The BBC tread carefully around issues of race, culture and demographic change. So it’s not surprising that the report on Sir Keith Ajegbo’s ‘Diversity and Citizenship’ report reached sixteen revisions in four days.
The headline and the main thrust of the story itself is not an honest reflection of Sir Keith’s main findings and recommendations.
Schools in England should teach “core British values” alongside cultural diversity, a report says.
In fact the phrase ‘core British values’, used in quotation marks by the BBC, appears nowhere in the report (pdf). The document’s ‘vision’ is ‘for all schools to be actively engaged in nurturing in pupils the skills to participate in an active and inclusive democracy, appreciating and understanding difference’, a slightly more flexible and loosely-defined aim. Neither do the 23 recommendations of the report, headed “Education for Diversity”, include the word ‘British’ or anything about teaching British values. Instead we read that “all schools should be encouraged to audit their curriculum to establish what they currently teach that is meaningful for all pupils in relation to diversity and multiple identities“, or that “the QCA should work closely with awarding bodies to ensure, wherever possible, that education for diversity appears in syllabuses and exam questions” – a recommendation which I look forward to seeing implemented in Mathematics.
Among the background information in the report was that “the 2001 census shows that nearly 1 in 8 pupils are minority ethnic. By 2010 the proportion is expected to be around 1 in 5.”
This statistic was quoted by Education Minister Alan Johnson in version 1.
“By 2010 one in five pupils in our schools will be from an ethnic minority – this is a challenge but also an opportunity to instil a culture of understanding and tolerance at an early age.”
By version 7 this statistic had vanished.
hmm the cover of the report says it all.
cant see any blond haired , blue eyed Anglo Saxon….
reading through it now.
Legally is there really such a thing as a British “citizen”?
Since we live in country with the Queen as head of state, I would have thought that legally the term is “subject” – as in, we’re all subjects of Her Majesty.
Just curious as to where this “citizen” idea is coming from, in a purely legal angle. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
I think Britishness as understood by our rulers wouldn’t be big on the Monarchy.
I quote :
“To be British seems to us to mean that we respect the laws, the elected parliamentary and democratic political structures, traditional values of mutual tolerance, respect for equal rights and mutual concern; and that we give our allegiance to the state (as commonly symbolised in the Crown) in return for its protection. To be British is to respect those over-arching specific institutions, values, beliefs and traditions that bind us all, the different nations and cultures, together in peace and in a legal order. For we are all subject to the laws of the land including Human Rights and Equal Rights legislation, and so our diversities of practice must adhere to these legal frameworks.”
To sum up – the Monarchy is reduced to “as commonly symbolised” and we are only subjects of “the laws of the land including Human Rights and Equal Rights legislation” – i.e. the core values of Britishness as developed in various Government departments since 1997 !
‘In fact the phrase ‘core British values’, used in quotation marks by the BBC, appears nowhere in the report ‘
So then, that’s a lie. A documented out and out lie from al beeb. A falsehood intentionally placed by a vile organization from which I have come to expect little more.
No doubt ‘John Rieth’ will be along any time now to slither his slimy way and to correct our spelling.
” a recommendation which I look forward to seeing implemented in Mathematics.”
they actually DO recommend something along those lines – go to page 51/52 of the report.
the report also mentions the infamous “1001 (islamic) inventions”, which was totally fisked on various blogs and comment boards last year.
http://www.1001inventions.com
Laban -> yes laban. i’ve looked through the report for ANY reference to the Monarchy or the institutions of Monarchy.
I can’t find it.
odd, eh? Its almost as if the authors are referring to some pretendy Republic of Britain.
reading through the report is *painful*.
god – the Americans have it soooo much easier.
The flag, the constitution, “liberty and justice for all” – done. Now onto other things…
archduke
When I got my first passport I was “a British subject: citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies”. In my most recent passport I have been elevated (or demoted) to the status of a “British citizen”.
Funny, when I was a “subject” I was proud of the status and felt genuinely sorry for those who were not similarly privileged. Now I am a “citizen” and see my fellow citizens (many of whom have a barely passing acquaintance with the English language and yet have been handed a passport by the confetti manufacturers at the Passport Office) I envy my children who have access to the citizenship of another country which has not yet devalued the status of its citizenship as we have.
Thanks for the link to this report.
I believe that on BBC 1 Question Time (25.01.07) it was acknowledged towards the end of the discussion that the Ajegbo report applied only to “England,” upon which the BBC ballerina, Deborah Bull, suggested that instead of Britishness “Perhaps we should teach Englishness”
From the moment when I heard that the report had been assigned to a token minority member, I was pretty sure what it would say. As a matter of fact, I was surprised to hear that it was supposed to support something called “British values”. Now I am told that it did nothing of the kind and in fact merely restates the PC rubbish that has reduced Britain to the condition it’s in. No surprise after all. The notion of bringing back discipline in the classroom and to teach citizenship from the viewpoint of duties rather than of rights and entitlements seems not to have even been considered. So a large part of students of all colours will continue to leave schools worse than untaught, and new jails will continue to be built in order to accommodate the results. Only one politician seems to have noticed the connection between school-fostered ignorance and jail: Jonathan Aitken, who went to jail. Which makes me think that if we jailed every professional politician for a couple of years (as the old saying goes, you do not know why you are punishing them, but they do), we might perhaps getter more sane policies.
