Book cover
'The more things change, the more they stay the same': Assessing Black underachievement 35 years on
Heidi Safia Mirza
In Brian Richardson (2005) (ed.) Tell It Like It Is: How our schools fail Black children
Bookmarks Publication and Trentham Books ISBN 1905192061
Tell It Like It Is revisits the issues discussed in Bernard Coard's 1971 booklet How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System which exposed the unfair treatment of Black children in education. Coard's seminal text is reprinted alongside a series of essays and articles on race and education from other scholars and activtists that highlight how the issues raised by Coard in 1971 are still relevant today.
Heidi Safia Mirza's article looks at why racial inequalities continue to exist in the education system and the way they manifest themselves in the 21st century. She provides an historical overview of race and achievement by tracing developments over the past 35 years - the assimilationist focus in the 1960-70s, multiculturalism in the 1980-90s, and postmodern approach to difference and diversity in 2000-2005.
'Bernard Coard's ground-breaking work revealed shocking educational injustice for Black pupils in 1971, but the journey to find justice is still not over. Since then more than three generations of young Black people have been failed by the educational system in Britain. This is a travesty of wasted lives.' (p117)
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Article Id :
12136
Date Posted:
17/3/2006