21 October, 2006
The chain must be broken
The case of Codie Stott, the 14-year old English schoolgirl fatuously accused of racism for objecting to being seated with a group speaking Urdu in a schoolroom "syndicate" exercise, has attracted considerable attention, but one aspect has almost completely escaped remark. The four non-English speakers she was asked to sit with, presumably also about 14, were described as "newly arrived in the country". So these kids spent their earlier childhood in Pakistan and have now been shipped across the UK to live with uncles or whatever.
What the hell is going on here?
Firstly, if these kids speak (effectively) no English, what are they doing in a mainstream class in the first place? They should be studying the English language full time, separately and at their guardians' expense, until they reach a standard where they can participate independently in mainstream education.
Secondly, this chain migration, not only of spouses through arranged marriage, but also of entire extended families, is resulting in entirely unacceptable levels of continuing immigration, especially from the subcontinent. The 1971 Immigration Act was sold to an increasingly restive British public on the basis that it would put a stop to primary immigration from the Commonwealth. It made residual provision for immigration for the purposes of family reunion; it did so on the naïve assumption that take up would be (a) limited in extent, (b) confined to genuinely humanitarian cases and (c) would dwindle to almost nothing over time. Instead the flow has continued apace, and the privilege has frankly been blatantly and cynically milked by immigrant "communities" who have turned it into a monumental immigration scam.
It must be stopped.
What the hell is going on here?
Firstly, if these kids speak (effectively) no English, what are they doing in a mainstream class in the first place? They should be studying the English language full time, separately and at their guardians' expense, until they reach a standard where they can participate independently in mainstream education.
Secondly, this chain migration, not only of spouses through arranged marriage, but also of entire extended families, is resulting in entirely unacceptable levels of continuing immigration, especially from the subcontinent. The 1971 Immigration Act was sold to an increasingly restive British public on the basis that it would put a stop to primary immigration from the Commonwealth. It made residual provision for immigration for the purposes of family reunion; it did so on the naïve assumption that take up would be (a) limited in extent, (b) confined to genuinely humanitarian cases and (c) would dwindle to almost nothing over time. Instead the flow has continued apace, and the privilege has frankly been blatantly and cynically milked by immigrant "communities" who have turned it into a monumental immigration scam.
It must be stopped.
# posted by Edwin Greenwood @ 12:47 
