Ray Honeyford
Ray Honeyford (Manchester, 24 February 1934 - 5 February 2012) was a British headmaster.
He was headmaster of Drummond Middle School in Bradford, Yorkshire, when in January 1984 he published an article critical of multiculturalism and its effect on British education in The Salisbury Review, a conservative magazine edited by the philosopher Roger Scruton. After that he was widely accused of racism and forced into early retirement by the Bradford city government led by Mohammed Ajeeb. He never taught again.
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[edit] Life
Honeyford was born in a large working-class family. He grew up in very poor conditions. His father was an unskilled labourer who was wounded in the First World War. Because of this he could only work intermittently thereafter; Ray’s mother was the daughter of Irish immigrants.[1]
Of his 10 brothers and sisters six died in childhood. The small house the family occupied in Manchester didn't contain one single book. Ray failed his Eleven plus exam and went to Manchester Technical School. At 15 he started work in an office to support his family. At the same time he attended evening classes to train as a teacher. In later years he took an MA in Linguistics at Lancaster University.[2]
Before becoming headmaster in 1981 of Drummond Middle School in Bradford Ray Honeyford taught at various secondary schools in the Manchester area, including Lostock School.[3]
[edit] Description of the Honeyford-affair
An article written by Honeyford for the Review in 1984[4] discussed themes on ethnicity, culture and assimilation, and educational performance.[5] He had already made public his views in two letters in 1982, to the Times Educational Supplement (TES) and a local Bradford paper, and then in an extended article in the TES in November 1982.[5] In that, he rehearsed a number of points, in particular on where the onus for integration and the limiting factors for educational performance lie in the home family environment in immigrant families. He attacked what he saw as the misplaced use of multiculturalism in schools, and 'political correctness' in the form of scrutiny of textbook material.
Honeyford had already been in discussion with his Local Education Authority after the 1982 TES article, in the context of Bradford Council guidelines on educational aims issued in that year, but had not been disciplined. After the second article he was disciplined, and was also the target of a campaign for his dismissal. He was sacked, reinstated and then took early retirement, about two years after The Salisbury Review article was published.[6].
[edit] Notes
- ^ see The Daily Telegraph, 6 february 2012
- ^ see The Daily Telegraph, 6 february 2012
- ^ see The Daily Telegraph, 6 february 2012
- ^ Honeyford, Ray (27 August, 2006). "Education and Race - an Alternative View". The Daily Telegraph (London: TMG). ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3654888/Education-and-Race-an-Alternative-View.html. Retrieved 10 February 2012. [reproduction of Honeyford's 1984 article]
- ^ a b Obituary: Ray Honeyford Daily Telegraph, 8 February 2012
- ^ Parkinson, Justin (9 February, 2012). "BBC News - Ray Honeyford: Racist or right?". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16968930. Retrieved 10 February 2012. "Ray Honeyford"
[edit] References
- Obituary of Ray Honeyford in the Daily Telegraph, 8 February 2012
