In preparation to chuck the oldest mite into his new primary school, we had loads of forms to fill in. There is one that always pisses me off: the Equal Opportunities form. It was, and still is, the bane of my life.
Here’s a scan of the form that took up most of our time tonight on debating!
It used to upset me, not knowing how to classify myself. I used to, while staring at the form, ask these internal questions: “British? I’m British, but it’s saying ‘British = white’. Technically, I’m 80%, so I am British white? Or… not? Technically, I’m Gaelic, so….argh! I don’t want to fill this moronic form!”
Anyway, Will and I finally agreed on this: “Mixed – White and East Asian”.
I wish I had thought of using ‘East Asian’ for mine. It didn’t occur to me to opt for this until Will suggested this. It’d have saved me from feeling stressed over those EO forms all these years. If I have another EO form for myself in the future, I’m definitely opting for ‘East Asian’. It’d make me feel much less fraudulent!
While it seems silly to worry about this sort of thing, it’s good that we had a proper talk because it’ll help us prepare the mites somehow. We’ve already introduced the multiculturalism aspect to the mites’ lives via films, picture books, art and so on, but until tonight, we didn’t quite know how to prepare the mites to handle other people’s reactions/questions. Especially my discomfort with the ‘Chinese Question Mark’ issue. East Asian makes it a lot easier. Significant yet vague, which fits us very well.
I do wonder how other parents deal with the EO form, though. Actually, I often wondered how adoptive parents or adult children and mixed-race people handled it. Do they go with the appearance, or ethnic percentages?
At least the form gives you room for “mixed” options. US versions don’t usually want to know that — they just want to know about the non-white part. That really confuses kids, making them wonder why one part of their heritage is more important than the rest, or why they have to choose.
Having worked in equal opportunity, I understand the need to collect such data. But I still hope for a day when we won’t need to.
‘Mixed’ is new and still uncommon. It’s there because probably the school is aware of the increase, considering children’s age. The usual is White / Black / Chinese / Asian, and that’s it.
Very awkward for me. I usually opted for White and Chinese, but it always made me feel such a fraud. I don’t look white or Chinese either way. Bizarre, really. I can’t imagine how it must be for those who have zero knowledge about their ethnic background, such as those who were abandoned at very young age or when a parent refused to reveal details about the other parent.
While I think I understand, I still don’t see the point of it, to be honest. Discrimination will exist for as long as humans breathe.
I’d prefer if the forms were a laundry list of all sorts of racial/cultural/religious/etc. options listed singly from which people can pick one or as many as required to completely describe their origins. Instead of trying to lump into ill-thought-out groups, lay it all open to see what comes back. Let the statisticians fiddle and massage the data to say what they want it to say. Don’t alienate the citizenry.
And really: white? Ask an Israeli that question. Or how about a full-blooded ancestral Persian.
@Keira
Heh. Although I think it’s quite impossible to list all, I agree. I don’t have the form any more, but I think the Religion list is somewhat better than the Ethnicity list, even though we ticked the boring one: None. Blegh.
Ah, two things. In the UK, Persians are usually known as Iranians (‘Persian’ usually refers to a language that’s also known as – I think – Farsi) and none of those I know considers themselves ‘white’. It’s quite complicated, but basically, ‘white’ = Anglo-Saxon, which is why some consistently refuse to describe themselves as ‘white’.
Some councils tried to introduce ‘Caucasian’ into the everyday language via information sheets and such. And it’s been what, 10 years? No one has adopted it. I think everyone hates it or at least, indifferent to it. It’s ‘white’ or ‘[specific ethnicity]‘. It’s a political thing and I think it makes sense.
It’s similar to how some from ethnic minorities – those who were born and raised in England – prefer ‘British’ to ‘English’. Even though many of them will (and do) defend England passionately (especially in sports), some just simply can’t stand the idea of describing themselves as ‘English’, even if they were English-born. Scottish, Welsh and Irish? It depends. English? No chance. It’s not surprising, really, if we think about it. Yeah, like I say, it’s a political thing. Heh.
Yes, it’s interesting that Caucasian has been warped to WASP. Because quite a few of the whites in Britain are unlikely to be WASPish
in origin. And if Caucasian is the definition of white, then historically, the ancient Persians were the original Cauc nobility. I didn’t realize that modern day Iranians don’t consider themselves white, but then neither are they of Arab stock. So how do they classify themselves? The pre-Islamic Persian-Zoroastrians in India consider themselves as white and Indian, just as the Anglo-Indians do.
Given that many of the minorities currently in England were in the past oppressed by the English, even though it was considered The British Empire by the British, the impression, at least in India, was the “Angrez (uhng-raze)” meaning the “English” did it. Hence I suspect the desire to see themselves as British rather than English.