Racial Question in Education System - Essay Example

Race and Education Introduction When looking into the educational history of Britain, it is possible to acknowledgethe fact that the interaction between the social policies and the visage of the empires and nation states was dynamic during the late imperial period. For this reason, there is a possibility of arguing that the education system or the schools curricula were rarely predictable or stable in their effects or nature. With these indications, a number of historians posit that there are a number of things yet to be discovered on the history of education in the region. On the other hand, there are a number of things for identification in the discovery of some of the impacts of British imperialism on the educational systems of the region, as well as the impact of the education systems on its colonies and dominions. A puzzling discovery of the education system in Britain is the fact that there is a considerable absence of a broad historiography on the school curriculum in Britain during the late imperial period. This possibility considers the concerns of the British experiences prior to the year 1945, given that there is a strong emphasis on the presence of cultural assimilation as well as migration into the country. This emphasis is evident in some of the writings on the history of Europe from the early imperial period to the mid-twentieth century. However, a historical consideration of childhood education is achievable through looking into the education systems in the colonial settings, which provides some assistance in the questioning of the pedagogy as well as issues concerning imperialism. On the other hand, there are considerations that the British public schools were responsible for training some of the future imperialists during this period since a number of the students in the Victorian public schools later served as official in the government and in the British Empire. When looking at the education systems present during the imperial period, questions do not only arise on issues concerning power or imperialism, but there are questions that arise on the influence the schools curricula had on the negative influence of race. The main characteristic of the schools in Britain, whether it was amongst the poor population or the heathen in some of its colonies was the creation of an ordered environment (Barber, 1994 138). The perception at the time was that schools were avenues for creating an orderly and educable child, despite the fact that they might have been experiencing some form of disorder in their homes. The quest that the schools were meant to fulfill included the provision of a different facet to save children from some of their heathen ways, which was achieved through schooling. This consideration led to the creation of a curriculum that elevated racial considerations, which was mainly achievable through imperialism (Tomlinson, 1990, 136). This paper looks into these odds by analyzing information available on the aspects of the British missionary works in different countries, consequently focusing on the educational systems in the country. Relations between the British Empire and the elite Victorian public schools The creation of the elite Victorian public schools during the second half of the 19th century happened when the imperial fervor was going through an exponential enhancement of the diversification and expansion of the British Empire. According to Rupert Wilkinson, the creation of these schools was possible through the realization of the fact that they were representative of the political institutions that could mould the boys to become political servants in the future (Jones, 2008, 98). This argument considers the fact that the Britons living in the country during this period were moving along with the imperialistic society. The students in these schools were from some of the wealthy families in the country at the time, and they were under pressure from the government to serve the empire as well as the queen. For this reason, their main activities in their school life involved sharing knowledge, which was largely political, amongst them, which was a requirement that could guide their political inclinations. It is possible to argue that the classical curriculum subjected to the pupils had some slight influence, however small, on their status in the Victorian society as well as their attitudes towards the people in the empire (Belmessous, 2013, 113). For this reason, an individual can argue that it provides a platform for the promotion of negative racial attitudes since the students in the school were from white families. Consequently, with the consideration that the schools were meant to mould the students to serve the empire, one can insinuate that it created a system of patronage (Mangan, 2012, 56). This means that through the system, the government was creating the administrative office as something that belongs to a specific family or lineage, which is a factor that violates the universalism principle, thereby promoting the elitist nature of the region. This is an indication that Britons during this period were placed above the other races since the ruling class comprised of British men. An individual might be tempted to suggest that the only thing that was influential to the perception of the boys in these schools was the indoctrination from their schooling. However, there is a high likelihood that the pupils were able to discover by themselves some elements about the empire, which might have been a way of supplementing the values from their headmasters and teachers (Tomlinson, 2008, 188). For instance, it is possible to indicate that outside their class work, they had their own notions of imperial obligations, class, and racial considerations. Therefore, there is a possibility of indicating that they were able to distribute their own notions on some of these factors through debates or magazine articles, which were necessary for establishing their ideological convictions of elitist firmness and solidarity. In the process of influencing the imperial inclination of the students, there is a possibility that the British education system might have had some influence on their understanding of racial perceptions (Mason, 