"Racism is taught in the family and wider community, not schools"- Readers' comments

David McNeil: All very well tackling racism, but surely the biggest problem in Scotland is the outrageous sectarianism that is peddled, especially on the west coast.

Anne Robertson: Anti-racism has been on the curriculum in primary school for at least 15 years and Show Racism the Red Card was introduced many years ago. It needs to be enforced, with zero tolerance for every incident. The recent response by a football club banning fans for such behaviour was a great step in the right direction.

Alma Adams: This is another one of those issues where the devil is in the detail. The effective programme (Show Racism the Red Card) is very different from a number of programmes around now loosely based on “critical race theory” that in reality embeds the racism peddled by a few grifters. Slavery should be in the curriculum, so children understand how the Glasgow merchants became the “Jeff Bezoses” of their time – ie insanely wealthy. It also needs to include the work of the many English abolitionists like Wilberforce and many others and the role of the British navy in ending the Atlantic slave trade. Also, modern (and historical) slavery in Africa and the Middle East and human trafficking in and by other countries and even now in Glasgow (I believe) needs to be taught, not glossed over. Racism is not just, and never was just a “white” problem.

Fraser Hume: Racism isn’t just a white problem but it is predominantly a white one, particularly in this country. If we’re to look at race relations and slavery around the world, you’re sure to find examples that don’t involve white people at all and indeed some where white people were the victims. I’m not sure the extent of those is enough to make them directly comparable.

Ian McFadzean: Many Scots were sold into slavery after the Battle of Worcester. More important lessons about life need to be taught.

David Connell Hamilton: Hopefully you also add teaching about the indentured servants from the Highlands who were sent to hard labour in the colonies for their culture was outlawed.

Caroline Currie: Maybe we could teach them to embrace the love of our fellow man – English, Irish and Welsh, and then perhaps a discursive essay on why the SNP were wrong to support the Nazis in the Second World War.

Liz Elliott: What about teaching them the rudiments of literacy, science and maths first? No wonder the standard of Scottish education has become a sad joke.

Michael Hildrew: They do already. Imagine getting offended at kids not being brought up to be racists.

John Shields: Racism already is covered in schools and has been for years. Racism isn't taught in schools, it's taught in the family and in the wider community, including social media. Teaching about our country's role in the slave trade is definitely a good thing though.

Sam McMullen: More virtue signalling! It’s the responsibility of parents to teach their children right from wrong and how to be a decent person. Schools are about equipping kids with the skills they need to earn a living. Perhaps I’d be more receptive to this if we weren’t separating children from the age of five according to their religion

Hetty B MV: We need to acknowledge our place in history good and bad and understand the lasting implications of that.

Daniel Morgan: Let’s just hope it includes material to tackle disgusting anti-Irish racism and anti-Catholic bigotry too. Long overdue.

Mattias Bengtsson: It’s important of course, but even more important that Scottish history is taught in schools.

Kirstly Macdonald: Slavery and the importance of the slave trade and our part in it is part of Scottish history… a far bigger part than we'd often like to admit. Look at the street names in Glasgow – the Kingston Bridge, Jamaica Street, and so on. Our biggest city's wealth was made on the back of exploited, kidnapped African people

Fiona McAllister: Is it going to encompass anti-political bias as well?