ABSTRACT
The Swann Report is a complex and uneven document. In some respects, it rises above the current consensus and breaks new ground, whereas in others it is rather pedestrian and conservative. The report first explains the West Indian children's underachievement and second, their remarkable improvement between 1978-79 and 1981-82. Second, the report shows considerable vacillation in explaining the educational underachievement of West Indian children. It stresses the disturbing incidence of racism both in society at large and in the schools. Third, the Report is grossly unfair to the Asians. Since the Rampton Committee was specifically concerned with the West Indian children, the Swann Committee was expected and indeed required by the initial terms of reference to concentrate on the other ethnic minority children. Fourth, the Report's treatment of the place of ethnic minority languages in our schools is unimaginative, unfair and self-contradictory.
