English schoolchildren are being indoctrinated with far-left theories on race that appear to be racist toward native Britons, despite the lessons being characterised as promoting “anti-racism”.
According to a report from The Telegraph, a group of schools in Sheffield has developed lessons that seek to challenge “the unequal systems that surround us in society” by teaching students about contested concepts such as “White Privilege”, which argues that white people are advantaged over other groups in Western nations.
Led by Notre Dame High School, which has been tapped by the government to train teachers and administrators from other schools, the scheme reportedly teaches students that black people cannot be racist toward white people because they do not have the requisite cultural power to be racist.
The concept was developed by leftist American academic Patricia Bidol-Padva, who argued in her 1970 book Developing New Perspectives on Race that racism is prejudice plus power, and therefore supposedly disempowered ethnic minorities can only be prejudiced toward white people.
Although heavily disputed, the theory has been widely picked up by social justice activists on both sides of the Atlantic, including White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo and British journalist and Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race author Reni Eddo-Lodge.
In addition, students as young as seven-years-old are also being instructed that white people have an inherent privilege in British society due to their skin colour. Because of this supposedly undeserved privilege, the youngsters are reportedly being told that they have a personal “responsibility” to reduce racism in British society.
The curriculum has sparked backlash, with Conservative MP and Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott saying: “It is deeply alarming that children as young as seven are being exposed to divisive identity politics in schools under the banner of ‘anti-racism education.
“These materials teach children that black prejudice against white people cannot be described as racism, present contested concepts like ‘white privilege’ as unquestionable fact and encourage pupils to see themselves primarily through the lens of race.
“It is hugely damaging and exactly the kind of left-wing ideological nonsense that should be nowhere near our classrooms. Labelling children by race and teaching them to focus on what divides them will only foster resentment and deepen division.”
However, the Conservative Party did little to confront leftist ideological drift in schools during its 14 years in power. Indeed, under the previous Tory government, the National Education Union (NEU) openly advocated for teaching concepts like white privilege to combat “racial prejudice” within children under the age of five.
The fixation on supposed advantages of white children comes despite multiple reports finding that white working-class students are often the most systematically disadvantaged of any group in Britain, as the education system has placed a priority on the advancement of ethnic minorities, regardless of economic background.
Oxford University Emeritus Professor Peter Edwards previously argued that the issues facing white working-class students were seen as “unfashionable” and unworthy of attention due to them supposedly having “inherent advantage or privilege”.
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