‘Poor white children lag behind in school’

WHITE children from working-class backgrounds perform significantly worse than ethnic minorities in school, official figures published by Theresa May have revealed.

The first racial disparity audit found that white children from poor backgrounds lag behind ethnic minorities at every level of the education system. In primary school, fewer than half of white children aged five to seven entitled to free school meals meet expected standards for writing, compared with 59 per cent of Asian children and 62 per cent of black children.

At secondary school just 34 per cent of poor white children attain three good GCSES, compared with 49 per cent of black children and 54 per cent of Asian children.

The figures were revealed in a new government audit on ethnic disparities in public services showing the influence of race on a range of areas covering health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

The Prime Minister said: “Overall the findings will be uncomfortable but it’s right that we’ve identified them – shone a light on them – and now we need to confront them.”

Britain is one of the best countries in the world in which to be an immigrant or a minority. There are still many problems, of course, but the Government’s racial equality audit details some astonishing success stories that show ethnic minorities now routinely outperform poor white Britons on some measures. The best use of this data would be to identify what some communities are getting so right – namely a strong work ethic and strong families – and what others could learn from them.

It’s a pity, therefore, that the Government’s presentation of the collated data focuses on the problems. Many do exist, yes, and need to be tackled. But the Tories shouldn’t buy into the Left’s narrative of seeing ethnic minorities as automatically oppressed groups who need state aid to get along. One of the greatest problems with this so-called audit is that it fixates on personal economic outcomes and utterly fails to address how much social capital different groups have. The website does not enlighten us on, for example, family values or religious observance, even though these can be critical to personal success. As ever, these statistics look as if they were collected by Left-wing academics obsessed with materialism, unable to see the positives and blind to the real causes of social progress.

Despite this, it is fascinating to note the continued educational success of Chinese and Indian Britons. Conversely, why is it that poor white Britons are falling behind at school? And why are some immigrant groups doing better than others when it comes to home ownership, for example? As for a sense of belonging, it is remarkable how relatively integrated British society is. The proportion of people who say they “strongly belong to Britain” is almost identical across all ethnic groups: 81 per cent of black Britons, 84 per cent of Asians and 85 per cent of whites. Britain is doing much better than many of our European neighbours.

None of this is to deny that there are residual problems, including prejudice and racism, even if there is far less of it than ever before. But the way the Conservatives should look at this is as proof that the democratic capitalist system, far from being oppressive, is hugely liberating for everyone, including immigrants. The British Dream is a reality. The Government’s job is to extend it to as many as possible, regardless of background.