Schoolgirl, 12, ‘punished’ for wearing Union flag dress
 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/...g?imwidth=1520

A 12-year-old girl was put into isolation for wearing a Union flag dress to her
school’s culture day, her father has said.

“Straight A” student Courtney Wright wore the Spice Girls-esque dress and
wrote a piece about British history and traditions as part of the celebrations
on Friday.

She was later told the dress was “unacceptable” and was hauled out of
lessons and made to sit in reception until her father collected her.

Bilton School in Rugby, Warks.

Mr Field, who works in marine restoration, said: “Courtney was so
embarrassed and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong.

“She should not be made to feel embarrassed about being British. And she
shouldn’t be punished for celebrating being British – nobody else I’ve spoken
to can quite get their heads around it.”

In a permission letter sent to parents, it said the day was “designed to
promote inclusion:rolleyes:, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds,
traditions and heritages”.

But Mr Field said the school’s actions went against the message and other
pupils with St George’s flags and Welsh flags were also turned away from the
school gates.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/...eg?imwidth=560

A spokesman for Stowe Valley Trust read from a prepared script and said: “At Bilton School, we are proud of
the diversity of our students and the rich heritage they bring to our
community. We are committed to fostering an environment where every pupil
feels respected, valued, and included.

then they added: “We deeply regret the distress this has caused and offer our
sincere and unreserved apologies.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...on-flag-dress/

The school needs a clear out of staff. What are they teaching our kids??

It's a very ugly dress, but what a stupid decision by the teacher/school.

Its the iconic dress of 90s UK

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/...pg?imwidth=640

It's not the same dress.

I don't think Geri's dress would be appropriate for a 12 year old/school for different reasons :laugh:

I don't think it's an ugly dress. What a very strange claim lol... I'd like to see the other pupils and what they wore so I can judge whether the dress of a 12 year old is ugly or not.

But that fine upstanding British girl makes it look beautiful.

True.

HAHA absolutely agree with that.

I just don't like sequins sorry :laugh:. I don't need to see what other people wear to change that. My comment was simply meant to be humorous, sorry it didn't land.

We had multicultural day here at my school and it was beautiful to see all the different outfits people wore. I loved seeing the African clothing the most. Someone had their baby wrapped up on their back and the baby was like snoooring and I wonder why people don’t do it more here.

The dress in question though is totally fine?? I feel like there’s more to the story. Like maybe the kid was supposed to dress in a different culture? Like they had set themes? Although that can be seen as cultural appropriation too though.

I don’t know but something doesn’t seem right to me

Maybe because the shoulders are out??? Idk but I honestly doubt it was something as simple as ‘we can’t celebrate being British’

Even though I know it happens, I’m still sus about this story

Yeah I'm always reluctant to comment on these stories as they feel race baity and I wonder if there is more to it than what's been said here. Obviously if it is just because they don't want someone celebrating being British and nothing else then it's totally wrong

Doctor Gad Saad wrote about this in his book The Parasitic Mind:

The Parasitic Mind addressed what happens to our cognitive system when it is
hijacked by ideological rapture. My forthcoming book Suicidal Empathy
further examines the descent to madness by highlighting the inability to
implement optimal decisions when our emotional system is tricked into an
orgiastic hyperactive form of empathy, deployed on the wrong targets. This is
how the rights of a minuscule minority of trans women (i.e., biological males)
trample the rights of actual women in athletic competitions. It is how illegal
migrants end up receiving greater U.S. aid than American veterans or
American victims of natural disasters. Evolution has endowed our emotional
and cognitive systems with the capacity to deploy our resources strategically.
This is why parents are willing to jump in front of a bus to save their
biological children but are less likely to sacrifice their lives to save a random
child across the globe. It does not make them callous but Darwinian beings
capable of cost-benefit tradeoffs rooted in universal features of our human nature.


Teachers, councillors, lecturers etc are getting huge dopamine hits from this
perceived virtue signalling and of course the rise of social media outlets has
rocket-fueled this. Just look at the Palestine mind virus amongst some of our youngsters!

I did think initially I wonder if there was something in the essay, or some form of celebration of being British that is the problem - for instance it's fine to celebrate British culture but celebrating some of Britains history would not be a great look - however the school has come out and apologised and accepted what they did was wrong so I am assuming it was just a big error in judgement.

That's true enough

4 days in the news cycle and all we have had is a grovelling apology from the school

Id imagine if there was it would be in the public domain now? :shrug:

What's worse than someone being singled out for celebrating being British? The backlash that occurs where people claim there has to be more to it.

It's not "backlash" the story just seems so absurd that people think there's more to it, that's people agreeing that of course she should be allowed celebrate her own culture

Of course she should. If she's not making it all up. That's how it reads.

I come from a place where, under a Labour council, white people have been a minority since 1990. I don't see anything in the least suspect about this story, it's far too familiar.

