| Hiku said: Not a good move by the school. I don't think a union Jack dress is traditional cultural attire. Don't know if it's true that she was told that only other cultures get to celebrate, since the only source of that so far seems to be a publication with a bad track record. But if true, that wasn't clear in the letter they sent out. Nor should that be a thing since its a celebration. It could also be because in her letter she was supposedly planning to talk about how "we some times only hear about other cultures" and "it can feel like being British doesn’t count as a culture, just because it’s the majority". This can be both a valid feeling, and come off as politisizing the event. To that I think the reason it can feel that way is because we spend significantly more time learning about our own history and culture in core subjects, and by living through it, than we do of any one other culture. It's not uncommon to learn about almost your own entire royal lineage, while for other countries we focus on the most significant figures. We have national holidays to celebrate, etc. So when learning about others, effort is needed. Which can be misconstrued as feeling more important. Especially when ours is one, and there are many more countries out there. |
Yeah it had some overtones of an AllLivesMatter vs BlackLivesMatter distraction. But that's not what this was, celebrating cultural diversity, nothing to do with racism, which it has now basically blown up to.
Her speech does show her parent's political grievances and also explains how this blew up so much (as in her dad went to the media, the other kids we still know nothing about) But I doubt the school screened the speeches beforehand? She was clearly rejected because of attire, not her speech.
In the original Sun article
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/35843814/school-banned-my-daughter-for-union-jack-dress/
"But the grade-A student was stopped by teachers who gave her the option of wearing a second-hand uniform instead. Courtney refused before her dad Stuart Field, 47, arrived to collect her from Bilton School in Rugby, Warwickshire."
Last night, he slammed the school for “virtue signalling” and said he had since received a grovelling apology.
The dad of five told The Sun: “Her head of year bizarrely said that if she had worn a suit of armour or a nurse’s outfit, she probably would have been allowed. It’s ridiculous.
It was not about the speech, it was definitely the dress. But why was the kid wearing traditional farm clothes rejected (if true).
And yes "we some times only hear about other cultures" I very much doubt the British school system only teaches foreign history!
Plus celebrating the Spice Girls as British 'culture' kinda yuck lol. The Who and the Rolling Stones started popularizing wearing the flag.
https://thegenealogyofstyle.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/rocking-the-union-jack/
Anyway British pop culture is British culture is culture period. Traditional dress is questionable but these are kids, let them celebrate whatever they like.
