This week a writer and teacher named Kate Clanchy found herself in hot water when some of the writing in her 2019 memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, came to the attention of the leftwing cancel-culture crowd. The memoir tells of the thirty years she spent teaching the children of working-class parents in British public schools. Among her grievous offenses was having described some of her Asian students as having “slanted eyes” or “almond-shaped eyes.” This, apparently, was enough to get Clanchy labeled a racist. This is ironic, because Clanchy herself is a staunch liberal and her book was awarded the Orwell Prize, which honors political writing, generally from the left. Though well received by most of the readers who commented on it at Amazon.com, the book generated some blowback upon publication from readers who found it too darn liberal. One reader called it, “left wing propaganda from a very self-satisfied authoress.”
RACISM ISN’T JUST A CAUCASIAN THING
RACISM ISN’T JUST A CAUCASIAN THING
RACISM ISN’T JUST A CAUCASIAN THING
This week a writer and teacher named Kate Clanchy found herself in hot water when some of the writing in her 2019 memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, came to the attention of the leftwing cancel-culture crowd. The memoir tells of the thirty years she spent teaching the children of working-class parents in British public schools. Among her grievous offenses was having described some of her Asian students as having “slanted eyes” or “almond-shaped eyes.” This, apparently, was enough to get Clanchy labeled a racist. This is ironic, because Clanchy herself is a staunch liberal and her book was awarded the Orwell Prize, which honors political writing, generally from the left. Though well received by most of the readers who commented on it at Amazon.com, the book generated some blowback upon publication from readers who found it too darn liberal. One reader called it, “left wing propaganda from a very self-satisfied authoress.”