Brighton doesn’t rock
When Jessica Jones* moved to Brighton from London she found that she missed the capital's multiculturalism.
| I find a lot of my year 8 peers very narrow minded – some of them laughed at pictures of black slaves. |
When my mum and dad first announced that we were moving from London to Brighton I was really excited. I'd visited Brighton a few times and it seemed to be a really cool city. I got the impression that Brightonians were a bit hippyish and liberal minded and I liked that. Was I in for a shock!
The first thing that struck me when I started at my new school was the sea of white faces. My old school in London was really ethnically diverse. In my class there were Turkish, black Caribbean, black African, Asian, Greek and Kosovar people. I was one of only three white pupils in my class.
Not only are most of the pupils in my new school white, the teachers are too. Although the ethnicity of the teaching staff in my old London school had a long way to go before it reflected the diversity of its pupils there were black Caribbean, Asian, Australian and black African teachers.
The main advantage of going to a multi cultural school is that you can learn a lot outside of the classroom. Through the friends I made in London I've been introduced to different types of food like kebabs, curries, rice and peas and Caribbean-style chicken. I've also learned about religious festivals and understand different cultures.
Unfortunately I don't think that there's much to learn from my fellow pupils in Brighton. I find a lot of my year 8 peers very narrow minded. In a history lesson some of the class laughed at pictures of black slaves. They even laugh at any names that are non-British names and they use racist terminology to describe people from other cultures.
The really sad thing is that a lot of pupils don't even realise that the language they're using is offensive. I don't think they're being intentionally racist, it's just that they don't know many people who aren't from white British families.
But ignorance is no excuse. I think that if a teacher hears a pupil saying racist things or laughing at people just because they don't fit into their perception of the world, then they should challenge them. We live in a multicultural society and we should celebrate that. Pupils should be taught about other religions and cultures even if their immediate neighbours are predominately from one ethnicity.
There are some advantages to going to school in Brighton though. The facilities are much better and there are loads more computers. It's also a quieter.
However, there are still lots of things that I miss about living in London like buying flat bread, fresh fruit and vegetables from the Turkish grocers and bakeries and having fantastic museums and galleries in the city. It's almost impossible to get bored in London.
We're moving back to London soon and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll still enjoy day trips to Brighton in the summer, but I much prefer the variety of multicultural London.
* Names have been changed
About the team
This story was produced by Jessica Jones (not her real name), 13. It was published in Community Care magazine.
