Nearly half of young people believe Britain was founded on racism

‘Government must make clear that spreading this information is incompatible to a balanced education’

ALMOST half of young people believe Britain was founded on racism and continues to be “structurally racist” today, research has found.

The disclosure has added to concerns that children are being taught contested ideas as fact in the classroom, with six in 10 school-leavers saying they had been taught concepts associated with “critical race theory”.

The research was carried out by Eric Kaufmann, an academic at Birkbeck, University of London, for the Policy Exchange think tank.

According to polling by YouGov, 18 to 24 is the only age group that believes that schools should “teach students that Britain was founded on racism and remains structurally racist today”.

The age group supported the statement by a 42-25 majority, whereas adults as a whole rejected it by 53 per cent to 24 per cent.

Fifty-nine per cent of school-leavers, meanwhile, said they were taught or had heard from an adult at school at least one of three concepts linked to critical race theory, an academic approach to race developed in the US that opponents decry as woke ideology. The three concepts were “white privilege”, “systemic racism” and “unconscious bias”.

When asked whether they had encountered the concept of “patriarchy” at school or the idea that there are many genders, 65 per cent of schoolleavers said they had been taught about at least one of the two ideas.

Young people appear to be less attached to free speech, with 29 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds saying that JK Rowling should be dropped by her publishers because of her views toward transgender people, compared with 10 per cent of all adults and 3 per cent of those over 50. An equal proportion of young people (38 per cent) agreed and disagreed with the idea of removing Winston Churchill’s statue from Parliament Square because he held racist views.

Among adults as a whole, 68 per cent disagreed with moving the statue compared with just 12 per cent who agreed.

In general, the research suggests that while the public as a whole generally reject woke views by a two to one ratio, among young people the balance is closer to parity.

Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs, said: “It’s sad but unsurprising that so many young people, befuddled and bemused by militant propaganda, have bought some of the lies peddled by extremists.”

He added: “As a matter of urgency, government must make absolutely clear to educators at all levels that spreading this kind of information is incompatible to providing a broad and balanced education and that if they do so they will be seen to have failed the young people in their charge and be regarded and treated accordingly.”