The Color of Cutbacks: The Undeclared War on Black Children

• In Event: The Edge of Race: Critical Examinations of Education and Race/Racism

Abstract

Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT) the paper illuminates the hidden racist dimension that runs through contemporary education reform and speculates that this is a predictable and recurrent theme at times of economic crisis. The CRT concept of ‘interest-convergence’ argues that moments of racial progress are won when White power-holders perceive self-interest in accommodating the demands of minoritized groups (Bell 1980): such moments are unusual, and often short-lived. Presently we are witnessing the reverse of this process: in England the global financial crisis is being used as the rationale for huge public sector cutbacks and the reform of public schooling. These changes aggressively re-center the interests of White people and systematically disadvantage Black children.

Education policy debate in England is shaped by a campaign of political and media hysteria that falsely presents White working class children as the lowest achieving ethnic group (Gillborn 2010). This has been given added impetus by the global financial crisis and the election of a right-wing Conservative-dominated coalition government. Since White children are assumed to be the new race victims, race equality policies are judged at best irrelevant, at worst the cause of White suffering. Official policy now proclaims an end to what the prime minister recently called ‘the doctrine of state multiculturalism.’ This approach provides the rationale for decisions to cut programmes that have pursued racial justice in the past, e.g. less than 6 months after the general election, all funding ceased for initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of Black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers.

The greatest threats to Black students, however, lay hidden behind color-blind rhetoric about improving standards of achievement and discipline for all. Although the rhetoric is expansive, and even proclaims a concern for ‘disadvantaged’ children, the reforms will systematically harm Black students. One of the government’s flagship policies is expanding the number of ‘academies’ (state-funded private schools that stand outside local democratic control) even though official data show that Black children achieve less well, and are more likely to be permanently expelled, in this form of school. Changes to disciplinary regimes in school will, because of the racialized nature of such processes, add yet more injustice to the system as the government simultaneously removes the possibility of reinstatement for expelled students who appeal an unfair decision but give teachers new powers to search students and seize property. In the most shocking, but almost entirely unrecognized sleight of hand, the government has introduced a new measure of achievement (the English Bacccalaureate) that immediately cuts the proportion of ‘qualified’ Black youth to a fraction of its previous level, from 40% of the cohort to less than 7%.

Race equality has been removed to very edge of policy debate and remains visible only through the continued struggle of Black communities, activists and advocate groups. In this context, the paper argues that critical race scholarship faces a double challenge as it seeks to make greater practical connections with community struggles whilst withstanding the assault of neoliberalism in policy and the academy itself.

Author

• David Gillborn, The University of Birmingham