White working class boys 'at bottom of heap' because of focus on minorities and women
WHITE working class males are being left behind because with the focus on ethnic minorities and women, claims the Shadow Education Secretary.
Angela Rayner said cultural change is needed among the white working class to encourage more young people to try and succeed.
She said working-class boys are “at the bottom of the heap.”
Mr Rayner added: “The culture of migrant families towards education is considerably different to the culture of British families, that’s something I’ve noticed – I’m from a white working-class background: our culture.
“And I think that’s why white working-class boys aren’t doing so well at the moment.”
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The Shadow Education Secretary claims she is not interested in “structures”, is a “pragmatist” when it comes to education and is more interested in standards.
She said UCAS tables have the white working class “literally at the bottom of the heap”.
Ms Rayner added: “I think it’s because as we’ve tried to deal with some of the issues around race and women’s agendas, around tackling some of the discrimination that’s there, it has actually had a negative impact on the food chain for white working-class boys.
“They have not been able to adapt. Culturally, we are not telling them that they need to learn and they need to aspire.”
She also said there is a different culture of learning from immigrant families to the white working class.
She said: “I think you also have to change the whole culture of the education system – and society in general that has this snobbery towards a particular group, occupation and class.
“I think class is still an issue in this country. Middle-class white families understand education is important.
“That is why they will spend a huge amount of money on getting themselves either into the locality where there is the best school.
“Or they will spend money on getting a private or grammar education for their child – because they understand that education is important. Whereas the working class: well, some of them do understand it. But it’s not just about the understanding but ability.”
Ms Rayner is tipped as a potential future leader of the Labour Party and claims her own experience of welfare support and further education after leaving school showed the benefits of investing in people who might otherwise be written off.
She left school without qualifications after becoming pregnant at 16.
The Shadow Secretary said there was a “lag” in achievement by white working class pupils and that more support was needed to help them make a success of their lives.
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She continued: “I would have been seen as a scrounger, a scally unlikely to make anything of my life.
"But without those interventions ... I wouldn't now be a taxpayer who pays their way in life, no longer on any benefits. Sometimes you have to invest in people to get the best out of them. To me, that is socialism. That is why I'm a Labour member rather than a Conservative."
Despite her humble beginnings, she has risen to the top of the political ladder.
But, she said is still looked down on people at Westminster.
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Ms Ranyer said: "In this place, some people do that. And I think: well, you look down at me at your peril, mate. Because I'll just eat you alive."
She was educated in Stockport and went on to work for the council as a care worker before being elected as a Unison representative.
After being selected as a Labour candidate from Ashton-under-Lyne in 2015 she increased the party’s majority in the constituency.
She made headlines in November 2015 after she used House of Commons notepaper to complain to a shoe shop which she claims failed to reserve her novelty Star Wars shoes.
