There is a complete lack of honesty in education.

The Ofsted chief (Amanda Spielman) has said 'We are having to grapple with the unhappy fact that many local (white) working class communities have felt the full brunt of economic dislocation in recent years, and, perhaps as a result, can lack the aspiration and drive seen in many migrant communities.'

Then Sir Michael Wilshaw (former chief) said, 'The reason why London schools are doing so well, apart from good head teachers and teachers, is that a lot of the immigrant families care about education, they value education, they support their children.'

'I'm working in parts of England with white British populations where parents don't care. Or a lot of them don't care. And the head teachers tell me that less than 50% turn up to parents' evening. Now that's outrageous.'

[Link]

I want to make some observations on these comments.

Firstly, at a general macro level these comments are correct. There is an underclass within every social group and as whites are over eighty percent of the population this number is significant in England/UK.

However, if this had been stated about the black community in the same language the far left would be, in their simplistic way, screaming racism.

She was also correct to detail the reality that children from underclass families don't have motivation and view school as a form of jail time.....I use that 'underclass' word rather than working class because most working class children do actually work hard or at least behave ok.

However what is not ok is to highlight 'white' working class families as negative and then produce this generalized description that is totally disingenuous that states that many migrant communities' have aspiration and drive.

This is lumping migrant communities together and falsely giving the impression that they are similar.

This is a problematic statement and it isn't true. The truth is that 'some' do and some don't. The context matters and the achievements in different subjects matter as well. For example achievement in STEM is more important to the economy than producing an endless stream of job seekers from the humanities.

It isn't 'many' migrant communities, it's a specific number of migrant communities who do well and the rest of them don't. Migrant communities also have huge underclass problems. For example, for their population size there are double that percentage of Muslims within prisons.

South east Asians on average do better than any other group. The old 'tiger' mother stereotype notwithstanding the statistics don't lie.

Indians on average do better.

Other groups have issues.

However, this focus on white underclass performance completely ignores the reality that black students are the ethnic group least likely to achieve a C in their Maths GCSE, with only 63% attaining this level, compared to a national average of 68%

For black boys this is worse, at 60%. This translates into strikingly low attainment in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) A levels at key stage 5. I view the performance in the most difficult subjects as the most important aspect.

Where is the Ofsted focus upon this?

No, this is left to black leaders to address and it's down to poor and negative attitudes and also a lack of recognition that some groups, on average, are just statistically more academically gifted than others and that's no one's fault.

I'll end the post with how I started it. There is a complete lack of honesty in education.

Edited by Stirlingsays (22 Jun 2018 12.51pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

The lack of aspiration and the failure to educate white working class is nothing new. I have recently befriended a social anthropologist she is a lecturer at a northern university. About 12 years ago she published a book on this very subject and used Bermondsey as her area of expertise. I am deliberately not identifying her as I do not want to misquote her by accident. She has spent years studying this subject and I may not do her justice.

This is my take on her book.

She is very middle class but due to circumstances she outlined in the book she spent 15 years living on a council estate in poverty so her observations are very first hand and she struggled with the day to day just like her neighbours.

Having grown up on a council estate I recognise a lot of the characters she describes. As the OP said some white working class families see education as a chore and pointless as they do not see it will lead to anything. This apathy and lack of ambition is the root of the problem. I suspect that a similar attitude may also exist amongst some young black people who see gangs and drugs as a better career than university.

Until we can create an aspirational culture as the norm we will continue to have these problems. Her feeling was that families that succeed in formal education is because it is a learned behaviour from home. Some children do not embrace school because they are not used to a formal structure e.g. lessons then play then lessons then lunch. Children who are given structure at home just accept the rules of school as just another thing they have to do.

I did not think that I would agree with her before I read the book but on reflection a lot of what she said is right. The real question is how you create an aspirational society. I doubt anyone has the answer to that.

One more point

Or perhaps Mrs Simmel’s words in Monty Python’s ‘The Tale of the Piranha Brothers’ spoken by Terry Jones:

“Oh yes Kipling Road was a typical East End Street, people were in and out of each other's houses with each other's property all day. They were a cheery lot.”

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

When it comes down to academic performance the lies can't hold.

However, they can be hidden in half truths and manipulated.

Of course we must appreciate that averages for a group are not truths for any individual. Who always deserve to firstly be treated as an individual. For example, the black community may have the lowest STEM scores on average but the brightest teenager I ever taught was black......and I've taught many.

Also, any effects that may be genetic are not the fault of the individual. For example, if you are born with a low IQ that is no more your fault than is being born bright any personal accomplishment. This is purely the genetic lottery.

However communities can be blamed for community cultures and poor attitudes and praised when it's appropriate. But don't be disingenuous about it.

If the establishment is going to do this it's vital that they don't tell half truths and cover up the wider picture.......but in reality they do because they themselves only play in the unhelpful politically correct landscape that the politicians and media/activists have created.

Edited by Stirlingsays (22 Jun 2018 2.32pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Venture capitalists and irresponsible banking caused all our problems, including the "lack of aspiration" yet we wanna stick it on poor whites or blacks or whoever else, anyone but the well documented, proven criminals and vultures.

We all need to stick together and fight the real cause but of course the rags would label that behaviour social m, so we scwabble amongst ourselves while these greedy nonces (quite literally) laugh at us fighting over the crumbs they've generously left behind.

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Problems? This is relative. I recognise that working families have hard demands on them. Some fail and they have always failed and society could do a better job for them.

However, We live to the highest ages, we have the highest proportions of obesity amongst the poor.

What are you comparing us to?

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)