Racism?

Whilst perusing the top news stories from 2007 this afternoon, I reread the story about the Educate Together school in Balbriggan. The majority of pupils in the Junior Infants class were of an African background. There were very few white faces to be seen.

I've read bits and pieces about how Africans were treated in America, how Aborigines were mistreated in Australia and I've always abhorred it. I've admired from afar the Rosa Parks', the Nelson Mandela's, the Martin Luther King's of this world, and the unknown names and faces who have had to put up with all sorts of crap from white people for so long and have found ways and means of overcoming those struggles.

And now I look at myself in the mirror and wonder, am I racist? I pose this question because I have a two year old daughter and I have her on the list for the local Catholic school since birth. Not because I am a particularly religious person at this moment in my life, but because I feel there will be less African children and other children of foreign nationalities. And that is not for any blatant racist reasons rather that it has been suggested that children of immigrants in general don't have English as a first language, and as a second language, it ain't great either. There is also a local Educate Together school and I don't have her name on that one. Before I had any children I admired the ideologies behind the school but now that I am considering education prospects for my first-born, I am a little more selfish in my views.

I worry that too much time would be spent teaching these children English thus holding up the rest of the class. In reality I know that kids pick up languages pretty quickly but still it is a concern. So am I even more of a bigot? Not your normal racist, just a sneaky one, who hides their racism from the world at large. I don't know. I don't know what the solution is to best include immigrants into our society. Generally inclusion, not exclusion is the key to success in these matters. These kids are entitled to an education just the same as my kid is. They don't deserve to be ghetto-ised at such a young age. Perhaps English lessons for all immigrants should be compulsory. It sounds a bit nanny-state-like though. I have no answers. All I know is that I need to look at myself a little closer.