How can the "plethora of foreign languages being spoken here" be the cause of white boys' under achievement when the children who speak those languages are out performing the English boys and learning to speak English better than the English at the same time.

It is clearly that it is the lack of family support and stability in poor white families which is the root of the problem, plus the absence of any belief system other than hating immigrants. They are poisoning themselves with their own hatred.

By J Kandola.. Posted January 29 2010 at 12:29 AM.

Blame the parents,teachers and politicians.
Parents don't push their kids..some of the teachers don't even know basic scientific facts -some cannot add up and they are passing their ignorance to the next generation.There is a culture of contempt for knowledge and it is cool to be dumb.

Politicians sell the idea that education is a means to a good life - but even having a degree is not a guarantee of work. Add to that fees for University and banks ripping people off - why should anyone work at school?

Add immigrants taking benefits without contributions and the people are ticked off - the whole system is mismanaged.

By Lee Borrell.. Posted January 24 2010 at 12:55 AM.

Can you tell me when this article was written pleasee
thank you

By zara.. Posted July 13 2009 at 3:12 PM.

Coming from Africa where you have to pay for education, every kid/child is pushed to learn and study etc in order to receive a good education. then moving to the UK where education is free, and kids have a life of their own where teachers are told off by the kids and do as they please, it all comes down to one thing. dicipline at home!

If the child has dicipline and a good upbringing then i personally feel that there would be no issue at school. Its all down to the parents and taking control and making time for their children.

Do not make excuses, on computers, TV, playstation3, xbox etc. As parents have control and should keep tabs on their kids if they want them to succeed in life. How many parents can say that they sit with their kids and check over their homework?

By Frank.. Posted June 11 2009 at 9:46 AM.

I am married to English White women, and she is a professional like I am. During a family get together at my wifes parents house, during a discussion I expressed my interest to encourage my children to learn and aim towards a better career. I was greeted with remarks from most part of my wife's family that I shouldnt be doing that. I should let my children do what ever they would like to do.

If it was my family, they would have supported the argument. Most of my wife's family are professionals and to recieve such a comment from them was shocking.

In my opinion, children go to school, and until they leave school they do not have the ability to decide whats good or bad for them, and it is the responsibility fo the parents to encourage them and guide them towards better future.

By ALLAN.. Posted June 11 2009 at 1:20 AM.

Let me get this right, kids are soaked in film/video game violence, none stop rap music, twittering on twitter 24/7 and some how the reason they are doing so badly at school is due to ethnic minorities? Let me see now, last time I checked 100% of the multinationals who run the music/film/gaming/internet industries were 100% owned and run by nice little white men from the Anglo Saxon world.
Your culture and world is not controlled and changed by Abdul at the local corner shop but nice little white executives who are making a killing selling rubbish to your kids. If parents cant understand this and vote for the BNP then the nation is already lost, not to Abdul and his ilk but to something far darker.

By Brendrith.. Posted June 9 2009 at 7:43 PM.

I am one of 5 children, my parents are Indian, my mother would not accept failure in any subject other than that of self expression. my brothers, sisters and myself are all doctors, we would all have liked to follow our own destiny but our parents said no, they also found husbands and wives for us and demand that we raise our children as we have been raised....in fear, and so the vicious circle continues.

By Sacheen.. Posted June 8 2009 at 8:37 PM.

The kids who do the worst in school here in the
States are the ones who go around listening to
hip hop and rock music all day, and then playing
video games all night. How can we expect anything other than failure for our kids who have
little or no interest in doing their classwork. My
granddaughter dropped out of school and stays on
myspace all day looking for boys, I have repeatadly tried to get my daughter to ground her
from the web but she thinks it's too cruel. And so
we are losing an entire generation because the
role models on television and the film industry
have poisoned the minds of our kids. Over 40%
of all births in the US are illegitament, as our Nation goes down the toilet the people cry for more freedom. The cry of modern youth is more
drugs, sex, and rock and roll, God help us.

By Austin Tacious.. Posted June 8 2009 at 6:51 PM.

Ken - if the children in those work groups you speak of can't speak English, how are they able to pass exams which are written in English ?

You are a prime example of ignorance breeding stupidity.

By Pn.. Posted June 8 2009 at 12:35 PM.

In order to learn, and know they HAVE no choice, children must have continuous support and guidance, reward and, if need be, punishment.

