Tuesday, July 08, 2008Is Your Child A Racist If He/She Doesn't Like Spicy Foods? The NCB is a government sponsored agency by the UK and it has issued some guidelines to nursery schools and play leaders, with things to look forto suggest racism at an early age. According to NCB, a child disliking foreign food could be an indicator.According to The Telegraph, the National Children's Bureau is a government sponsored agency that receives approximately £12 million annually and the guidance they have drawn up is supposedly to help teachers and play leaders to spot potentially racist attitudes starting at a young age, some as early as three.It is a 366-page guide titled, "Young Children and Racial Justice" and it specifies things for the elders to look for in children, such as "name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships."The guide goes on to warn that children might also "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuk'".Now, after looking a little further into this, the Telegraph is correct, the "Young Children and Racial Justice" is produced by the NCB and it the NCB does receive £12 million annually from the government and the advice quoted included the bit about spicy or foreign foods is in the "guidance" but what is not made clear in the original article is that this is a book that has been published by book sales alone – and not from government funding or from any grants, as has been reported.Sally Whitaker, Deputy Chief Executive, NCB, said:‘This book is brim full of important issues that professional early years workers need to be aware of and seek to address constructively. It is an excellent resource, which has been specially designed to help teachers and nursery leaders put racial equality into practice across their provision.Either way, that is a technicality, the thought that children who do not a particular type of food because it is foreign or because it is spicy, is in my opinion, simply ridiculous.What explanation would this writer have for children who hate liver or spit out hot dogs, despise beans or cannot take the taste of hamburgers?A child's palate is no way to determine prejudicial tendencies and anyone that thinks that it is, has never had a child that was fickle about what they would and wouldn't eat.
