Diversity in Schools

[Michael Rolls]

Well, Burrelton/Woodside is a largish village - population 450-500. Nobody of the permanent residents is other than white and only the seasonal East Europeans are other than Brits - about (at a guess) 90+% 'natives' plus a few incomers. We are only 2 miles away from Coupar Angus - large village/small town where there is an Indian restaurant with half a dozen or so folk from the subcontinent running it. Other that those folk, you have to go to Perth,13 miles away, or Dundee 15 miles away to see non-white faces, but they are quite prevalent in both cities, especially in the staff at Ninewells, the large teaching hospital in Dundee
Mike

[Michael Rolls]

Oh, forgot to make the point - from the description of that TV programme - it is very atypical of the small villages around here
Mike

[biglouis]

 Yes it was "Deadwater Fell" and part of the fascination of the setting is the remote and close knit community where everyone knows everyone's business (I grew up in a community like that and hated it). However the plot hangs upon the suspense of whodunit and I just found all those ethnic faces a bit of a joke. They have even sacrificed the Scottish accents – on the assumption that the wider audience would not understand them!


 My remark about “nit picking” was directed to the pathetic and arrogant practice some folks have of pointing out a typo or minor spelling error rather that responding to valid points made in a posting. But hey, some people lack the wit to conduct a conversation without being a rule Nazi.
 


 

[GrannyMac]

I watch a lot of downloads Mac and many are American series'. The diversity rules are ever more intrusive and irritating but the money-men aren't stupid and know they have to play along. Every leading female dresses down nowadays and glamour has all but disappeared since the #MeToo movement. Sexy lead ladies are as rare as smoking these days and the male leads somehow emasculated.

Wot? No Montgomery Clift?  I don't watch much from America, and being a detective story type drama fan, the lack of glamour has bypassed me.  Vera was never glam!

[GrannyMac]

Yes it was "Deadwater Fell" and part of the fascination of the setting is the remote and close knit community where everyone knows everyone's business (I grew up in a community like that and hated it). However the plot hangs upon the suspense of whodunit and I just found all those ethnic faces a bit of a joke. They have even sacrificed the Scottish accents – on the assumption that the wider audience would not understand them!

Jess, the mixed race teacher is from London and as her partner has kids in the village perhaps its not beyond belief she's there. I spotted a couple of other non white faces, perhaps less likely. I missed some dialogue due to the horrible intrusive background music!

[Michael Rolls]

Another of my pet beefs - 'background' music which often drowns out the dialogue
Mike 

[zoony]

I think the 'creatives' try very hard to invent a convincing back-story for the out out of place ethnics that get shoe-horned into these scripts but they stick out like very sticky-out things most of the time. Often seen in Victorian-period dramas.

[Michael Rolls]

I think the 'creatives' try very hard to invent a convincing back-story for the out out of place ethnics that get shoe-horned into these scripts but they stick out like very sticky-out things most of the time. Often seen in Victorian-period dramas.

Back then there were quite a few non-native folk around, but they tended to be concentrated in specific areas for specific purposes - for example, in Woking in Surrey there is a street near to the railway station called Oriental Road - because back at the end of the 19th century a lot of Chinese labourers were imported to work on laying the railway track and at the time, that was where they were housed. Similarly there could be quite a lot of non-native workers in dock areas - but country villages? No way!
Mike

[richmond62]

"They have even sacrificed the Scottish accents – on the assumption that the wider audience would not understand them!"

As they did with 'Shetland': substituting generic 'soft' Scots for the folk who are just too lazy to cope with the language they speak in Shetland.

[Raven]

Deadwater Fell is exactly like our wee village.

[zoony]

"They have even sacrificed the Scottish accents – on the assumption that the wider audience would not understand them!"

As they did with 'Shetland': substituting generic 'soft' Scots for the folk who are just too lazy to cope with the language they speak in Shetland.

  Shetland wasn't cast by the folk who watch it. The programme makers obviously decided that it'd have wider appeal if it was readily understood by more folk. People with cloth-ears aren't lazy, just disadvantaged by nature.

[Raven]

I enjoyed the series of Shetland, have downloaded the audio books too. Just hope they are not too different.

[GrannyMac]

Back then there were quite a few non-native folk around, but they tended to be concentrated in specific areas for specific purposes - for example, in Woking in Surrey there is a street near to the railway station called Oriental Road - because back at the end of the 19th century a lot of Chinese labourers were imported to work on laying the railway track and at the time, that was where they were housed. Similarly there could be quite a lot of non-native workers in dock areas - but country villages? No way!
Mike

Someone from London wouldn't be out of the question though?  And even villages attract Asian GPs.   

[richmond62]

When I was 3 we moved to Crowthorne in England, and my mother's teeth all went bad after she'd give birth to my sister:
she went to the only dentist in the town: a Gujarati man, for about 12 fillings. A year later all her fillings fell out . . .

This was 1965-6

. . . not because the dentist was Gujarati, I hasten to add . . .

. . .  because the man was a bl**dy bad dentist.