Parents have to be involved, the teachers given the freedom to inspire and the Government to provide the appropriate material for learning.

The posters below are right, the welfare system here (though very good compared to some countries) does seem to support those who have no intention of working to support themselves.

How can children aspire to greatness when some of them experience their parent(s) lacking/shirking parental duties?

Equally, the needs of ALL children have to be met, white children as well as non-white.

No, we can no longer slap the little tykes when they step out of line and push the boundaries, but practically giving up on them is not an option either.

By Mo.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:54 PM.

Typical blaming parents. The trouble is consistantly putting children as well as adults in little boxes. There has been a drive over the years to raise attainment with the ethnic minority, there is nothing wrong with that, but unfortunatly that has left white boys and girls way behind.I was really surprised to see this report come to light now we have known about it it for quite sometime.This has accounted for some of the resentment.

By L Brosnan.. Posted June 7 2009 at 7:48 PM.

Kids of ethnicity are pushed more to learn - they have to do better to prove themselves. I'm dual heritage and been brought up to believe as someone with balck in them i have to work harder HAVE to do better too. Also kids over here, regarless of race, have grew up with education, some kids from other nations or parents with other nationalities are so excited to have the oppurtunity to learn that they do well

By CC.. Posted June 7 2009 at 6:10 PM.

I am black but even I must admit that I feel uncomfortable when I learn of more white underachievement.

What could be the reason for it?

White people invented the aeroplane, the car, the television, the internet etc. so maybe it is the plethora of foreign languages that are spoken in schools that is the problem. I know that makes me sound like some evil BNP fan, but it could be true.

By James Kelly.. Posted June 7 2009 at 5:40 PM.

what do you expect if your country too weak run by a bloke not elected. our soldiers are fighting in a country they could not find on a map me included . we born in england have been second class citizens for to long . only seem willing to be under educated so we can die for this country,

By mab.. Posted June 7 2009 at 5:37 PM.

I fail to see how this story is proof that immigration is 'ruining' this country as some of the vile and racist comments below have concluded. Anyway even if you did get rid of the all ethnic minorities all that would do create a situation where we would be living in a nation of uneducated idiots!

BNP-SHOVE IT!

By London.. Posted June 7 2009 at 4:36 PM.

If the boys can't be bothered, it's there fault. I couldn't be bothered in school but retook gcse's in college as I realized I needed them

By rebeccca.. Posted June 7 2009 at 3:30 PM.

When my eldest started at school so did I - as a helper. I then went on to become a school governor for the next nine years with six of those years being vice or chair of governors. I used to visit the school/s regularly, observe lessons and listen to staff members.

The state system stinks and there are many teachers who are demoralised by the constant changes they are forced to make. Those who have support at home cope with these changes better! Also there is more support for those with specific needs whether that's attention deficit disorder or English as a second language. There is no extra money for the middle run-of-the-mill pupils which is why I have now moved my children to private schools where they are thriving.

By Mutteroo.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:29 PM.

The main problem here is the system itself.For instance,when you go to Africa,kids that are sent to British System schools are generally those are too lazy or unable to cope with the high demands and strict discipline in the public schools,or the local systems.Rich people who can afford to pay for their kids to go to UKsystem schools will take them to local schools,but withdraw them and take them to UK system schools where they have a lot of free time and shallow syllabuses if they can not cope in local system schools and spare them the blushes.The old system in which British settler schools were based on in places like Africa,should be replicated in the UK.Just ask anyone from the older generation who went to the Prince of Wales School or Duke of York School in Nairobi,and they may agree that military type discipline is necessary for any seriousness in schools.

By marx.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:25 PM.

don,t shoot the messenger,welfare benefits in this country is killing off all the young hopefulls,tell me how can these kids be fruitfull let alone tell them to work hard if they have never seen any of their parents do so.what i have witnessed is that most parents have never hard a decent job in their life lived on benefits which is a normal life style, i do 60 hours a week and am well educated by can,t earn what people on benefits get a week,so why should these kids go to school with an easy option of a life style,get pregnant then u will be given a flat breed every year more benefits,kids are bringing up kids,their parents don,t even know their responsibilities as a parent all they do is get drunk all day after signing on,lets not blame the gov,t "charity begins at home"spare the road and hit the child.

By ken.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:11 PM.

Perhaps the White kids don't do well at school becuase they know they could face arrest if they ask to be able to participate in work groups, where English - the language OF England - is being spoken.

