Diversity in schools (ethnic)

My school is very multicultural. It is a state school in central london and it is very good in terms of the education it offers. However I am confused because they preach diversity in our school but when the time comes for the school to be represented by a student, the student is white. It is not to say that the white student did not deserve the role, but it is repetitive and there are also coloured students that deserve such roles too. For instance, two white classmates were chosen to go to Buckingham Palace for an event due to their 'contribution' to lessons. I know that many other people had an equal chance of being chosen and neither of the two did anything particularly special to be chosen. They are also upper middle class from quite wealthy families, so even though the trip is a big deal to everyone, it would mean more to someone that actually has to work for their future (No offense to them, it is just an example). My point is that schools tend to choose white people for special opportunities such as these and its so unfair. It is noticeable but not so much that it must be reported. There have been students of colour who have represented our school before but not enough, especially because around half of our cohort are people of colour.
Why is it that poc have to work twice as hard to get the same outcome as white peers with minimum effort? It is so frustrating to see because they always act like we all have the same challenges and opportunities in the education setting but we know that is not the case. Unfortunately I know the real answer to my own question, but I would like to know if anyone else experiences this too? And in what situation?

You do know that diversity is more than skin colour right? or more than “we need more Black/BAME (I dislike the term POC) in the house”…

You could have a whole group of white people in room but they come from different backgrounds (different cultures, religions, sexualities, some might have disabilities or MH issues others might not, different socioeconomic backgrounds etc), that’s still diversity. Diversity is more than simply skin colour/ethnic background.

Hi. I think you have misinterpreted my message so I edited the forum title to emphasise ethic diversity. I understand your point and what the term 'diversity' entails, however in my specific situation there has not been any diversity even within the white persons. I am talking about academic achievement, where the students who are chosen to represent our school are almost always of a wealthy white British background. The reason why I am frustrated at this is not because they are white and they should be BAME, but because they are ultimately not the most deserving of special opportunities. There are also BAME students, students of different religions, sexualities and disabilities (who can also be white!!) who are equal in terms of their qualifications (or even better most times) yet they are denied of such academic opportunities. Yes diversity is more than just skin colour but when a school is as multicultural and ethnically diverse as mine, you would expect there to be a higher likelihood of black/BAME students being represented but there aren't.

I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from.
P.S. why do you dislike the term POC? As a 'person of colour' myself I don't see anything wrong with the term but I am interested to hear your view.

I don’t like the term POC (I don’t care if others use it though) because of the (what I perceive to be) inaccuracy of the term compared to BAME. To me it just doesn’t make sense to me to label Black people as POC but not White people (when you take the meaning of the term POC literally).

Hi. I think you have misinterpreted my message so I edited the forum title to emphasise ethic diversity. I understand your point and what the term 'diversity' entails, however in my specific situation there has not been any diversity even within the white persons. I am talking about academic achievement, where the students who are chosen to represent our school are almost always of a wealthy white British background. The reason why I am frustrated at this is not because they are white and they should be BAME, but because they are ultimately not the most deserving of special opportunities. There are also BAME students, students of different religions, sexualities and disabilities (who can also be white!!) who are equal in terms of their qualifications (or even better most times) yet they are denied of such academic opportunities. Yes diversity is more than just skin colour but when a school is as multicultural and ethnically diverse as mine, you would expect there to be a higher likelihood of black/BAME students being represented but there aren't. I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from.
P.S. why do you dislike the term POC? As a 'person of colour' myself I don't see anything wrong with the term but I am interested to hear your view.

loool racism at its finest

How do you know that the students are wealthy? Or that they aren’t the most deserving of opportunities in this context? Not all things are visible (e.g some disabilities, sexualities, background, ethnicity, religion etc).

Maybe the school simply (I hope that they did this rather than discriminate against minorities) picked the best people for the role and those pupils both happened to have been white rather than BAME/POC.

I think that if it’s that big of an issue, maybe someone in the school could do something about it.

I don’t like the term POC (I don’t care if others use it though) because of the (what I perceive to be) inaccuracy of the term compared to BAME. To me it just doesn’t make sense to me to label Black people as POC but not White people (when you take the meaning of the term POC literally).

In this particular case I was referring to, I know that these 2 students are wealthy because I am friends with them. I like them a lot and I would hope that the reason why they are chosen for special roles are because they are best suited and just happen to be white (also they are not disabled, heterosexual and Christian as we go to a religious school so its not necessarily diverse in those categories either). Its just a pattern I have noticed in my school, and I wanted to know if others have noticed it too in their schools. There is a student lead diversity and inclusion club at my school so maybe I will go talk to them about this.