Thank you for writing this Greg. Having a similar ethnic background to Kerr I was excited to celebrate her achievements as an Australian-Indian. Over the last week in conversations with others about this situation, I have noted the excuses we all make for people when we want them to stay on the pedestal we've put them on.
You ask what this means for schools - at school I think we often make these excuses too - we think of the students who have gone without, have done it tough, have walked through discrimination or been a minority and we try to fill the gaps. I can think of very few teachers who take a no-excuses-hardline on kids when we perceive they are just fighting back. We don't have rules for this which results in not addressing the behaviours such as the example a reader shared below.
Over time I have come to think that this is not the best thing for anyone. Constantly moving the needle is not about equality or equity, it's about adults deciding for students what frameworks they are able to adhere to and this can also be a form of discrimination. When we decide that someone from a different starting point is incapable of rising to a standard this shows a lack of belief. I don't think discriminatory comments involving skin colour work any different. Students have all arrived at school from various beginnings and just like with learning, we take their current background knowledge and we build it to a level playing field. There are schools who have changed communities with this thinking.
As you discussed we could look at the American model and argue about privilege and history. If Sam's experience growing up has anything in common with mine, then she could probably stack up the times she has been racially vilified, comparatively to this occasion, and it would be laughable. But it is not about 'tit-for-tat' because the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. If those racial slurs in the past had been dealt with appropriately perhaps the behaviours would have been stamped out and prevented.
So if nothing else I hope this brings a great conversation about role models who are occasionally disappointing, and about schools creating high expectations where everyone thrives because we don't (within reason) differentiate our expectations.
Hi Greg--reading this, the thing that comes to my mind is that the racism in the US is real, often denied by conservatives, yet permeates our history and current society as a Godzilla-like monster. We struggle with it, try to find ways to smother it, but it's damned difficult to make progress much less to slay it. Hell, the US Republican Party this election cycle is channeling George Wallace in the current political campaign narratives.
I do wish that our discourse and the ways we try to deal with the monster would stay within our borders. Race issues in Canada, Australia, the UK, France or wherever have their own histories and complications that do not match what happened here. Rather than parrot US academics, finding ways to discuss race that matches those complications would be more beneficial than looking for some universalist way to approach the topic that is heavily influenced by the US experience.
Thanks for writing this, Greg. When I read Craig Foster’s explanation for why he changed his mind, I was gob-smacked. Something like, I didn’t understand, now I do, I had it explained to me. Wow. He should have stuck with his gut instinct and call out the bad behaviour for what it was. If we want equality, we need to apply an objective standard of what constitutes racism and racist language, without qualification. If we want a functioning civil society, then we need to have standards below which no one should feel entitled to behave. And that goes for schools too!
Greg thanks for your commentary/analysis, I work in a large primary secondary school up in QLD. The school population consists of many students who are of Islander, Indigenous, and African heritage. This type of racist behaviour is almost a daily occurrence between these groups however it is swept under the rug by admin - that is zero consequences. An African girl in my G5 class was called a monkey on Friday by an Islander girl in my class. Admin simply called it name calling and said it was not a nice thing to do.
Not sure if the kids think in terms of social privilege but each group sees themselves as better than the others. The change required is not coming from our school or home.
As usual you have given me a lot to ponder. Look forward to and enjoy your writings.
The power differential angle always strikes me as too cute. The reason "white" isn't offensive is because it doesn't have any history or connotations as a slur. It's empty.
But schools are artificial environments that make all sorts of decisions to keep the peace. So it's completely justifiable to have a straightforward "no race-based insults" rule.
You can be honest with the kids and say "in society, this is much worse than that" while holding the line that rules are rules. Don't have to be the same level of angry, parents don't have to be mortified in the same way etc, but the same formal punishments can apply.
Per Kerr, she was behaving as a drunken idiot. Any and all opinions from armchair commentators need to confine their opinions to this arena, and nothing else.
Per schools, all cases of slurs, of any type, are dealt on an entirely color blind case-by-case basis.
Thank you for writing this Greg. Having a similar ethnic background to Kerr I was excited to celebrate her achievements as an Australian-Indian. Over the last week in conversations with others about this situation, I have noted the excuses we all make for people when we want them to stay on the pedestal we've put them on.
