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When 'yuk' is a racist remark

Wednesday, 8th October 2008

If your child is at nursery school, you'd better hope that he or she doesn't say "Yuk" when presented with a plate of organic (of course) vegetable curry. It could be seen as a racist slur.

The government-sponsored National Children's Bureau says nursery schools should report as racist incidents occasions when toddlers turn up their noses at foreign food.

The bureau's 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children says: "Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships."

This could include children reacting "negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuk'".

Other examples given in the guide suggest, as the politically correct usually do, that it is only white children who are likely to be racist. One wonders whether an ethnic minority toddler would be reported for refusing to eat bubble and squeak.

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