EDUCATION minister Kenneth Baker has refused to intervene to force Kirklees education authority to submit to placing 26 children at Overthorpe Middle School in Dewsbury. He has stated that the present legal set-up does not allow him to do so. He made no denunciation of the racist campaign carried out by parents refusing to send their children to Headfield Middle School in Dewsbury because it has a majority of Asian pupils.
As soon as his Education Bill becomes law in 1989, however, the parents concerned will have Tne interrered 'freedom of choice' which they are now demanding The Dewsbury affair has shown the way In which under such 'freedom choice' demands lie unadulterated racism.
"This case, and the way the press have handled it, Labour MP told *is part of a racist backlash in education that started with Ray Honeyford and con tinued the Mauree McGoldrick ,It..
and racist involved British children of Asian descent.
The great majority of the children were born here, so the sheer racism blatant.
Abbott said that she didn't particularly like raising the point 'but the so-called educational argument is also rubbish.
Studies show thai children in a number cases actually, achievements than white Britishborn children "The real question is : that the parents objections sending Lo e children to the school are racist. All the stutt about "culture" being taken "seriously" by the media simply being used to obscure the fact that the objective is a racist one' Diane Abbott is right.
rallied JCWS sing Parentai bury Parental Association for Choice in Education, whose chair is Baroness Cox and vice-chair Norris McWhirter, has offered to mobilise support, 1llcluding taking the case to tie suroocal coull Ine parents do not want a multi-cultural curriculum which is infringing on the British tradition by diluting it,' said secretary, Fred Naylor.
The so-called Independent (it Isn l ••• dre volei responded to such racist bigotry by reintorcing it. , A leader article in its September issue concluded that: 'overemphasis language teaching ill digested 'multicultural studies"? will perpetuate the handicaps faced by ethnic minorities breed resentment group of parents are refusing to send their children because it is preponderantly black among white parents.
education retusea lo charactthe Dewsbury for what it was — racism.
The woula nave aone beller lo read their own education correspondent's ECOUTL Vriting in the 8 Septembe "ssue Marsh says that the school involved, Headfield Middle is a Church of England school described even by the local vicar 'magnificent' The curriculum 'is the same as you would find else Yesterday's school lunch was the evidently Asian cultural speciality of fish fingers, cheese and egg flan, cheese and tomato sandwiches, hips, salad, steamed pu ling and custard and fru Indeed ask ASal children's needs were not specncaly catered Pupils at Headfield Middle School, Dewsbury, where a for.
By attacking 'multicultural education' Muslim schools, the press is turning the criminal. Racism is not created bv black deople they are its target Cultural and language education community-controlled schools, blem. They are the entirely are not a legitimate demands people torn their homelands by perialism which ancousiv souent lo desuro their cultural heritage. Doing so was key in making them a source of cheap The mounting problems in education are the result not of children of Asian descent but of government policy. Last July, the school inspectors reported that Tun-cown unsuitable rooms were now adversely 20 per cent of SCROOS catalogued an entire litany of blems with education provision. Preliminary findings joint Naof Teachers/British Educational waulpment Associa. tion survey described matas being , even worse The situation will deteriorate with the huge cuts in educational spending which planned. mare diverting aveen- government, tion from that real crisis by stoking up racist hysteria - al Lavour Is w av ing the price for failures such as refusal to support Brent council over the McGoldrick affair.
Baker's proposed 'core (read white, English Conservative) curriculum, 'freedom parental choice' right U1 schools to opt out of local authority control will Dewsbury affair part of the racist shape of things to come.