The news that the Chairman of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), David Hoare, has described the Isle of Wight as a 'poor white ghetto' populated by 'inbreeds with three eyes' .... just joking, he didn't mention any extra limbs or organs, made me laugh.
He is after all at the very pinnacle of a privileged, white elite. Brought up with public schools and financed by public money. He was educated at the exclusive private school, Marlborough College, he went on to study engineering at Birmingham University, and business at Stanford Business School ..... and made his money in private industry .... from this lofty height on the social ladder, he probably finds it natural to look down the ladder at most of the population of proles, who are now paying towards his current existence.
Apparently he let this belief slip at a teaching conference, where he reportedly said that during dinner parties he had discussed the fact that "We're seven miles away [his house overlooks the island from the mainland], and you don't know we have a ghetto seven miles away. British, white, poor, living on the Isle of Wight" ... Not content with this demeaning comment he apparently added that "It is shocking. There has been inbreeding".
Of course as soon as the remarks were publicised he back tracked and after apologising for any offence caused, he said that his intention had been to 'highlight that the performance in the schools on the island was unacceptably poor over many years'. Just in case that didn't do the trick, he also said that we should 'draw attention to low educational standards among low income white British communities in our coastal areas' ... so that we can take action. He then pointed out that the Isle of Wight was the second worst local authority for secondary schools and third worst for primaries.
Now interestingly, he was not sacked or forced immediately out of office .... although there were calls for him to resign. The leader of the Isle of Wight council, a Mr Bacon, even took it mildly enough. He wanted to talk to Education Secretary about the matter as the remarks where "truly offensive" and he added (somewhat needlessly I thought), "Bare no relations to the facts".
Reading this story, I couldn't help thinking how long this scion of upper-class privilege would have lasted in the role, if he had referred to an ethnic minority community such as Tower Hamlets, as 'brown, poor, living in a ghetto, and subject to inbreeding' .... probably about 10 minutes don't you think?
 |
| The Isle Of Wight - Sunshine Scenery and Sport's? .... |
He is after all at the very pinnacle of a privileged, white elite. Brought up with public schools and financed by public money. He was educated at the exclusive private school, Marlborough College, he went on to study engineering at Birmingham University, and business at Stanford Business School ..... and made his money in private industry .... from this lofty height on the social ladder, he probably finds it natural to look down the ladder at most of the population of proles, who are now paying towards his current existence.
Apparently he let this belief slip at a teaching conference, where he reportedly said that during dinner parties he had discussed the fact that "We're seven miles away [his house overlooks the island from the mainland], and you don't know we have a ghetto seven miles away. British, white, poor, living on the Isle of Wight" ... Not content with this demeaning comment he apparently added that "It is shocking. There has been inbreeding".
Of course as soon as the remarks were publicised he back tracked and after apologising for any offence caused, he said that his intention had been to 'highlight that the performance in the schools on the island was unacceptably poor over many years'. Just in case that didn't do the trick, he also said that we should 'draw attention to low educational standards among low income white British communities in our coastal areas' ... so that we can take action. He then pointed out that the Isle of Wight was the second worst local authority for secondary schools and third worst for primaries.
Now interestingly, he was not sacked or forced immediately out of office .... although there were calls for him to resign. The leader of the Isle of Wight council, a Mr Bacon, even took it mildly enough. He wanted to talk to Education Secretary about the matter as the remarks where "truly offensive" and he added (somewhat needlessly I thought), "Bare no relations to the facts".
Reading this story, I couldn't help thinking how long this scion of upper-class privilege would have lasted in the role, if he had referred to an ethnic minority community such as Tower Hamlets, as 'brown, poor, living in a ghetto, and subject to inbreeding' .... probably about 10 minutes don't you think?
He resigned last week.
ReplyDeleteYes so I read ... bit of a fool really. Thanks for the comment.
Delete