Working class well educated white guy here. A few words on the #WhitePrivilege thing in this context... (1)
...yes, its true, #WhitePrivilege is unhelpful in discussions of the problems you face in education from my background. But its also just not the point. Yes, there are huge challenges, its not because you're white though (2)
...race is a proxy of class in the UK. White kids in the working class are held back by poor schools, disinterested and under resourced teachers, an anti-intellectual culture and higher education thats hostile to us (3)
...and thats true of black kids, asian kids, every other kid from a working class background. Yes, there are specific methods to help those kids out that haven't existed for white working class kids and we should look at that. But thats not what 'white priviegel' is (4)
...white privilege is the fact that I never worried about carrying a knife, a trowel, sample bottles etc. while collecting specimens doing ecology fieldwork because the cops would never challenge me on it. If you're black you do have to worry about it (5)
...white privilege is the fact that walking home from the lab while working for a PhD late at night the cops never stopped me. The black guy in the lab would et stopped once a fortnight, or thereabouts (6)
...there are significant problems white working class kids, they aren't created through the use of the term #WhitePrivilege. They're created through stigma, under-funding and stripping away hope and aspiration. And todays Tory attempt to weaponise this is loathsome (7)
Tories are like the guy who opens a pack of biscuits, eats all but one of, points at the last one and says "look out, that black bloke there is trying to nick your biscuit". By playing white and non white kids off against each other they aim to distract from the real cause (8)
...because the real cause is THEM. Tory underfunding. Tory class war. Tory cuts. Tory mismanagement. Breaking the school system up and politicising it. They're playing a dangerous class and race war game to excuse themselves. Its loathsome. (fin)
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