…there does seem to be more of the story in that the student wanted to give a speech as well …that doesn’t change the thing that it all appears to be a huge error and mis-judged reaction by the school and I hope that as well as the apology, she is given time to make the speech…which is very well written and very thought filled, I feel…

…the short speech in full…

Hello everyone.
Today I want to talk about my culture - British culture - and why it’s important to me.
In Britain, we have lots of traditions including drinking tea, our love for talking about the weather and we have the Royal Family.
We have amazing history, like Kings and Queens, castles, and writers like Shakespeare.
It's also modern, diverse and always changing - with music, fashion and food from all around the world blending into daily life. And let’s not forget fish and chips!
It's also the way we speak, our humour, our values of fairness and politeness, and the mix of old traditions and new ideas.
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.
So let’s celebrate all cultures - whether they come from far away or right here at home.
Thank you!

What a well written inclusive speech, I can't think of another country apart from increasingly ridiculous England where this type of behaviour would happen.

Fantastic speech, clever girl

:clap2:

My grandnieces in Ireland recently celebrated diversity in their school and they had a parade of flags, about 15 different flags even the English flag! I can only imagine the furore if the Irish flag was not represented, it would make no sense whatsoever

If that speech is the evidence of there being "more to this story" then I am truly worried for the future. I hope the school faces some kind of enquiry.

So the school cancelled one of its own pupils. Thats not very inclusive.

Council apologises in primary school Union Flag row

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standar...1b5ef.jpg.webp

A council has apologised after a primary school wrote to parents saying the
appearance of Union flags at a leavers' event could have been seen as
"offensive or sectarian".

The head teacher of Cross Arthurlie Primary School in Barrhead said flags
featuring pictures of staff, which had been brought to the event by primary 7
pupils, "caused some upset".

Senior Scottish Conservatives criticised the letter on social media and
demanded an apology.

East Renfrewshire Council later said it was not the "school's intention to imply the union flag is sectarian" (or at least be caught doing that...)

Head teacher Fiona MacDonald wrote to parents after the leavers' event on
Thursday.

The letter said "the use of the union flag with staff images on had caused
considerable upset at the beginning of the night".https://media.invisioncic.com/Mrangm...ticons/huh.gif

It added the school worked against "potentially offensive or sectarian
messaging".

Ms MacDonald said: "Although we recognise this was not the intent we are
concerned that others within or beyond the school community may consider
that is something we would encourage."

The headteacher explained she had spoken to the children to "explain why it
wasn't a good idea" to use images without permission and to explain "the
symbolism and association of flags and symbols to different groups of
people".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0wnn96y79o

I have to say though, doesn't it speak for the lack of actual British culture that the main option to show British culture is a dress with the flag on it. This is not dig on a girl, because it's an obvious choice, but genuinely what else do we have? I do actually love our tiny island most of the time but we honestly have such a poor national identity on a lot of things. We produce some amazing music, world class television and cinema but most of our food is shocking really, and a lot of what we hold dear as British people is stolen LOL ffs.

I possibly would have dressed up as a lion or a King's Guard but the choice is bit **** really from a fashion perspective. Some beautiful fabrics and patterns from other cultures, based on heritage, indetitiy and history and I'm sat there dressed as a big cat :laugh:

[A council has apologised after a primary school
wrote to parents saying the
appearance of Union flags at a leavers' event
could have been seen as
"offensive or sectarian".]


Good, the Council has said sorry

Only because they were called out

how much more of this pernicious stuff happens every week ??

…today/now/as you’re typing this….?…I mean, pics please or that just isn’t happening….(…obviously I’m not being serious about the pics but from now on I’ll always read your posts in cat speak language…)….

I suppose there would be individual cultures for Scotland and Wales, it's hard not to conflate Britain and England though (just from an outsiders perspective anyway)

…this wasn’t the only one that the singled out apparently and I think one dress/costume that was refused was Welsh if I recall from an article…I mean it was the whole concept of the day to celebrate heritage and inclusivity etc and then exclusions were made…it’s extremely crazy…I feel as though the school has to give the day back to the pupils to do it again if they wish to…

…Edited in the bit of one article I read…

One child dressed in traditional farming clothes — flat cap and checked shirt — wasn’t allowed in. Another with a St George’s flag. One had a Welsh flag. All turned away.

My post was just really in reply to BBXX talking about British culture in general rather than the exclusions that were made in the school. But obviously that's the opposite of inclusion

…yeah I realise that…I guess that it just combined with the mention of Scotland and Wales and that bit that I had read in the article about the Welsh flag ‘being rejected’ also…it’s all very strange, I have no idea where the school’s thoughts were at with some decisions its made…

Yeah very weird, they clearly only wanted a celebration of foreign cultures but never stated that either but punished people who celebrated their own cultures. bizarre

You could dress up as a Queen :D:

If schools have a culture day and they exclude the native culture, what are the kids supposed to dress up as ...they can't really take on anyone elses culture, it was poorly thought out....whats new? some people are so busy bending over backwards to be inclusive they forget that means everyone and then they wonder why people get pissed off :laugh:

:laugh: I opted for the Royal Guard look, complete with British Culture Starter Pack - Millennial Edition 1.0

https://i.ibb.co/0pXCy7hC/434c5f6b-7...dad82f14cf.png