You ask what this means for schools - at school I think we often make these excuses too - we think of the students who have gone without, have done it tough, have walked through discrimination or been a minority and we try to fill the gaps. I can think of very few teachers who take a no-excuses-hardline on kids when we perceive they are just fighting back. We don't have rules for this which results in not addressing the behaviours such as the example a reader shared below.
Over time I have come to think that this is not the best thing for anyone. Constantly moving the needle is not about equality or equity, it's about adults deciding for students what frameworks they are able to adhere to and this can also be a form of discrimination. When we decide that someone from a different starting point is incapable of rising to a standard this shows a lack of belief. I don't think discriminatory comments involving skin colour work any different. Students have all arrived at school from various beginnings and just like with learning, we take their current background knowledge and we build it to a level playing field. There are schools who have changed communities with this thinking.
As you discussed we could look at the American model and argue about privilege and history. If Sam's experience growing up has anything in common with mine, then she could probably stack up the times she has been racially vilified, comparatively to this occasion, and it would be laughable. But it is not about 'tit-for-tat' because the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. If those racial slurs in the past had been dealt with appropriately perhaps the behaviours would have been stamped out and prevented.
So if nothing else I hope this brings a great conversation about role models who are occasionally disappointing, and about schools creating high expectations where everyone thrives because we don't (within reason) differentiate our expectations.
Hi Greg--reading this, the thing that comes to my mind is that the racism in the US is real, often denied by conservatives, yet permeates our history and current society as a Godzilla-like monster. We struggle with it, try to find ways to smother it, but it's damned difficult to make progress much less to slay it. Hell, the US Republican Party this election cycle is channeling George Wallace in the current political campaign narratives.
I do wish that our discourse and the ways we try to deal with the monster would stay within our borders. Race issues in Canada, Australia, the UK, France or wherever have their own histories and complications that do not match what happened here. Rather than parrot US academics, finding ways to discuss race that matches those complications would be more beneficial than looking for some universalist way to approach the topic that is heavily influenced by the US experience.
Thanks for writing this, Greg. When I read Craig Foster’s explanation for why he changed his mind, I was gob-smacked. Something like, I didn’t understand, now I do, I had it explained to me. Wow. He should have stuck with his gut instinct and call out the bad behaviour for what it was. If we want equality, we need to apply an objective standard of what constitutes racism and racist language, without qualification. If we want a functioning civil society, then we need to have standards below which no one should feel entitled to behave. And that goes for schools too!
Ian
Greg thanks for your commentary/analysis, I work in a large primary secondary school up in QLD. The school population consists of many students who are of Islander, Indigenous, and African heritage. This type of racist behaviour is almost a daily occurrence between these groups however it is swept under the rug by admin - that is zero consequences. An African girl in my G5 class was called a monkey on Friday by an Islander girl in my class. Admin simply called it name calling and said it was not a nice thing to do.
Not sure if the kids think in terms of social privilege but each group sees themselves as better than the others. The change required is not coming from our school or home.
As usual you have given me a lot to ponder. Look forward to and enjoy your writings.
You maybe guilty of wishing for what you like be not what is.
Words can be designed to mean what the speaker wants them to mean- brilliig, fractal etc.
Or redesigned by popular usage - gay.
In English you can lament the change in meaning that holds sway but you can’t undo it if the authors win the popular usage battle.
In the end you have to decide if you want to argue about word meanings or ideas.
Sadly if you want to argue ideas you have dealt with with others ability to change what people mean by a word.
The power differential angle always strikes me as too cute. The reason "white" isn't offensive is because it doesn't have any history or connotations as a slur. It's empty.
But schools are artificial environments that make all sorts of decisions to keep the peace. So it's completely justifiable to have a straightforward "no race-based insults" rule.
You can be honest with the kids and say "in society, this is much worse than that" while holding the line that rules are rules. Don't have to be the same level of angry, parents don't have to be mortified in the same way etc, but the same formal punishments can apply.
Per Kerr, she was behaving as a drunken idiot. Any and all opinions from armchair commentators need to confine their opinions to this arena, and nothing else.
Per schools, all cases of slurs, of any type, are dealt on an entirely color blind case-by-case basis.