Thinking out of the block

When the government publishes data, such as they did in March 2018 and that data shows that black Caribbean boys are being excluded at three times the rate of their white peers, because of what we have already witnessed of British societal systems, we immediately infer that this must be attributed to racism.

If we took the position that the sole cause is racism, we would also have to take the simplistic and linear view that the prevention of A (antecedent), would eliminate the occurrence of B (behaviour).

However, the complexity of the world is such that A cannot always be prevented, and sometimes you have to start from where you are, even if that is point B.

This is relevant for the ‘question’ of tackling the school exclusion and underachievement issues, amongst our demographic.

However, to not immediately assume or assert racism as the sole culprit is not the anticipated response to the ‘question’ regarding school exclusion and underachievement.

As such, it can evoke all types of negative feelings.

The anticipated response begins with an immediate verdict and raises numerous questions all aimed externally at 'them'.

But these questions seem to produce nothing but more questions, sometimes very heated questions or just plain arguments that can never be won, and subsequent dilemmas that can never be resolved.

Systemic thinking (a useful and progressive framework) suggests that questions should arise not only from the mind of the individual but from the information presented before the individual.

It is not about a group think, herd mentality or the thinking arising from "the block".

Systemic thinking looks at problems in an environmental, rather than individual context, through a term called "punctuation".

This concept of punctuation looks at problematic occurrences as transpiring in cyclical stages, that return to the original action before repeating the same pattern.

Looking at occurrences as cyclical sequences of events provides greater scope and opportunity for understanding and intervening, because it isolates different stages.

The cycles as it relates to the black, Caribbeans in education suggests that this was not a new development.

This has been a prevalent problem from as far back as 1977, where a report by the Select Committee on Race Relation and Immigration highlighted the poor performance of West Indian children in schools.

What I find interesting about this is that it was the children of the Windrush generation and beyond who were the ones being highlighted back then in 1977, and also in 2018, when the exclusion issue was being looked into.

This was the catalyst for starting the process of collating my professional and personal experiences.

I became almost fixated on one particular aspect, and was left with one particular 'question’ that seemed to bring together many of the points that I had speculated about internally over a long period of time.

This singular question stayed in my mind and ultimately became the tipping point for bringing about the creation of this book.

With these things noted, there is a huge amount of pain and resentment, which is just beginning to be recognised as it relates to black people, and the question of how this has affected the black psyche is difficult to quantify in terms of its impact.

These effects are still very much present in the conscious and subconsciousness of many black people.

This I freely acknowledge and accept as also likely to be contributory, but it is still not the whole and complete answer in my opinion to the overrepresentation of black Caribbean boys in school exclusions and underachievement.

Having grown up in the Hackney of yesteryear, on a council estate in one of the poorest boroughs in London, I have first-hand experience, not only of the outcomes of my failure in education but also what the longer-term implications have been for me and people that I grew up with.

I also have family members who have been deeply affected by similar issues.

As such, all in the black British community and particularly in the Caribbean culture ought to have something to say about this specific issue, and we need to start talking about all aspects, not just the external.

I believe that we need to start showing that we can disagree without raising our voices, contend verbally without it becoming physical, and demonstrate that we can agree... to disagree.

The term BAME does not only relate to black Caribbeans, but there are also many more, including black African, and yet these all seem to fare better in education (according to the data). Why?

As a male who is black and of Caribbean descent, I am that individual who was three times more likely to be excluded, which then has the high potential of setting off a chain of events culminating in antisocial behavior, violence, crime, prison, gangs, etc.

These are the hard and cold facts, and until now the vast majority of conversations taking place in the public domain have leaned heavily on external factors as being the sole causes.

But there is a distinction in outcomes not just for black people but between them. 

This, if nothing else warranted further investigation and this is what the book is about.