SEGREGATED SCHOOLS - DON'T BRING BACK APARTHEID

17-07-2006

In recent months the discussion has raged regarding the unfair treatment of black and ethnic minority children in our schools - not least here onThe Stirrer website.

Many of our schools still practice the ‘banding system', which is designed to put all the bright kids and the not so bright into “ability cohorts”.

In practice, this has led to black boys in particular receiving lower quality teaching which seems designed to keep black people poor and uneducated.

We have heard many commentators call for more attention to be paid to the growing problem.

Trevor Phillips (Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality) suggested that black boys should be taught in separate classes - that's been slammed as a form of apartheid and a re-introduction of the Jim Crow laws which were used to enforce segregation of black and white people under the slave system in the United States.

Historian and race equality champion Dr Derrick Campbell disagrees - he says black boys should not be treated like leapers in our schools; they are already experiencing isolation and feel alienated so separating them from the mainstream will only make the problem worse.

He said “our black boys do very well primary school but are failed by the secondary education system.

“That's down to a mixture of racism - some of it overt, some of it institutional - - and some of it because parents not taking enough interest in their children's education.

Derrick said, “What is needed is a consistent and equal treatment of all our children whether black or white”.

“Head teachers must adopt an attitude that no child should be allowed to fail in their schools, and if a child is highlighted as being vulnerable then he or she should be supported through the main stream.

“Teachers should be given sufficient resources to help those children remain in the class with their peers and not be singled out as a special case”.

He added: “My fear is that if you have a two tier system, due to financial constraints faced by the education departments, you invariably end up with different qualities of support, one which is good and one that is poor.”