Education and Racism

You can teach children about slavery but how do you educate them not to be racist?

Following the Black Lives Matter campaign and the resultant issues surrounding the George Carteret statue on Jersey, many are asking for schools to teach pupils about racism and slavery. They do! These issues are covered in history lessons, in religious education and in personal, social and health education. However, to what depth and/or detail is open to the vagaries of each school.

History is a living subject; it is not just about ‘dead people from the past’ as a pupil once described it. But history is so vast which parts should children be taught? That decision was once decided independently, by academics, but in recent times politicians have got involved. Michael Gove whilst Secretary of State for Education in the UK went on a mission to restore history teaching to its ‘traditional’ values. Coursework was abandoned in favour of a doubling of subject content and all work was to be examined externally. In an instant the capacity for teachers to discuss issues such as racism and slavery was compromised. The renowned historian David Starkey, recently sacked by two universities for expressing racist views, was one of Michael Gove’s key advisors!

Democracies, like the UK, are quick to point the finger at other countries but political interference in education is not the preserve of totalitarian regimes. There is a world of difference between seeking to protect children from the horrors of history and engineering to hide inconvenient truths. The Nazi regime in pre-war Germany cherry picked its history and used it as propaganda. Some believe that it is possible to measure the political integrity of a country in terms of how honest it is about its past. Using this yardstick Germany fares well. Britain, not quite so good. The USA worse than us. Check out Japan.

Every country has a right to teach its own history as it sees fit but airbrushing out the uncomfortable parts does not facilitate learning lessons from the past.

It is all well and good knowing the chronological order of the kings and queens of England but this is of little value outside the classroom unless context is applied. If Jersey is serious about teaching its pupils topics such as slavery, historical or current, it must allow time on the curriculum to discuss these issues. However, this comes with the risk that pupils will draw their own conclusions and what they discover may not sit well with those in charge. Stifling debate is not only undemocratic it is tantamount to suppression.

Rather than focussing on World War Two or The Plantagenets maybe history should use different themes such as ‘Why countries go to war’; ‘The history of disease’; ‘Slavery through the ages’. This would allow pupils to learn better the lessons of history. It may have been the British that profited the most from the slave trade but slavery had been around long before the Brits came along. African chiefs traded in slaves as did Arab sheikhs. The UK only paid off debts incurred to slavers in 2015 following its abolition in 1833!

You can teach children about slavery but how do you educate them not to be racist? If a child only ever comes into contact with someone of a different race when they are waited on in a café, when their grass is cut or when they are served in a supermarket will they still perceive them as equals? Many children will grow up with an unconscious bias. They may not think that they are racist, but it is there. Poverty begets stunted educational development which in turn limits career opportunity which results in poverty. White privilege is free of the consequences of racism.

Institutionalised racism is when a lack of contact instils fear; this creates stereotypes which leads to prejudice and internalised oppression. 50% of Jersey’s pupils are educated in private schools where less than 5% are of an ethnic minority. To what extent are our private schools a breeding ground for institutionalised racism? One states high school in Jersey has a 45% Portuguese population. Being in a multi-racial school may not stop a person from becoming racist but it does help.

How many teachers, politicians, managers, social workers, civil servants, police, or lawyers on the island are from an ethnic minority group? The island has 8% of its population that have Portuguese ethnicity and 3% that are Polish. Where is their representation in white collar jobs and in our private schools, states funded or otherwise? A question was asked in this paper that evidence be provided to show where institutionalised racism exists on Jersey. It is there, right in front of you and if you cannot see it?…….

Adapted from article in the Jersey Evening Post 14/07/2020