“Citizen” suggests a wistful attachment to the French Revolution. If these New Labour sansculottes had their way there would be no crown anywhere, not even as a symbol, let alone a monarch in person.
“the report also mentions the infamous “1001 (islamic) inventions”, which was totally fisked on various blogs and comment boards last year.”
Does anyone have a link to a site which busts the myth of islamic science?
Allan@Aberdeen:
http://badhairblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/brief-debunking-of-list-of-top-20.html
allan->
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/03/1001-inventions-book.html
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/03/muslim-heritage-exhibition.html
Allan@Aberdeen:
http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2006/03/islamic-invention.html
Fabio P.Barbieri
A teacher who would agree with you.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6321861.stm
“As soon as you walk through the school doors – you have absolutely no idea what will happen – it’s like a war-zone.
“There’s extreme cases of bullying – some teachers are in tears every day.
“It comes to the stage where the curriculum doesn’t even come into it. I am satisfied just if I get the kids to be nice to one another.”
Thanks, gents.
a recommendation which I look forward to seeing implemented in Mathematics.
They’ve been doing that for 10-15 years at least. I remember I used to get questions like “Harminder buys 10 oranges…”
It’s so blatantly obvious and used to be made fun of in class by everyone. How many “characters” appear in a maths book; maybe 30 at most? When 25-50% of them have Indian names it just turns into a joke and nobody is fooled.
http://www.1001inventions.com
I’d never seen this site before, but bloody hell! I’m having a hard time restraining myself from using very bad language.
Some of the inventions that this site claims were invented by muslims (I only went through the science areas, that’s my best area):
Compass – are they kidding me? The Chinese had compasses and I’m sure they existed before that too
Astrolabe – the Greeks had these, but they do say that
The Earth is round – are they f*****g s*****g me? The Greeks knew it was round, they even knew the diameter. The idea that anybody ever thought it was flat is a myth
Many, many entries basically boil down to “this guy who was a muslim did this”. So what, 20 muslims in 1400 years added to the west’s knowledge? There’s probably 20 Scots every 14 years and the country has never had a population much over 5 million!
I did GCSE maths back in 1997, and I do not recall seeing a single male European name anywhere within six hours worth of exam papers. All Male names were “effnik”, as were the vast majority of female names.
If I remember correctly, given that this was 10 years ago, the vast majority of the names were both female and “effnik”. speaking as a bit of a traditionalist here, I really don’t understand this fascination for including names in a maths exam for 16-year-olds in any case — either you can do the maths or you cannot. Phrasing it in terms of “Jasweena this, Mingeeta that” does not change the fundamental maths behind it by making it more “relevant” or any other such nonsense.
The story chosen for the English paper was laughable: written by a woman (natch, although this wouldn’t have been an issue if she was a good writer — this was the second year in a row that her work had been chosen, and it was badly written garbage) about a social worker visiting an effnik family in a council tower block. And this stuff is supposed to be “relevant” to the vast majority of GCSE students?
FTP:The Earth is round – are they f*****g s*****g me? The Greeks knew it was round, they even knew the diameter. The idea that anybody ever thought it was flat is a myth
Didn’t some Saudi mullahs once issue a fatwa declaring the world to be flat?
Nep Nederlander:
I did my GCSEs in 2002 but I don’t remember it being that bad. I think I did higher maths with the AQA board so maybe the level and board makes a big difference? There were pretty much 2 or 3 token black people at that school (I’ve gone to loads) and the rest were white so maybe AQA gears their exams towards their area (midlands)?
As for English, in terms of actual books it was still Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies etc. But I think you’re referring to the short story or article that you only have a week or two to prepare an answer for beforehand. I can’t remember which one I chose (there was 3-5), but I remember the easiest one was a review of Oblivion at Alton Towers from some roller coaster enthusiast website. Can it have gotten much lower?
One of the questions we had to prepare for was a letter to a newspaper complaining about some issue. Surely this was to prepare us for our new careers as left wing propagandists but my friend chose to write on the plight of unused jam jars left in garden sheds. Apparently they could buy you so many cigarettes or jet fighters for the country (I can’t remember his figures).
I didn’t really understand why he did this at the time, but I think he was wiser than me at that age. I don’t think I really woke up until I was kicked out of an A Level General Studies class for asking the question: “why do you always point out the differences between cultures? At my last school we focussed on the similarities.” And the last school was a grammar school, very high in the league tables, and much more culturally mixed. I’d guess 80% white, 15% Indian, 5% Chinese, 1% other. One of those hideously white, terribly upper class schools, you know?