Left-wing indoctrination in schools?
Left-wing indoctrination in schools? The decolonising project Following an earlier thread in respect of this matter, I have submitted a list of questions to the council officer, Julie Lewis, who is responsible for the decolonising project. As yet, it is not even clear what it comprises. There is no official statement in respect of it. The Black Lives Matter Movement, however, appears to be its spring-board and at the centre of its interest. One of my questions was which manifestation of the movement Ealing Council was in step with. The movement has recently taken a sinister “black-shirt”, paramilitary-style turn. We shall have to be on the look-out for Julian Bell goose-stepping down the Uxbridge Road, not likely, but, if the price was right -----Here are the questions. 1. THE DECOLONISING PROJECTI learned about it only from an item on the Ealing Today website. I tried to find an official statement about the project but failed to locate one.Does Ealing Council have an official statement about the project? [Q1]If so, may I have a copy and will you publish it? [Q2]2. THE EALING LEARNING PARTNERSHIPThis is an association of Council officers and head teachers. You are its director. I hoped I might find further information here but I am denied access because “full access is only available to registered users” and user accounts are only available for Ealing maintained schools and academies staff and Ealing LA staff. Why are they not available to the people who are funding it? [Q3]Do you consider it appropriate for the Council or ELP to operate in this covert manner in respect of children’s education, avoiding scrutiny by the public? [Q4]Will you give me access to all the information about this organisation that I am presently denied? [Q5]If not, what is your reason for refusing? There is no issue of confidentiality involved. [Q6]3. THOSE INVOLVED IN THE DECOLONISING PROJECTThis initiative was arranged “in a meeting between education union representatives and Ealing Council on Tuesday, June 30” and you “welcomed the steps from the unions”. “A union rep at Twyford High School” was also involved.Will you please supply a list of the other organisations and pressure groups whom you have consulted? [Q7] This is to reassure us that this is not merely a one-sided, left-wing inspired endeavour but one that takes into account a spectrum of political opinion in respect of matters educational, the present issue in particular.Why did you not consult the people of Ealing? What is taught in our schools, how it is taught and who influences what is taught is a matter of concern to all the people of Ealing. [Q8]Are you a member of a union? Which? One would not normally ask this question, but, in the circumstances, it is necessary in order to establish that you are behaving with the impartiality required of you as a public servant and by the council’s code for employees. [Q9]4. THE “PROBLEM”You allude to government data in which “black Caribbean students’ attainment was below the average for England in all subjects and at all key stages.” This was your reason for selecting this issue to act upon.There is also ample evidence that white working-class boys are underachieving. The problem was discussed in Parliament on 12.3.20. Statistics were reeled off and the opening speaker concluded by saying: I am concerned that this issue has been brushed under the carpet … by modern society, which refuses to see the plight of young white males, even those from disadvantaged backgrounds.Why are you concerned with one racial group and not another? The two matters could surely be pursued in parallel, instructively so. There is no evidence of any similar endeavour in respect of white working-class boys. Your present approach, if not racist, is manifestly RACIALLY-DISCRIMINATORY. What is your explanation? The reason you give for pursuing the one matter applies equally to the other. [Q10]5. THE PROBLEM LOCALLYYou are concerned that black Caribbean students’ attainment is below the average in England. What evidence do you have that this is the case in Ealing? [Q11]Which schools in Ealing are operating the curriculum to the disadvantage of black Caribbean pupils so that it is necessary to “decolonise” the curriculum in their case? Please name them. [Q12]If you have no such evidence, why burden schools with this issue at a time that is difficult enough for them as they prepare to reopen? [Q13]Why are you acting upon generalised data and mere assumption? [Q14]6.THE CURRICULUM It is difficult to understand how the manner in which mathematics is taught at GCSE or A level can disadvantage black Caribbean-heritage pupils as, while socio-economic factors may affect their diligence, success in the subject essentially depends upon a capacity for abstract reasoning. How does one decolonise a quadratic equation? With other subjects, though not all, it might make more sense.Please supply a list of subjects with an explanation of what “decolonise” MEANS in the context of each. [Q15]The union representative, has some suggestions. LiteratureHe writes: “The English curriculum has a lot of dead white men in it, and yet whilst those suggestions are literally very good examples, there is a wealth of other authors and poets that can be studied that would be just as good, just as relevant, and perhaps more engaging for our population.”Which, in your opinion are the “dead white men” - and let us not forget the ladies - whose works are no longer considered relevant? Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Milton, Dickens, Austin, the Brontes? And, more importantly, the names, please, of the “authors and poets who are just as good”. [Q16]GeographyHe refers to progress being made by a rep who set up a WhatsApp group now with more than 100 geography teachers, academics and professors looking how to make the subject anti-racist. More information, please. In what way is geography as presently taught in Ealing schools racist? Which schools in Ealing are guilty of this racism? [Q17]HistoryYour union man asks: “Will Ealing and ELP work with the NEU in putting together a curriculum which has been decolonised and has got anti-racism threaded through all parts of the curriculum and not just having a Black History Month?”This sounds very much like what we were promised had Labour won the last election. Even the phraseology resembles Labour’s Race and Faith manifesto. (“The history of colonialism should be ‘part and parcel of what our children learn all year round’” and "not just in Black History Month". A Trust was to be set up to ensure “the historical injustices of colonialism, and the role of the British Empire was properly integrated into the National Curriculum, to teach powerful Black history which is also British history”.)Which schools in Ealing have been failing to teach the “dark side” of the history of the British Empire? Please name them. [Q18]Is it the opinion of Ealing Council that the British Empire had no good effects? [Q19]Will you explain how the Ealing Council will make sure that a balanced account of the British Empire will be presented in the classroom? The indications are that it will not be. The very terms of discussion suggest the matter is already settled. [Q20]The analysis of the content of any part of the curriculum can only be plausibly carried