead they are dismissed as feckless chavs who deserve what they get.

Black boys were not acheiving because there was an inherent culture of low expectation as well as absent fathers and racism. These things take time to wash away. When I was at school in 1982 my Headteacher told us that Black people were that colour because they were the last ones in God's cleansing pool and so could only dip their hands and feet.

Educational trends move slowly.

claig...we're asking about reasons. Not all white kids are failing but there are reasons for those that are, I am suggesting those reasons for ones that are. Drive through a large white housing estate and see the satelite dishes casting shadows over filthy, overgrown gardens and litter.

That's the real problem claig, so many people think like cliqueOff and I just can't understand why..?

Why do they think it's ok to insult white people..?

Shall I tag line every post with 'the ones that are failing'?

Oh god...now it's only white people who have skytv

David Davis, leadership contender for the Tory party, grew up in a single parent family household on one of those estates. Many of our brightest successful people came from equally deprived backgrounds brought up by one parent. There is nothing wrong with any of the people on those estates and they are no less bright than kids in the stockbroker belt. The difference is they don't get the same schooling, they don't get the same resources and people tell them that that they are useless chavs because of where they live and how much money they have.

CliqueOff...

Have you heard of George Hargreaves..?

He's the leader of the Christian party...a really nice bloke..witty, intelligent, has vision...y'know, the sort of person you'd like to be standing next to at a party..

He's been on TV (not a sky channel) saying immigration has been allowed to get out of control, we can't cope and we're suffering for it...

Oh...and he's black

Cliqueoff, who do you think cares who you are?

Although from the tone of your posts you seem fairly recognisable.

lol LM...

I know...like I (or anyone) gives a toss what other anonymous name she used to post under...

Well why are we having this discussion at all there's nothing wrong with the poor white boys, must just be a fluke?

DP...Could you take your nasty little BNP agenda and visit some Andromeda loving site please.

lemonmuffin, are you new only I've never seen you post before.

they need extra money and extra intervention, they are no less bright than the black and Asian children who were in a similar position. There is nothing inherently wrong with these kids, being poor and on free school meals doesn't mean they are incapable of doing well. The OP started this post because these kids are being ignored by the system and by people who think they are just a bunch of whining chavs

"Held in contempt by the middle classes (much evidence of that on here)
Industry no longer provides these people with a job for a life, dismissed as chavs, it seems that these are the the people that it is okay to ignore....."

I wasn't aware that David Davis was brought up in today's more entitled Britain. I was under the impression he was brought up in council housing where families still had pride and wanted to, at the very least, do their best and keep up appearances.

Noone has said that being poor means you have to end up doing badly, but it's more likely and whether the truth is ugly or not the reasons are far more complex than that of previously failing ethnic groups.

CliqueOff..

I've wasted enough time on you.....and I regret it...I could have been doing something far more interesting like descaling the kettle...

Enjoy your evening...

Don't forget to iron your white robes.

working class families still have pride. You have been watching too much propaganda like Shameless that tries to paint the working class as drug-addicted scroungers and thieves. These poor people have been neglected while everybody else has been helped. I hope they are given the same help as everybody else. Blaming it on them, saying "the buck stops with them" is a way to avoid helping them, to write them off as unworthy of the help that others are getting.

No, I worked in a very deprived white school and not three miles from my house is a huge HA estate. Why do you think there's trouble with white boys?

The buck does stop with them, it's not as if they're suffering racist prejudice is it? I bet the kids that are getting nothing from school have a troubled homelife.

The thread was interesting- I was enjoying debating with you claig. It seems to have taken a bit of a nosedive tbh.

"lemonmuffin, are you new only I've never seen you post before"

No love, i'm not new. Check out my posting history if you can be bothered.

Why is that important to you?

I don't think that suffering racist prejudice is the only thing that holds children back and not every kid on free school meals has a troubled homelife. I think sometimes it can be crap failing schools and crap teachers. Remember the Channel 4 programmes "Why Our Kids Don't Count" about the school in Bristol which was a failing school. The new head was excellent, he was determined to turn it round, and said that just because the kids are poor doesn't mean they are stupid. But the teachers in the school were not good at maths and he had to bring an external consultant in to train them. What hope have these poor kids got if the teachers can't get the concepts across? I'm sure a lot of these poor kids could do with extra money being pumped into their schools and their teachers could use extra training. Failing kids also need good one-to-one tuition which costs money. If their teachers are of the attitude that the buck stops with the parents and nothing can be done because they have troubled homelives, then what is the point of the kids turning up for school?