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Diversity Day - Girl in Union Jack dress sent home

Vixen

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Vixen
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A school in Bilton, Rugby, UK invited pupils to celebrate their 'heritage' by dressing in their cultural costume and preparing a small speech about their 'culture'.

One girl, Courtney Wright, turned up in a Union Jack dress and was excluded from the event, and made to wait until her father picked her up.

Pupils at Bilton school in the village of Bilton, Rugby, were invited to take part in “culture day”, dedicated to “recognising and celebrating the rich cultural diversity within our school community”. Children were encouraged to wear outfits that reflected their nationality or family heritage to the event last Friday.


Courtney Wright, a year 7 pupil, donned a union flag dress similar to – though more demure than – one worn by the Spice Girl Geri Halliwell in 1997.

Her father, Stuart Field, said his daughter was removed from the celebration day and was not allowed to deliver her speech, which was intended to celebrate British values of fairness and politeness, as well as traditions such as drinking tea, talking about the weather and eating fish and chips. GUARDIAN
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Her proposed speech is as follows:

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She's since been backed by Tommy Robinson. So the person who went to the press was her father, Stuart Field. Question: is he a prick and did he set his daughter up, as a far right gesture? Or is this story one of a genuine travesty?
 
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The school appears to have apologised, said it shouldn't have happened and the staff involved will be given additional training, which seems to be the current phrase for being told not to be so ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ stupid in future.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
The school appears to have apologised, said it shouldn't have happened and the staff involved will be given additional training, which seems to be the current phrase for being told not to be so ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ stupid in future.
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Unfortunately, the Union flag has come to represent certain elements who might indeed echo sentiments such as the following:

But sometimes at school, we only hear about other cultures - which is great because learning about different countries is interesting and important. But it can feel like being British doesn't count as a culture, just because it's the majority.

I think culture should be for everyone - not just for people from other countries or backgrounds. Being British is still a culture, and it matters too.. It's part of who I am.
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It does seem to be expressing resentment at the ethnic minority pupils being given an opportunity to shine. Fine to wear the dress and enthuse about British culture but to knock other cultures as getting too much attention seems to be a bit provocative, given you are going to be surrounded by kids in saris, kilts and kaftans and what have you.
 
We can invent a little TV drama in our heads where the girl is groomed by evil racist parents to demand she gets to represent solid British values instead of pandering to all these foreigners flooding our schools. And you can write the same scene the opposite way around where she's happily intending to represent her own culture as an equal to all the others being celebrated, in a fun and lighthearted way with references to stuff like fish and chips.

It looks like some teacher imagined the "punching down" version of the story and stopped it. It looks like the school took the opposite view and is thoroughly embarrassed.

The story is unavoidably an absolute gift to racist pricks like Tommy Robinson, but that doesn't mean the girl herself had anything but the most wholesome of intentions.
 
It isn't clear whether the the issue is the flag not being 'cultural dress' rather than it being British. I would have thought cultural dress means something traditionally worn as clothing.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
We can invent a little TV drama in our heads where the girl is groomed by evil racist parents to demand she gets to represent solid British values instead of pandering to all these foreigners flooding our schools. And you can write the same scene the opposite way around where she's happily intending to represent her own culture as an equal to all the others being celebrated, in a fun and lighthearted way with references to stuff like fish and chips.

It looks like some teacher imagined the "punching down" version of the story and stopped it. It looks like the school took the opposite view and is thoroughly embarrassed.

The story is unavoidably an absolute gift to racist pricks like Tommy Robinson, but that doesn't mean the girl herself had anything but the most wholesome of intentions.
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So far so good...but then the dad contacts the papers and Courtney - who, no doubt at all, is the innocent in all of this - is made to pose 'sad face' for a photo opportunity for the tabloids.
 
The girl was upset. Any of us would have been mortified in her position. The dad is bound to be outraged over how his child was treated. Any of us would be too. The press have a juicy story and will cajole the various characters to play their parts.

You can still write the story in your head with the family as good-natured innocents or manipulative villains, whichever way you choose.
 
Yeah, this is 'wearing sci-fi cosplay to the renfair' territory. If I were in charge I'd have been in favor of letting it slide precisely to avoid this sort of 'boo hoo my misinterpretation of the point (willful or not) means they want to oppress us' stuff.
 
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Jack by the hedge said:
The girl was upset. Any of us would have been mortified in her position. The dad is bound to be outraged over how his child was treated. Any of us would be too. The press have a juicy story and will cajole the various characters to play their parts.

You can still write the story in your head with the family as good-natured innocents or manipulative villains, whichever way you choose.
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In your head that might be so but the 'Spice Girls' dress dates from her father's era. So erm...quite.
 
I presume a Ginger Spice sparkly union jack dress is a bit of Chinese made fancy dress costume you can just buy online for a few quid. I'm not sure if that tell us anything about what was in anyone's mind.
 
Lithrael said:
Yeah, this is 'wearing sci-fi cosplay to the renfair' territory. If I were in charge I'd have been in favor of letting it slide precisely to avoid this sort of 'boo hoo my misinterpretation of the point (willful or not) means they want to oppress us' stuff.
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They could have but then they would be allowing Courtney the opportunity of lording it over her 'ethnic minority' classmates with her 'too much stuff about other cultures taught in schools' Reform Party rhetoric.
 
Vixen said:
They could have but then they would be allowing Courtney the opportunity of lording it over her 'ethnic minority' classmates with her 'too much stuff about other cultures taught in schools' Reform Party rhetoric.
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You'll have seen her little speech which she was prevented from delivering. Is there anything in it that looks to you like "her too much stuff about other cultures taught in schools Reform Party rhetoric"? I don't see any of that.
 
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Again, you can still write the story either way.

The disingenuous "all lives matter" kinda way, or the inclusive "modern, diverse and always changing / it matters too" kinda way.
 
Honestly if she'd set off her outfit with little fish-and-chips earrings that would have raised the bar considerably
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