The BBC today reports that after nearly 60 years of being in
A charter published by the National Union of Teachers says that responsibility for achievement lie with the youngsters themselves. What really captured my attention though, was the quotation from a 16 year old studying for his AS level exams.
He said the often quoted issue of family breakdown and absentee fathers in black communities was "not really the issue".
"It's up to them to try to succeed," he said, but added that parental expectations were important.
The charter further hinted that there is a culture of low expectation and that even though the Department for Education and Skills has determined that there is a measure of 'unwitting' racism, the 'boys themselves must develop their own learning and parents must support them and their schools.'
This does bring to my mind a GREAT many questions, some of which may be answered by having a long term survey and monitoring of the community done. But I would be interested to know why Indo-Caribbean youths are consistently high performers, and Afro-Caribbean youths are not - regardless of where they are located.
Any thoughts?
