Why I Wrote The ‘ESN Book’

Rewritten:

1. Background Information

a. Issues Faced by Black Children 30-40 Years Ago

Almost three decades ago, I wrote a small book as an attempt to understand the reasons behind the failure of black children in the British school system. The book aimed to explore the views of both the black parents and community on the following topics:

– The racist policies and practices of education authorities during that period,

– Racism within the curriculum, including the reading material that children used,

– Poor self-image, self-esteem and self-belief issues which most black children experienced,

– Low teacher expectations and how they acted as a detrimental force,

– Inadequate black parental knowledge and involvement in children’s education,

– And the lack of black parental organisation addressing black children’s needs, including the need for more black teachers and supplementary schools in the black community.

The focus was mainly on the so-called schools for the educationally subnormal (ESN) which were used as a dumping ground for black children who were new to the UK and facing various degrees of emotional disturbances. This response by the authorities was not one of addressing their difficulties and needs, but of branding many of them as "educationally subnormal," sending them to ESN schools.

The book drew attention to how the issues also applied to the plight of black children throughout the British school system and not just to those sent to ESN schools. Black students across the board faced racist policies, racist curricula, low self-esteem, low teacher expectations, and so on, compromising the overall performance of black children throughout the entire education system.

b. The Children in the Book are Parents and Grandparents of Current Children

The children who the British education system failed in the 1960s and 1970s are parents and grandparents to today’s children. Many of these children are getting suspended and excluded from schools or placed in special units or streams. Black boys were affected far more than black girls, a fact still true today.

The generation of problems that existed decades ago still affects generations today. Society’s failure to solve the problems of a single generation of children has led to repeated, even worse failures. Just as people inherit genes from their families, they inherit social circumstances. Those in charge of education have not adequately addressed and solved these problems but instead hidden them.

While the so-called schools for the educationally subnormal were eventually closed down, ill-equipped children with emotional, cultural, medical, and more issues are shunted into a corner and ignored rather than having their needs addressed. Streaming has become a common way to handle these "difficult" black children, and when frustration leads to disruption or violence, exclusion becomes a regular tool for getting rid of the problem, rather than addressing children’s issues.

My book seems to have had a profound impact, which many people have told me about. However, I suspect that most of these people were simply trying to be kind. Nevertheless, the timing of the book was crucial. It was written during the summer of 1970 and published in May 1971, and this was due to the significant presence of black children in British schools during the 1960s and early 1970s. This was a result of the increasing number of black immigrants arriving from Britain’s colonies and former colonies.

Black people had lived in Britain for centuries, mainly in port cities related to the slave trade. However, their numbers were small, and they had little impact on British society. In contrast, the black immigrants of the post-World War II era had a more significant impact due to their larger numbers and their concentration in major British cities. Both Conservative and Labour governments aggressively recruited them to fill the massive labor shortages in the British economy. They were primarily employed in the transportation, healthcare, and less efficient, labor-intensive factories.

Most immigrants arrived during the 1950s and early 1960s, but their children became a significant presence in the school system only in the 1960s and beyond. This is because those who already had children at home before migrating to Britain took a few years to settle before sending for their children. Others started families after arriving in Britain, resulting in several years’ gap before their children reached school age. This is likely why my book was written when it was, and not before or later.

Despite not being a migrant to Britain and having expertise in economics, not education, a combination of factors led me to write the book. I arrived in Britain in 1966 to do a master’s degree at Sussex University. After completing it, I worked full-time and signed up for a part-time PhD in development economics at Sussex University, with the intention of returning to the Caribbean to serve my people.

Between the summer of 1967 and December 1970, I ran evening clubs for children from seven schools for the "educationally subnormal" (ESN) and taught full time at two other ESN schools. This gave me firsthand experience of what was happening not just in these schools but in the education system as a whole. I discovered that the system was using the ESN schools as a convenient dumping ground for black children who were anything but "educationally subnormal."

One day, in the spring of 1970, a cousin of mine handed me an "internal" Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) report on all the ESN schools. The report contained evidence of the scandal affecting black children in the school system. At the time, I wasn’t a journalist, didn’t have contacts in the British media, and wasn’t a member of any organization. However, I was determined to do something about this scandalous situation.

I did my best to explain the situation to those present, and before the evening was over, I was requested by multiple attendees to prepare and present a paper to a conference taking place in a few weeks, where literary greats like Samuel Selvon and Andrew Salkey would also be presenting. It seemed like destiny was on my side, as I finally had a means to get my message out to the black community. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if a few dozen parent-activists would be enough to make a difference.

