British Statute law, specifically the Equality Act 2010, lists nine Protected Characteristics:

Age

Disability

Gender reassignment

Marriage and civil partnership

Pregnancy and maternity

Race

Religion or belief

Sex

Sexual orientation

It is a criminal offence to discriminate against anyone on any of these grounds. The Act also sets out Codes of Practice and technical guidance on application of the law, as well as a Publc Sector Equality Duty.

Schools, like everyone else, are bound by the Act and any school whose ethos or culture, even by implication, could be deemed discriminatory would be liable to criminal prosecution, not a civil suit. Governors, etc of schools might risk a civil case, but a criminal case is different. Litigation insurance can cover damages, but usually does not cover fines and won't save you from jail.

Consequently, every school in the UK, either State or private, has to incorproate equality, diversity and non-discrimination into its mission statement and then live up to it of risk prosecution. I woild expect that to continue under the system I propose. Variety in style or culture does int need to, nor should it, entail any kind of discrimination.

Microaggression is an American thing. I don't know how many English people you know, but we do tend to be rather robust in the way we interact with each other! To put it another way, the exchange of 'friendly insults' or 'piss-taking' is commonplace and visitors from abroad often find it puzzling and sometimes a bit scary. It is, in fact, true to say that an English person is only polite to people they either don't know or don't like! What this means it that anyone raised in the UK is likely to have a much thicker skin than most Americans seem to have. Two exceptions being Muslims, who remain thin-skinned in the matter of religion, and the obsessively and excessively politically-correct, who will take offence at being wished a good morning if they feel so inclined.

As a consequence, it would be difficult to define, both legally and socially, what constitutes a microaggression.

For example, I was born and raised in Yorkshire, a county whose inhabitants have the reputation of being dour, laconic, blunt-spoken, old-fashioned and miserly. It is held as an article of faith by many that a Yorkshireman will wear a flat cap, keep racing pigeons and a whippet, be fanatical about cricket, drink beer exclusively and never smile except at funerals. We also have a distinctive accent which, even adter 40 years living and working in the Midlands, I have been unable to shed.

So, each and every time I have gone into a new place of work, or have been introduced to a new group of people, one or more of them has recognised my accent. This inevitably leads to enquireis as to why I don't wear a flat cap, where my whippet is and how my pigeons are doing.

I was never approached when collections for colleagues birthdays or leaving days because it was assumed I would be unwilling to part with any money.

For the same reason, I was routinely excluded from invitations to social events, including Team Lunches and Christmas celebrations "Tony won't want to pay out for it. He's from Yorkshire. He'd bring his own sandwiches."

There have been numerous occasions in restaurants when, having been given the menu, I have looked in vain for the wine list (I like wine with a meal). My polite enquiries on this omission were invariably met wth some variation on "Oh! I heard your accent and thought you'd want beer!"

Do any or all of these sound like microaggressions to you?