In the London borough of Haringay 300 children aged 7 - 16 have been especially picked out from all other children in Haringay schools to be feted at a special Awards ceremony to reward their above average achievements in SATs and GCSEs. The celebration will be attended by the pupils, their parents, some of their teachers and members of Haringay Council who will present these children with an Award of Academic Excellence.
Sounds really good, doesn't it? So why, one might wonder, are some people really upset?
It's because there are many other children who have achieved the same as these selected ones, other teachers who have worked as hard, other parents who are as proud of their child's results. But they've not been invited. Their efforts and achievement are not being recognised. They aren't being rewarded.
Why would this be? What could possibly justify picking out only some children, some teachers, some parents this way? Who would want to tell some 7 year olds that they're better than other 7 year olds? Why are some childrens' 5+ A-C GCSE results so much more praiseworthy than those of other 16 year olds?
Because Haringey want to challenge stereotypes, that's why. And what better way to do it than to divide children from their classmates on one basis and one basis only. And it's nothing to do with achievement, not even anything to do with cultural deprivation, or social exclusion, or homelessness, or poverty. Nope. It's all about skin pigmentation.
This is an Award for Black Academic Excellence.
Some children who already knew that they'd achieved better than the national average have now had it made plain as the little noses on their faces that actually, them being black and all, they've done so much better than anyone could have expected. That's bound to motivate them, Not.
And their white classmates in Haringay have learned that in some tests, no matter how hard you try, if you aint black then you can get pushed to the back.
