School
Most students enjoyed school. However, several commented that teachers rarely had time
to talk to them individually. Some stated that their teacher had shown real effort and care
by pushing them to succeed.
According to the majority character education was non-existent in schools. Some students
said that school trips were good for developing character, and a small number of students
said that school trips were pointless, ‘what’s the point of that?’
Students mentioned a lot of fighting both on school premises and also outside of school.
The issue of violence led to a question based around it in the following questionnaire.
Family
The subject of family troubles often came up unprompted. Several students mentioned
family troubles within a large number of local families. Several students did not live with
or get on with their parents. There was also one mention of others’ parents being benefit
dependent and actively boasting about it in the community, ‘my mum’s friend says about
how she lives like a queen off the social’.
The issue of parental responsibility appeared in the following questionnaire.
Pride
When asked about whether they were proud of Birmingham, some students were proud of
Birmingham, but none expressed pride in East Birmingham. Many students said that they
would leave Birmingham if they could. When asked, many students said they were proud
to be British.
When asked whether they thought that the area was split into racial groups, the majority
of students agreed, ‘that’s about right’. No students actively disagreed.
Pride appeared as a question area in the following questionnaire.
Trust
When asked whether students trusted other people, the majority stated a distrust of people
at large, with several saying that they would rather keep their lives private from people
since they did not know what others would do with their information, ‘I would rather be
private because you don’t know what people are gonna do with things you tell them’.
Some students trusted a small number of their teachers, whilst the police and politicians
were barely trusted at all.
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