The sick, evil, and traitorous English "Government" is persecuting White English. What do th "government" schools offer White kids? Why should White kids participate in their own dispossession?

Go BNP!

By Denise.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:00 PM.

Concern should also be taken as to whether these figures concern all white boys or just poor white boys. When all white boys, rather than just poor white boys, are included the last figures I saw showed Indian and Chinese pupils well ahead but white boys as a whole still ahead of Black and Bangladeshi and Pakistani boys overall.

By HYUFD.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:58 PM.

Doesnt This Story Just Show Immigration Is Ruining This Country

By Mina.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:52 PM.

YEP WE ARE THE TRUTH MASTER RACE !!!

By blacksupremacist.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:42 PM.

Alan Smithers is wrong to say that India and China don't provide any welfare protection, although it is low that does not mean that there is none. It is also the case that immigrants to this country will generally be more motivated than those still living in their native countries and this also needs to be accounted for. Percy - the top school in Sydney is hardly comparable to a poor inner-city school in the same city. What we need is education vouchers and grammar schools where wanted, real choice to raise results!

By simon baker.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:02 PM.

UK? why not just say england scotland wales, cause northern ireland has a great education system which beats the hell out of mainland UK. Don't tar the whole UK with the same brush.

By matty.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:00 AM.

I agree with percy. As a British born pertson I lived overseas. My boy and two gilrs were in a school that educated him in real christian values, They has excellent maths and reading skills when they returned to this country. My son and daughter could at the age of 10 and 11 add up mentally a column of figures 3 across three down. Their reading ages were 13 to 14 although only 10 and 11. Then came the adjustment. For two ywears they were so far ahead they sat doing very little vored out of the minds. My Daughter was excused classes to wander into the libray and around the school because she would complete her lesson in a few minutes. Friends warned mr that they would become so relaxed that suddenly they would find themselves out of touch and behind. I started insisting they were given home work. Relectantly the teachers did giove them the Home work becauser I insisted. That stabalised the situation. I found little help. I had to show my son how to write senteces. The teacher just marked him down. He cought uyp. They never told me he had a problem. I just looked at his books. I have never relied on the schools. I also withdrew them from the harmful poison of sex lessons. Many that did go through them were promiscuous. What mess our education is in.

By Jas.. Posted June 7 2009 at 10:07 AM.

In my job I've worked with various schools and have witnessed at firsthand the hard work that teachers put in to attempt to motivate secondary school pupils - to almost no avail. There appears to be very little support from parents for teachers, in fact they are usually made out to the 'baddies'. Parents are no longer role models for their children. I think that the benefits system is looked upon as an 'income' for doing no work as an alternative to finding jobs. Time for a major overhaul of the system - i.e. STOP BENEFITS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER WORKED!

By Carolyn.. Posted June 7 2009 at 9:32 AM.

My children are failing due to no support as they are not in the lowest group according to the school. Then we get grief from the school for failing as parents, they get grief for failing as students. The school look good then!

By Jules.. Posted June 7 2009 at 8:51 AM.

Parents expect teachers to educate their children, but don't realize education continues at home. In our home the rule was minimum of 2 hours of studding every day, to cement what you learned in school that day.

By Jackie.. Posted June 7 2009 at 8:13 AM.

"Sadly, it doesn't matter how well you do at school because we have such good welfare benefits. But in other countries, particularly China and India, boys are told: If you don't work hard and get a good job, you don't eat." You can hardly make a comparison with India and China, who each have a population of well over a billion and a vast percentage in abject poverty.

By Pete.. Posted June 7 2009 at 3:42 AM.

The education system in the UK is 'poor'.... not because of the teachers, its because of parents not backing it. I too am a graduate of the UK edcuation system at all levels.... now living abroad... I see the breakdown of the UK society and the education of our youngsters down to family values.....We need to look at ourselves and take note!!!

By BBA - 2nd generation.. Posted June 7 2009 at 3:40 AM.

As a former student of the U.K. education system,I think the experts have got it all wrong,I endured years of so called education,teachers totally out of touch with the real world.I left the U.K. without any education came to the land of oportunity Australia able to send both kids to the best schools in Sydney,i can only watch in aw at their success due to their Great- teachers and Schools.

By Percy.. Posted June 6 2009 at 11:22 PM.