Lots of other teachers still teach sex education even though some pupils will have conservative religious backgrounds (from both Western and Eastern religions).
Boothy himself disagreed with his science(?) teacher over the drugs education, and got hauled up before the headteacher for his pains and accused of “knowing too much!!”
So why are history teachers so fucking spineless then?
I can see some of what the teachers are getting at, and they should be backed up by the govt and education authorities to teach emotive subjects in such a way that any serious trouble resulting from it could be dealt with.
It won’t be cheap or easy because some kids (possiblly even the more intelligent ones) will want to avenge past wrongs, so it might require a multi-agency approach involving the Education Department, Racial Equality groups and maybe even the Police (to make sure there aren’t gang fights outside school).
Surely if any kids, whatever culture they are, challenge a teacher to the point they where are actually advocating a form of racism in class then they should be disciplined for racist behaviour, the same as if they did it in the street or workplace.
The same should happen with any teenagers who actually fight amongst race lines because of what they have learned in school – if the discussion actually turns to violence they should be excluded from class, perhaps even arrested?
I have to say I’m a bit suspicious of some of these history teachers’ ultimate motives.
Over the years I have met a lot of teachers with conservative views, who do not agree with multiculturalism and progressive education policies that arrived here in the 1960s onwards and would anything they could to destroy these . And of course as a teacher you are in a position of power, and (presumably) of above average intelligence.
I suspect there are teachers deliberately using their power to “stir the pot” and try and roll things back to the “good old days” when there were strict class and race divisions in this country. Perhaps its hardly suprising that history teachers may be advocating this…
