Pioneering pupils
THE SCHOOL THAT TRIED TO END RACISM Channel 4, 9pm
YOUR heart will go out to this bunch of brave children, who have volunteered for a pioneering and challenging programme about racial bias.
They are a class of 11 and 12-year-olds from a secondary state school in South London, all thoughtful, articulate and intelligent. Around half the kids are white, the rest are black, asian or mixed race.
Their friendships cross the racial divides, but it’s a fact that as they get older, kids will begin to self-segregate.
Can this three-week project intervene and eradicate hidden racial biases?
“If you don’t educate them in these issues, you’ll never have a fully inclusive society further down the line,” says headteacher Steve Hume. Various tests uncover their attitudes and beliefs and reveal some difficult truths. There are some poignant moments. “I thought the only way to be pretty was to be white,” reveals Farrah, who has a white mother and Sri Lankan father and grew up idolising white women in magazines.
Meanwhile, Henry, a philosophical young white boy, becomes very upset after the children are separated into groups by race. “I just want to be with my friends, not split by race. It feels awful,” he says.
But the other group of children, from ethnic minorities, conversely enjoy the session as they feel more able to open up.
Watch out also for Mahkai, who reveals he was once kicked out of a sweet shop for no reason, even though it was his white friend causing the trouble.
“I wish everyone could be equal,” he says.