out by a person qualified in that subject. Please state in respect of each part of the curriculum, each subject, the name, status and qualifications of the person who will be examining that part of the curriculum in order to decolonise it. [Q21]7. TWYFORD HIGH SCHOOLTwyford School is singled out on the local website. It is an Academy. There is no reason Ealing Council should not have discussions with academies along with its own schools, but an academy is free within the law to determine its own curriculum. What business is it of Ealing Council, to seek to pressure schools into going along with your decolonising agenda? I say “pressure” because head teachers may well feel intimidated into going along with it for fear of being called racist, which is the bullying ploy of left-wing agitators. Twyford High School was not put in the spotlight by a communication from the school but by a “union rep” at the school. The latter “revealed” that a letter has been received from 700 current and former pupils urging the school to “decolonise” the curriculum and support Black Lives Matter. A working group is being set up at the school for September. The suspicion is that the union rep might have been behind organising the letter and be behind setting up the working group. Who is the “union rep”? His name, please. To whom did the rep “reveal” this? To you or some other officer of Ealing Council? Or to whom? [Q22]The union “rep” appears to be distracting pupils from their education at a time when concentration upon it is particularly difficult and attempting to set up a posse of left-wing BLM activists? Irrespective of his obligations as a teacher, it is difficult to see how this activity conforms to the proper purpose of a students’ union as defined in legislation.Is it Ealing Council’s opinion that the proper purpose of a students’ union is to facilitate politically-motivated activism as against allowing it to have input into the “domestic”, day-to-day affairs of the school? [Q23}Twyford School has an excellent report from Ofsted. It did particularly well in respect of black pupils.“A well-above-average proportion of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, mainly Black or Black British, mixed race, Asian or Asian British, and White other than British --- Pupils of all backgrounds and abilities make excellent progress in tir studies and achieve well in almost all their lessons --- The gap is also narrowing significantly between the performance of certain minority ethnic groups, such as Black African and Caribbean pupils, and their peers at Twyford. They have done well in the past compared with national averages for their heritage group, and are now catching up with national norms for all pupils …. Exclusions of Black Caribbean boys has been higher than for other groups in the past but a specific focus on these pupils’ needs, responding with an effective curriculum, has reduced the number of incidents.In the light of this, what reason is there to interfere with the curriculum in this school? [Q24]8. BLACK LIVES MATTERYour project is floated on the tide of enthusiasm for the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Indeed, your ELP “provides information and guidance relating to Black Lives Matter and anti-racism, and presentations addressing George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matters protests”. This was a statement made with “partners in Hackney and Brent on changing what youngsters learn in schools”.In any case, we are clearly not talking about BLM as a slogan or sentiment (about which there is no dispute) but as an organisationWhat advice have you given and are you giving in respect of presentations “addressing George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matters protests”? Please may I have a copy? [Q25]What guidance are you as a council officer or director of ELP giving to schools in respect of the BLM movement? Please may I have a copy? Which “Black Lives Matter” organisation is Ealing Council supporting? Please respond in respect of each of the following. [Q26](i) Is it the original organisation formed by three black feminist lesbians?(ii) Is it the present USA organisation with its Defund the Police agenda and at the moment devoted to the political purpose of influencing the USA election? (iii) Is it an English version? If so, details of that, please. (iv) Is it the recent “Black Trans Lives Matter” variant? (v) Is it the Black Lives Matter movement in its Marxist manifestation in which the black/white polarity is interpreted as the oppressed/oppressor scenario of the “long march”? This was voiced recently in Oxford by an activist. “Racism is based on Capitalism”, she began. She continued, “We need a black militia. They have pepper sprays. We have a pepper spray. The police is no different from the KKK. British values do not exist. Put you fist in the air. BLACK POWER! Don’t let a Jewish man make you unheard. Free Palestine!” Does Ealing Council endorse these views? If not, reject each one specifically and in turn. Failure to do so will indicate that Ealing Council is in agreement with these sentiments and aims.(vi) Is it the BLM we have seen in action, rioting in Central London and injuring members of the police force, attacking and abusing black officers, committing acts of criminal damage in Bristol, rioting again in Brixton, whose members interviewed on TV have stated that its aim is to destroy capitalism?Will you dissociate yourself unequivocally and in specific terms from the manifestations of the BLM movement I have described? If you do not, I shall assume you approve of them and are approaching your work in a politically-motivated manner and that their views are your politics. [Q27]9. POLITICS IN EDUCATIONThe BLM movement, however it manifests itself, is a political movement. Council officers are allowed to reflect council policy, for instance the Borough Plan in considering planning applications. In respect of education and politics they are not, nor should they seek to influence schools and teachers in respect of a particular political outlook, neither should a local authority, neither should schools.Schools have a legal duty to teach children about politics in a balanced way. The Education Act 1996, Part V. Ch IV at 406 1 (b) prohibits “the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school” and at 407 requires that (1) the local education authority, governing body and head teacher shall take such steps … that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils (b) they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.“There is no reason why a teacher should not discuss the BLM Movement, but it should be done in an objective, non-partisan manner. That is not what is proposed here. Here, we have a union-led endeavour supported by Labour MPs, with a left-wing doctrinaire agenda, evident in, for instance, the “corbynated” attitude to the British Empire and your adding “BLM” to the ELP’s list of committees as though it were one of its functions. Will you explain how your present activity conforms to your obligations under the Act? [Q28]Within in each section I have numbered the questions and requests in square brackets so that you can keep a tally of them. Please answer them by number, rather than by generalised, catch-all comments.
Andrew Farmer ● 1352d5 Comments