"Thank you, please", 'let's plesto'
.
So says Lee, the little girl with oriental features who appears in a drawing on the subsidiary of languages 'Leggermente plus', dedicated to children of the last grades of elementary schools, by Giunti Del Borgo.
The sentence is also added: "She never gets offended when we make fun of her".
And the controversy over stereotypes in the use of language breaks out on Twitter.
The case is raised on social media by Professor Lala Hu, who teaches at the Catholic University of Milan.
“She is not offended when we make fun of her”
what does @GiuntiEditore know about the trauma of children when they are bullied?
Aside from stereotypes about children of Chinese origin like being good at math, "glazie, plego" and "let's do plesto"?
And he wouldn't be called Lee anyway.
pic.twitter.com/hNPkWiQf5Y
- Lala Hu (@ LalaHu9) March 31, 2021
"It is not the first time that educational texts for children represent a retrograde mentality, sometimes sexist and racist," says the teacher on Twitter.
And he adds: "One cause may be the absence of diversity in the publishing sector. With this type of storytelling, we will continue to live on prejudice and discrimination".
Also, "the baby wouldn't be called Lee anyway," he points out.
A similar episode happened last September also for a cartoon of the book 'Rossofuoco' by Ardea Editore intended for the first three primary school classes, in which a boy approaches a dark-skinned girl and asks her: 'Are you dirty or are you all black? '.
The case was raised by Marwa Mahmoud, municipal councilor Pd of Reggio Emilia.