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Original poster

Help - DS accidently made a racist remark at school today and its being reported to education auth........

53 replies

porkypoo · 16/04/2008 18:39

DS (11) accidently rhymed a teachers name (Jackie) with a well know racist word today and was over heard. The teacher is white though. He said that it just slipped out and that he knows these words should never be used. He is mortified as the school has said it will be reported as a racist incident although he will not be named. Can anyone help me as to why this might be? I am alittle embarrassed of the whole situation TBH. Thnks.

OP posts:
claricebeansmum · 16/04/2008 18:41

This seems a bit OTT to me if it was really an accident and slip of the tongue.

IME not many 11yo have their brain attached to their mouth.

Sorry I can't help with the specifics of your situation but if you are truly sure that it was an accident and there is nothing else to make you think he is being racist then I think you should perhaps have a chat with him about engaging brain before opening mouth.

claricebeansmum · 16/04/2008 18:42

IME not many 11yo BOYS have their brain attached to their mouth

wannaBe · 16/04/2008 18:43

how does a word like that just slip out? .

obviously as it was said in relation to a white teacher it wasn't meant as racist, but even so I would give ds a talking to as to why he has felt the need to use such words in the first place.

wessexgirl · 16/04/2008 18:44

The report is for government statistics - schools have to record every incident of this kind, however trivial/accidental it might seem, so that racism in schools can be monitored.

Nothing to worry about from ds's point of view - it's unlikely it'll go on his record. Sounds as if he won't be repeating the behaviour anyway!

claricebeansmum · 16/04/2008 18:45

Because this stuff is around - on the bus, at school, friends etc

Like other words - they don't hear them at home with family but they are still in DC vocab. It's learning not to use these words which is part of growing up.

brimfull · 16/04/2008 18:46

I can see how a word like that would come out even if they'd never heard it before.

My ds is always putting different letters at the beginning of words to makes silly rhymes.

ponky wonky
silly billy milly willy
all sorts of nonsense

hercules1 · 16/04/2008 18:47

All part of what schools have to do now ie report all racial incidences. DOn't worry about it.

cocolepew · 16/04/2008 18:47

my 10 yr dd told me a joke that a boy in her class told her. She told it to me as "......because knickers had no rights". Took me a few minutes to to realise what she meant. She had no idea what the word should have been. The boys mum is head of pastrol care in their school.

cece · 16/04/2008 18:49

Schools have to keep records and pass them on to LEA of racist incidents. The report sent to LEA will be anonymous. It is so this sort of thing can be monitored. Your DS will now know it is unacceptable to use that word in any context and might think twice before he uses it again.

It won't be kept on his record if that is what you are worried about.

windygalestoday · 16/04/2008 18:50

absolutely ridiculous its incidents like this that cause racial disharmony,im definitely against racism but this imo wasnt!!
apparently paistan means land of the pure so the word your son used wasnt really offensive and although i do understand its not a desirable term but this is pc craziness if u ask me.

UnderRated · 16/04/2008 19:04

Schools have to report things like that.

I know of a 5 yr old, new to school, who was pushed in the playground. When asked who did it, she said, "I don't know his name. The chocolate coloured one over there." It wasn't said in a racist way, purely to identify the child who had hurt her.

And when a classmate moved to India, the children were asked what they missed about him. One 6 yr old said, "I miss X. He always smelled like curry." Again, not in a derogatory way.

Both were reported to the LEA.

Original poster
porkypoo · 16/04/2008 19:17

Thanks all of you for making me feel so much better about this..........He has to see the head tomorrow for an informal chat...don't think he's looking forward to that much.....

OP posts:
juuule · 16/04/2008 19:33

Did he mean the word or was he just rhyming in the way ggirl describes?
I can't believe some of these things are classed as racist incidents especially ones like underated mentions.

puffling · 16/04/2008 19:45

This in no way implies anything about the OP's concerns, but windygalestoday, I so disagree with you. It doesn't matter what the word Pakistan means in English, 'Paki' when not used by Pakistanis has racist connotations and it is the school's responsibility to send the message that casual use of racist terms can't be tolerated.
That aside, don't worry porkypoo, it won't go on his record, but he'll remember to be more careful on future.

windygalestoday · 16/04/2008 20:28

puffling i did actually say that i too am totally against racism indeed i worked within the social services in multicultural nurseries i can assure you no racism was intended on my part what i am suggesting is that if such terms were explained accurately to children then these words become less offensive in that setting....years ago when i was v young and really we werent overly ware of racist connotations we would slip in swear word purely out of disobediance(generally an dult heard or you got told on and still got into trouble) but swaer words and these 'racist' words are on the same par and i do think we are in danger of becoming too ott in political correctness.

FrannyandZooey · 16/04/2008 20:29

oh god I thought it was blackie! I was completely at a loss here

oh dear what a difficult situation

dinny · 16/04/2008 20:34

yes, F&Z, I thought it was "blackie" too!

windygalestoday · 16/04/2008 20:36

it may well have been - im the first poster to assume it meant anything else?

Flamestar · 16/04/2008 20:36

Underrated! DD talks about her friend as being brown, but she talks about herself as being pink with yellow hair.

They are young children, I don't see anything wrong with a 5 yr old saying another one is brown/chocolate as much as they can call them yellow haired or freckled.

collision · 16/04/2008 20:41

DS (6) talks about brown Joshua and white Joshua in his class but only to differentiate.

He and his bro were rhyming all sorts of words this morning which I ignored as it was a lot of rubbish!!

heart
fart
cart
tart

punt
front
cunt
hunt

I can easily see how the OP's son said it by mistake.

FrannyandZooey · 16/04/2008 20:43

no, it being blackie made very little sense really
I assume it was the abbreviation of Pakistani and can see why the school perhaps had to report this word even being used, even though no malicious intent from the OP's ds

ingles2 · 16/04/2008 20:46

ds2 teacher had a word with me when he was in reception. she said he said the word "fuck" in circle time...
I was horrified and asked the context...it turns out they were doing rhyming words with 'duck"!!!!

Janni · 16/04/2008 20:48

It seems strange to me that the school cannot simply deal with this incident and tell the boy clearly why what he said was wrong and why he mustn't use that word again.

Does it REALLY have to be reported to the LEA?

margoandjerry · 16/04/2008 20:51

seems like a total overreaction to me. If you're rhyming things you tend to see the rhyme before the meaning iykwim.

And if the teacher is white he can't possibly have meant it in its unpleasant sense rather than just using it for rhyming purposes. Unless the word has moved so far from its original meaning that it's now just generally derogatory rather than specifically racially derogatory and I'm not aware that that has happened.

Poor boy.

Flamestar · 16/04/2008 21:00

Yup, that is what I mean collision - it is just a way of explaining who they mean Although DD has requested brown skin at some point, I think she fancies a change

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