The late night debate: Can an eight year old be racist?

[Jac1978]

Kids as young as eight are being excluded from school for racially abusing pupils or staff but can they understand at that age what racism is? Aren't they just curious about difference or repeating what they've heard adults say? How should we deal with this kind of thing?

how sad.
i cannot see how simply excluding a child is going to solve the problem - education is the key surely?
with some families its a lost cause, but i think we have an obligation to try and to not write kids off at the age of 8 because they are repeating something they have heard or cant fully comprehend.

I would be very sceptical of their level of understanding. Brain development is still quite immature for structures involved in higher cognitive processes. Even some teenagers won't fully get it.

Over 20,000 under 11s were punished for racist/homophobic behaviour in 2010. Schools are obliged to report all "hate speech" incidents to local authorities as part of the race relations act. Reports can be used by police and social services and can remain on a child's record for several years.

Children don't have to be racist in order to use racist language. They simply have to be ignorant which, be definition, children are. Education is the answer to ignorance. If it's 'racial abuse', to me that implies something more aggressive and malicious. In which case, they may not understand but they know they are being deliberately offensive. That should be treated the same way any other aggressive or anti-social behaviour is treated.