The Great British School Swap

[spathiphyllum]

Any threads on this?

Wildly interesting, very good opportunity to see the perspectives of these kids.

[spathiphyllum]

School swap*

[Mamyalynne]

I didn't see this, however the report here sort of sums up what I feel of the premise if it has been rushed.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/apr/16/the-great-british-school-swap-review


If any good comes of it, then that's fine.

[margarettom]

I watched it and found it very depressing. I live in an area in the Midlands which is multiracial, where the schools have a mixture of races including Asian, Oriental, Eastern European, British etc. etc. and also different religions. People in the town seem to get on well and the shops carry a huge range of food. This contrasts with the program where the area in Birmingham was mainly Asian Moslems and the school almost entirely populated by Moslems. The students did not seem at all interested in being British, nor did they seem to have any respect for British institutions. As I said very depressing.

[spathiphyllum]

I agree with you, i live about an hour away from Birmingham and everyone is very similar to how you describe


Mamy you would find it interesting it reminded me of ackely bridge in ways

I’ve only seen the first ep of the great british school swap

[gingejbee]

I see that one TV critic gave it no stars....and concluded that it was "irresponsible, nasty-minded, cruel, pointless and shameful"....I think he didn't like it!

[andres]

I watched it and found it to be quite disturbing. The Asian kids seemed to have such a low opinion of us . Apparently we are F****** plonkahs, lazy, sit around all day drinking beer. The arrogant loud-mouthed Asian girl used the 'f' word. She also said to the young lad she had been paired up with that she didn't like being around gays because they made her feel uncomfortable.The boy had previously said that he was a member of the LGBT .
There was the white lad from Tamworth who said he didn't think there were any P**** where he lived. A West Indian boy asked for the correct spelling --was it N***er or N***ar?
The girl from Afghanistan who reduced one of the white girls to tears because that girl had said 'half-caste' when describing one of the class. They weren't masking their words though. They were coming out with them quite openly. Maybe some good will come out of this but I will certainly look on young Asian kids differently from now on.
It was ,as I have said ,very disturbing programme .

[spathiphyllum]

As i say, opportunity to witness perspective

[cashier]

i agree with andres, very disturbing. The sheer ignorance about each other was astounding. The mother of the red-haired boy was dreadfully ignorant about Muslims (for her age) and would have been accused of racism if she hadn't been on this programme.
Thought the teach was too enthusiastic about throwing the kids together to see what happened and rather too pushy throughout.

[tamborine]

Asians didnt recognise the National Anthem & said they hated the Royal family.

[andres]

^^^^yes tambo--I found that very offensive.

[spathiphyllum]

It’s not thattt offensive

[douglas9401]

Happy Eid al-Fitr when it comes.

[andres]

oh yes it isss.

[tonyav]

I can't believe that anybody is sssuprised about it.

[spathiphyllum]

I found it surprising how ignorant some of the pupils from the school of more white majority were

[douglas9401]

It's a funny thing about general ignorance and gross stupidity though, they're only ever seen in others.

[spathiphyllum]

You’re a wise one douglas

[tamborine]

Mamya link - 'brown skinned' pupils! Has asian, indian, pakistanis become offensive?

I cant recall the exact nam asians use for anglo saxons but it translates as pigs.

[Mamyalynne]

As I said, I haven't watched the programme but what I have gleaned from elsewhere and was a great deal of unawareness of each other and that leads to the repetition of age old stereotypes.

The reason for that initially lies at home.

Whether these children met others from another school or later in the workplace, knowing more about others is useful in all sorts of situations.

Keep children in a bubble and they'll get a big surprise.

[vetuste_ennemi]

This extract from an earlier post sums it up for me:

"This contrasts with the program where the area in Birmingham was mainly Asian Moslems and the school almost entirely populated by Moslems. The students did not seem at all interested in being British, nor did they seem to have any respect for British institutions."

To which I can add a total contempt for the monarchy as a symbol of nationhood. Quite overtly demonstrated in the program/

So all this "mutual respect" stuff seems to be moving in one direction only, and (as far as the first program suggests) a direction encouraged by the NUT's brightest and best. The "respect" stuff is supposed to be reciprocal, isn't it? Maybe more balance and willingness to accommodate in the next episode?