More Racism In Schools

Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded than white, and five times less likely to be on the official register of gifted and talented students. Why? Because, according to a Whitehall report, teachers in England and Wales are unconsciously prejudiced against Caribbean-origin pupils.

What nonsense. NO evidence is presented to show us that teachers are collectively racist, and no one considers the possibility that these findings may be influenced by factors completely out of the teachers' control. As I covered in my first month in the blogosphere, different races come in different positions in the school achievement charts. What no one wants to acknowledge is that there are factors within the black community that MAY have an effect on these things, rather than just racism which MAY also have an effect. Such as the absence of fathers for black children, among others. The fact is that all races of people have traits that CAN be generalised to large quantities of their population. Not everyone from that cultural group is the same, of course, but we are deluding ourselves if we deny that the stereotypes DO have some basis in fact.

I'm not for a minute suggesting that what I'm about to say is definately the case, but WHAT IF black people are on average less intelligent than white people? The first people on Earth, after all, were black and originated in Africa. White people are essentially evolved versions of the original humans. Isn't it perhaps possible that biologically and psychologically, black people ON AVERAGE could perhaps have slightly less evolved brains than whites, related as they are to early man, and that this could contribute to decreased intelligence and thus worse exam scores? Isn't it also possible that black gun and ghetto culture could promote anti-social behaviour which could lead to being expelled?

There are, of course, many very bright black people, but that does not take away the fact that different races do have common traits. For example, working at a bank for many years, my dad noticed that all his Nigerian clients would suddenly zone out and stare into space for thirty seconds in the middle of a conversation. Is it racist to point this out? I think not. What we need to do is, instead of crying racism at every available opportunity, actually examine culture differences and how they affect academic achievement and other aspects of everyday life.

Don't get me wrong: all of this COULD be down to subconscious racism by teachers. But my point is that people are too quick to close down debate by saying this from the off, preventing serious analysis being made. If black people are biologically less intelligent, don't you think it's fairer that we accept this and try to help them? If that was the case, deciding it's "racism" and remaining ignorant of the root causes isn't doing them any favours at all, is it?