After presenting my paper, a vibrant discussion followed, and I was urged by all present to turn my paper into a book. I was given three months to complete the book – a deadline made clear by those who were eager to expose the scandal as soon as possible.

During the summer months of 1970, I worked tirelessly on the book, spending my days at the library and my nights poring over notes and drafting chapters. By the summer’s end, I had written over 200 pages, outlining the many obstacles black children faced and providing ideas for how to tackle them.

I decided to focus the book specifically on black parents, as they were the ones who needed to be made aware of the issues and organized to confront them. I wanted them to feel a personal connection to the book and recognize that this was a problem for them to solve, not someone else.

With a scaled-down version of the manuscript complete, I turned to various West Indian organizations for their input. Satisfied with its contents, the next step was to find a publisher – an endeavor that proved challenging due to the limited market for a book aimed solely at West Indian parents.

With no established publishers willing to take a chance on the book, a meeting was held among the leaders of 26 different West Indian community groups and organizations, who pooled their resources to pay a printer and fund the book’s publication. New Beacon Books and Bogle L’Ouverture Publications stepped up to bring the book to fruition, with support and encouragement from leading activists like Jeff Crawford and Andrew Salkey, among others.

There were two fascinating elements to the process behind the creation of this book. The first was the remarkable amount of attention it received from the day it was published, and the second was the response it provoked from "the establishment" and their reaction to its publicity.

Regarding the book’s publicity, we must recognize and give credit to three outstanding Americans who played an essential role in generating interest in the book’s content. Jim and Carol Bergman gave me exceptional encouragement throughout the writing process and connected me with a professional media consultant, who worked with me pro bono and provided invaluable knowledge about book promotion. She shared "trade secrets" on how to launch the book with a positive blast of publicity – knowledge I have since passed on to my students in small business courses throughout the Caribbean.

She provided me with a list of 1,400 newspapers, TV shows, and radio programs, granting me access to crucial information on each of their key news journalists and columnists, along with their contact information. She also advised me on the appropriate colours and sizes for the press release print, margins, and the information that should go in the introductory sentence and paragraph. I acted on her advice and was thrilled to see every mainstream media outlet covering the story positively and accurately. I was invited to various radio and TV talk shows to discuss the book’s content at length.

The most fantastic publicity stroke, though, came when I debated the book’s content with the ILEA’s chief education officer on prime-time television news for six whole minutes on the first day of its publication. The story reached a sizeable percentage of the UK population, and as a result, several establishments reacted in various ways.

The educational "establishment" chose to deny and discredit the book’s content at first, alleging that it was "a pack of lies" on radio and TV. However, as more information emerged, they were forced to retract their statement and admit that some of the book’s content was true, but the majority was false. Eventually, after six months of substantial publicity, they conceded that the data was "accurate," and the book was recommended reading at teachers’ colleges and schools throughout the UK.

The other aspect of the "establishment’s" response was more intimidating. My phone was tapped overnight, my wife and I were stalked and possibly followed by security personnel. Even our 11-year-old nephew, who was holidaying with us, was harassed in our presence, and threatened with made-up charges by the police, who were hoping to send a message to me.

It wasn’t until six months after the book’s publication that the establishments stopped their efforts to intimidate us, and for the first time, my phone was no longer tapped, and no one was following us. During the same period that this was happening, the education establishment also stopped their public vilification campaigns, and the book was widely recognized as an accurate and valuable source of information for Teachers Colleges and Schools of Education.

Ultimately, the impact of the book was seismic. It called out injustices and disparities in the UK education system that had been ignored for a long time. It forced the establishment to confront and address the issues highlighted in the book, reshaping how the education system worked for children of color.

The book had a tremendous impact on the black community, but it was not the only factor in the change of attitude from the establishment. The widespread support received from white teachers, including head teachers, across the country played an essential role in shifting the mainstream British public’s opinion. The book’s content, main idea, and objectives were embraced by significant sections of the population who believed that the situation was unfair, even scandalous, and action needed to be taken.

Journalists also played an active role in spreading this message, highlighting the problem’s severity and the necessity for change. Initially intended solely for the black community, the book mobilized not only the black community but also white teachers, student teachers, university students, journalists, trade union leaders, and other progressive sections of society.

All of these factors forced the establishment to reassess its tactics, and they were eventually compelled to concede and put an end to the discrimination and provide equal education quality to black children. This was a monumental victory in the battle, but the war is far from over for black parents, their children, and white working-class ones. A minority of black people have succeeded economically and educationally, but the majority remains far from winning the war.

© Bernard Coard 2004.