Government statistics have revealed that working-class white students are the demographic most disadvantaged by the British education system, despite receiving next to zero attention in the broader zeitgeist.
While much of the societal energy is placed on improving the lot of ethnic minorities, it is, in fact, working-class white boys who are actually in need of attention and assistance.
According to government figures shared with broadcaster ITV as part of the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, white working-class students are nearly twice as likely to be absent from school compared to other groups.
The report also found that white working-class students were two and a half times more likely to be severely absent, or missing over 50 per cent of lessons.
The statistics from the inquiry also revealed that 34 per cent of white working-class students were in need of special education assistance, as opposed to 19 per cent among all other groups.
Education Secretary Phillipson said that it was “clear that white working-class kids get amongst the worst outcomes in the education system.”
“That’s not to say there aren’t other disparities, and we absolutely will tackle those too. One of the biggest indicators is obviously class background and the amount of money that your family has,” she said. “That’s why tackling child poverty is such a big priority for this government.”
When pressed on what the government intends to do to reverse the situation for working-class whites, she said the government will launch a Mission North East scheme later this year to improve outcomes, but was unable to give specifics.
“I think I do have to be honest in saying that we do have some big ideas about things we want to do to make this work better… But if we had all the answers, we would have solved it by now,” she said.
While not often discussed in the legacy media or commonly addressed by establishment politicians, the fact that white working-class students, boys in particular, have fallen behind other groups in terms of academic success has been well established for years.
Some, including former Oxford University don Professor Peter Edwards, have postulated that it is in part a result of it becoming a “taboo” topic among government and educational officials, given that it is only politically correct to discuss the supposed plight of women or ethnic minorities in Britain.
However, Prof Edwards previously warned Parliament in 2020 that if not addressed, the country is facing potentially “grave socio-economic and socio-political consequences”, in artificially creating an aggrieved segment of the population, particularly if other races continue to be provided with DEI-style positive discrimination efforts to give them a leg up.
“This will surely lead to the disturbing narrative of a vicious spiral downwards. This is an utterly critical point; we must not only utilise the huge untapped potential there must surely be in this group of White Working-Class Boys, but also recognise the very real threat of the destabilisation of the very fabric of the country,” he predicted.
Among major parties, only Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has vowed to fully repeal all DEI and anti-white discrimination from the books in Britain and replace them with merit-based systems.
Shadow Education Secretary Suella Braverman has said that a Reform government would repeal the Equality Act, which she noted
“institutionalises DEI in our public sector by placing legal duties on public servants to treat minority groups differently.”
Braverman has also railed against the woke culture which seeks to demonise white boys and elevate ethnic minorities, saying last month: “The drive to pander to minority communities has completely undermined and pushed aside white working-class boys and their families. When English children are taught to hate themselves and their country because of the colour of their skin and told to apologise for their ‘privilege’ is it any wonder so many feel worthless and don’t do well at school?”