There is a Muslim boy who always gets mocked about his religion by another boy at lunch in my school. One day we were in the library and the racist boy started teasing the Muslim boy and said “Muslims suck.” Then the Muslim boy walked away, really upset. Now every lunch time he always tries to avoid the racist boy. Each time I see this happen I feel uncomfortable with his racism. I see a lot of racism on the news and even in my school. Even though I am in an International School I often see people being racist to each other and other international schools have the same problem. Children think that it's funny and that it won't offend other children when they are racist but it is actually offensive. It is surprising that there is racism in International Schools.
There is an assumption that children in international schools are not racist because they are so diverse. This is a problem in international schools around the world, not just my school. Bambi Betts, the director of the Principal’s Training Centre for International Leadership says there are misassumptions about the issue: “The most common mis-assumptions which are prevalent in international schools are: Firstly, because the school population is culturally diverse, students will not develop racist habits. Also, children do not notice differences amongst people, and therefore they are not curious about them. Thirdly, the very experience of being in a diverse setting will counteract the racist messages sent through the media, however subtle. Everyone in the school community is in agreement about the gravity of the racism. Finally, students attitudes about racism are largely a result of how their parents think”. Many of the misassumptions that Bambi Betts listed happens in my school. There are 76 different nationalities in my School. People assume that children won’t be racist if they go to an International School because it is culturally diverse. But this is wrong, some children still are racist.
Some children think that it's funny and that it won't offend other children when they are racist but it actually does offend them. In my experience a lot of children are racist, and don’t treat each other well. Middle schoolers and high schoolers do know the differences between different races and religions and can be racist. But children don’t understand how bad racism is, so they make jokes, mean comments and stereotyping others about their religion, race, and nationality. Children don’t realize how offensive and rude it is to say racist things to others even if they are joking. Most of the time at school, kids laugh at each other's cultural differences. Is this still racism? PP Wong from the Huffington Post said, “Having power over someone can be addictive, and racist jokes are a good way of asserting your authority over another race. Most racist jokes have the underlying nature of reinforcing negative stereotypes; they make other races look stupid. One of the tell tale signs if a joke is racist, is when the majority of the racial group find the joke offensive.” This explains that it is still not acceptable to laugh at racist jokes.
In conclusion, people assume that children are not racist in International Schools because of the diversity but they actually still are. Mocking others, even if it’s joking, for their religion and race is still being racist because you are offending them. Children don’t realise this. In International Schools racism is a big problem and nobody realizes it because their assumptions are wrong.
Teachers and Parents don’t understand that at school there are so many children being racist. They think that children from different nationalities and religions would get along really well. But for some children it’s not true, and they are racist to each other. Children, Parents, and Teachers need to take this problem more seriously.
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