Term ‘white privilege’ disadvantages white working-class kids, MPs’ report finds, reigniting Britain’s race row
A new report which claims the term “white privilege” can be “divisive” and disadvantgaes the white working class has sparked fresh debate on “racist Britain", with some accusing the government of deflecting from its own errors.
The report by MPs on the Education Select Committee, released on Monday, has caused a stir, after it suggested that white working-class children have been left behind, partially due to potentially “divisive” terms such as “white privilege.”
The Education Select Committee, which consists of serving MPs, accused the Department for Education (DfE) of failing to realise the extent of the challenge which had left working-class kids behind for generations.
Conservative MP and committee chairman Robert Halfon said Britain “desperately” needs to “move away from dealing with racial disparity by using divisive concepts like white privilege that pits one group against another," adding: “Disadvantaged white children feel anything but privileged when it comes to education.”
The report has been widely condemned by Twitter’s serial complainers, with many accusing the committee of siding with Boris Johnson’s non-woke Tory government. The report’s findings broadly reflect views already expressed by the controversial Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which was set up following Black Lives Matter activities in 2020. The commission had been accused of whitewashing a report into discrimination in the UK.
Commenting on the new report, British author Eve Ainsworth said she had always been aware of her “white privilege” despite her working-class background and denounced Johnson’s “elitist” government for not being able to separate the two.
This is divisive & unhelpful. I'm from a working class background but still appreciate my #WhitePrivilege Class & race are seperate things. I've never been held back because of the colour of my skin. This elitist government needs to see the difference.https://t.co/3wl9vaFumG
— Eve Ainsworth (@EveAinsworth) June 22, 2021
Activist and outspoken leftist Femi Oluwole was also quick to defend the use of the term “white privilege” and seemed to question whether the white working class really were disadvantaged by their situation.
“Like most black kids, my parents told me I needed to work twice as hard as the white kids at school in order to succeed. Turned out to be a statistical fact,” he wrote, adding ironically that the Tories seem to believe educational inequality stems from racism against white kids.
Today we were told that academic and social inequality in the UK comes from 70 years of mostly Conservative governments being racist against white kids.#WhitePrivilege
— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) June 22, 2021
Others dismissed the committee’s findings entirely and blasted Conservative austerity instead.
“The “systemic neglect” of white working-class pupils is due to teaching concepts like “#WhitePrivilege,” rather than, say, 10-years of ideologically-driven austerity?” the Northern Independence Party, a left-wing party demanding independence for Northumbria and beyond, wrote on Twitter.
https://www.rt.com/uk/527257-britain-race-school-white-kids/