1995, 152). On the other hand, a feasible argument would be the fact that the influence they got from the school curriculum would affect their understanding of the imperial propagandists that might have been promoting the concept of inferiority of some of the people that were not British (Goulbourne, 1992, 66). The imperial justification of the race-related notions of the Britons could be considered by referring to the African subjects. A main argument that explains the reason as to why Britain was maintaining the control of their colonies is the fact that there was a possibility that the non-European population would otherwise disappear or deteriorate. This might have been possible because either the blacks were congenitally not capable of ruling by themselves or that they might deteriorate in the hands of their unrestrained settlers that were mainly from the British Empire. The persistence of this argument would not have been possible without the instillation of some of the racial attitudes in the British students at a young age. This was largely possible through their education system. The medium for the development of such propaganda was largely through some of the provided textbooks, for example, the Kipling and Fletcher textbook that the students were using from the year 1911 to the 1930s (Jones, 2008, 92). The authors of the book were claiming that the West Indians are vicious, lazy and incapable of coming up with a serious improvement except when compelled to do so. The authors indicate that a West Indian “is quite happy and quite useless, and spends any extra wages which he may earn upon finery” (Jones, 2008, 102).With this indication, it is impossible to argue that a student might not be affected by the strong words. From studies by some of the historians, it is possible to indicate that when the students graduate from school to serve the British Empire, they had strongly held values that were firmly linking them together (Mason, 1995, 139). These values were the basis of their peculiarly contrasting and unresponsive qualities in comparison to some of the alien races. These values provide ground for the Britons to adopt the crude racial language that was featuring frequently in some of their imperialist propaganda. Even though the boys in the considered to be the upper class in the British society were instructed to be empire-minded and patriotic, the lower and middle-class boys had no imperial education as well as the interest of patriotism. The middle and lower class boys were not groomed into serving the empire as their upper class counterparts were. In the later periods of the 19th century and early 20th century, the curriculum of the non-elite students was not focused on interests of imperial service, and for this reason, they were not in any way involved in some of the workings of the empire (Tomlinson, 2008, 192). The youths from the working class in which comprised of individuals from the “minority” races were trained into becoming cogs in the imperial society, and their work was to sustain the industrial society. However, they did not have a guarantee of true agency. On the other hand, the imperial education of the middle class was different from that of the upper classes. With the evident disparity, existing between the schools designed for the middle class and those designed for the elite, is sufficient for arguing that the elite schools were for serving as fortresses of the empire. This means that the British elites were in a deep conquest of dominating other races (Bulmer and Solomos, 1996, 777). However, there is a probable assumption that the study of the situation in the public schools might be incomplete. For this reason, there is a possibility of including some of the trends available in the texts written by the boys, which could give an understanding of whether imperial themes were introduced in the classrooms or otherwise. The assumption would be that the introduction of the themes would probably follow the imperial drives in Britain, which might have the ability to elucidate their impact on the mentality of the students. Conclusion By expanding the exploration of the schools curricula in Britain in the late imperial period, there is a possibility of determining its influence in the negative racial perception at the time. During this period, Britons, who are inclusive of the public pupils, were swept along by the imperialistic society (Sherington, 1981, 36). The revolution of the schools curricula during this period is considerably influential in the determination of their character and perception towards society as well as the people living in it. Through life at school, the boys were in a position to get instruction as well as have the platform from which they would share knowledge about politics among other studies. The elite students were taken through public schools, through which they were taken through the Victorian culture, which would later on assist them in serving the government. There is a possibility of determining that through the elitist school curriculum, the students were taken through some instructions that could easily influence their perception on the racial concept. Some of the textbooks the students were using had a direct influence on the racial perceptions of the boys, which were evidently negative. For instance, a book by Kipling and Fletcher, which the students were using as a textbook in their studies from the year 1911 to about 1930 had some content that were racially discriminative. For this reason, it is impossible to argue that such content would not have an impact on the racial attitudes of the students. References Barber, M. (1994). ‘Power and Control in Education 1944-2004’, British Journal of Educational Studies, Volume XXXXII, Number 4, 348-362. Belmessous, S. (2013). Assimilation and empire: uniformity in French and British colonies, 1541-1954. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Bulmer, M. Solomos, J. (1996). ‘Introduction: race, ethnicity and the curriculum’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Volume 19, Number 4, 777-788. Goulbourne, H. (1992) Ethnicity and Nationalism in Post-Imperial Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 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