Subnormal: A British Scandal
Quietly powerful documentary about a racist education policy that is a national outrage
In Steve McQueen's Small Axe anthology series, 'Education' reflected on the establishment of schools for the 'educationally subnormal'. During the 1960s and 70s, children who were seen as disruptive or somehow lesser were sent to these 'special schools' with an inordinately high number of those kids being Black. McQueen is back as executive producer on Subnormal: A British Scandal, an hour-long documentary by Lyttanya Shannon in which the policy is exposed further by speaking to individuals who were sent to these institutions as well as with educationalists and parents who fought back against something that became clear was both prejudicial and just plain wrong.
How this travesty came into existence and then activated is a convoluted story that Shannon steadily pieces together. In a clear attempt to split communities apart, Black children's intelligence was assessed by loaded 'IQ' tests that were designed for failure. Trying to dress up these establishments as unique, they were located far away from the children's homes: effectively they were boarding schools for what the authorities called 'dunces'. The full lasting legacy on those children as adults is unknown, but Shannon was unsurprised that so many people were unwilling to talk about their experiences on film. And while these 'special schools' have long since gone, the practice of excluding children based on race continues to this day through 'pupil referral units'.
But rather than this being a passionate and angry film, there is a quiet dignity to those who were affected (some of whom proved how awful the policy was by going on to high academic achievement later in life), with terrible memories written on their faces as much as it is etched in their words. Education has long been a battleground where race, gender, and class have clashed, but few issues were as wilfully hidden and intentionally destructive as the creation of schools for the 'educationally subnormal'. That name alone should make you recoil with anger and disbelief.
BBC One, Thursday 20 May, 9pm.