‘I recommend it strongly, especially to those minded to consider its author guilty until proven innocent, precisely because it will surprise them. Wherever you stand on the culture wars – what we used to just call ‘politics’ – Birbalsingh is a thinker and practitioner you have to reckon with . . . I suggest all those who think they know her, read this book . . . and think again’ Amol Rajan
‘Some will undoubtedly dismiss this brilliant book as another culture-war polemic, but that would miss what is genuinely valuable here. Birbalsingh is remarkably even-handed about where radicalisation comes from, critiquing the misogyny in young male online spaces as well as illiberalism on the identitarian left. A refreshing departure from orthodoxy’ Julie Bindel
‘Uniquely, she combines a deftness of touch with tremendous clarity of thought, plotting a sound course between the temptations of feel-good virtue-signalling liberalism and reactionary overcorrection. A must-read for every thinking person in Britain’ Konstantin Kisin
‘Children pay the price for ideas that make adults feel virtuous. Drawing on decades of experience in the classroom, Katharine Birbalsingh delivers a powerful account of how lowered expectations and luxury beliefs betray the very people educators promise to help. An urgent book about what we owe the next generation’ Rob Henderson
Race and community relations are getting worse. The online world and the education system continue to push identity politics. Multiculturalism is on the brink.
The political left demonises as fascist all expression of concerns that liberal multiculturalism is creating tensions. In response, some on the right are moving towards more extreme and reactionary positions, with some opposing a multicultural society altogether.
We’re more divided than ever. But despair is not an option. We need to chart a realistic way forward and bind people together. That is the purpose of this book.
Grounded in the author’s experience of working at the forefront of the British education system, this book argues that many of the country’s current political issues are grounded in childhood and schools. Birbalsingh asserts that duties to others and to the country should speak louder than our tribal rights – and shows us how change can begin within ordinary families and ordinary schools.
Britain is not just somewhere we happen to live, it is a home we inherit, shape and ultimately pass on – and all of us can play a part in its future.
‘Some will undoubtedly dismiss this brilliant book as another culture-war polemic, but that would miss what is genuinely valuable here. Birbalsingh is remarkably even-handed about where radicalisation comes from, critiquing the misogyny in young male online spaces as well as illiberalism on the identitarian left. A refreshing departure from orthodoxy’ Julie Bindel
‘Uniquely, she combines a deftness of touch with tremendous clarity of thought, plotting a sound course between the temptations of feel-good virtue-signalling liberalism and reactionary overcorrection. A must-read for every thinking person in Britain’ Konstantin Kisin
‘Children pay the price for ideas that make adults feel virtuous. Drawing on decades of experience in the classroom, Katharine Birbalsingh delivers a powerful account of how lowered expectations and luxury beliefs betray the very people educators promise to help. An urgent book about what we owe the next generation’ Rob Henderson
Race and community relations are getting worse. The online world and the education system continue to push identity politics. Multiculturalism is on the brink.
The political left demonises as fascist all expression of concerns that liberal multiculturalism is creating tensions. In response, some on the right are moving towards more extreme and reactionary positions, with some opposing a multicultural society altogether.
We’re more divided than ever. But despair is not an option. We need to chart a realistic way forward and bind people together. That is the purpose of this book.
Grounded in the author’s experience of working at the forefront of the British education system, this book argues that many of the country’s current political issues are grounded in childhood and schools. Birbalsingh asserts that duties to others and to the country should speak louder than our tribal rights – and shows us how change can begin within ordinary families and ordinary schools.
Britain is not just somewhere we happen to live, it is a home we inherit, shape and ultimately pass on – and all of us can play a part in its future.
Reviews
Katharine Birbalsingh is not just a brilliant teacher, she is a fearless truth-teller. This book showcases her intellectual range, moral courage and wonderful lucidity of thought. It is an urgent and necessary contribution to the debate on how we should live now.
Katharine Birbalsingh has courageously waded into a critical and controversial debate about the future of Britain. Uniquely, she combines a deftness of touch with tremendous clarity of thought, plotting a sound course between the temptations of feel-good virtue-signalling liberalism and reactionary overcorrection. A must-read for every thinking person in Britain.
Brilliant and effortless to read. Birbalsingh takes the lessons of the classroom into a society that has kept only fragments of Christianity. With forgiveness misplaced, guilt and resentment are dividing us. The diagnosis: sin has been externalised onto identity groups, yet still runs through every human heart. The treatment, for people of every faith and none, is worthy of deep thought.
If you think the country is going backwards right now, but you aren't political and you don't really understand what's going on, then this book explains it all. Katharine has a special view, having been a teacher in the inner city her whole life. Step into her world and read it.
Katharine Birbalsingh . . . as direct, uncompromising and challenging on the page as she is in the classroom