Sex education in UK schools but not as we knew it!

The problem is that teachers are people and as well as many being gifted and sensible there are also a proportion of those who are really stupid and children are unmerciful, in finding these out and exploiting them.

I can look back on my school days and think of one or two teachers, that we dismissed as useless (and yes, they were) and we played up, and playing up doesn't mean being disruptive. I and a friend were described as being 'deeply subversive'.

In these tales of children saying they are cats, I can see my subversive self. It is exactly what i would have done in the circumstances, and my DD would have had the whole class bringing her milk, stroking her fur and throwing balls for her to play with. I would have told her off and discouraged her from doing it. As an adult I would never condone her bad behaviour. But some teachers do act very foolishly.

I would not be a secondary school teacher for all the tea in China, but if you are really need to be on top of the job, and this teacher clearly wasn't.

I don’t think they really do identify as animals - I believe that they are laughing at the staff who have so thoroughly bought into an ideology that the children know is ridiculous. It’s either that or the notion that ‘I can be anything I like’ has taken root so firmly that psychological problems have become endemic in the children brought up with it.

It seems that the guidance might change as a result of this (if so, well played Tiddles and Fido!). If that happens it will be interesting to see how it is taken by those who have shouted loudest and virtue-signalled their support of the discredited affirmation policy. Will they backtrack and start shouting equally loudly that children need to be treated as children, or stick to the beliefs about identity politics that they hold so dear?

I’m sure that on the whole there will be a collective sigh of relief across the teaching profession if the guidelines state that the clock is being wound back to when there were two sexes and ‘gender’ was just a way of describing society’s norms as regards the expectations of how members of those two sexes should behave. There might then be space to look at ways of breaking down those expectations to allow for greater choice, and adult conversations can be had. How liberating would that be?

Sadly the years of dogma and indoctrination will leave behind a generation of damaged children - will the Stonewall supporters take responsibility for that, or claim that they were only obeying orders?

I really hope that there is a proper investigation into all this, but given the fact that it has taken hold during the time the government has been in power I don’t know how thorough it will be. Someone has to be responsible for allowing the identity madness to take root. I hope that whoever it is will have the decency to stand by the damaged children and ensure that they get the help they deserve to compensate for being so badly let down.

Definitely having a laugh Doodledog, and if there is anyone who really believes that the animal they've chosen is their 'authentic self' then they need help.

Not indulging this madness is what is needed.

Keir Starmer has said children should identify as children not cats www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/21/keir-starmer-children-self-identifying-as-cats/
I can only read the headline, but it would appear that Keir knows what a cat is and knows that's different to a child. Perhaps he'll grasp the difference between men and women eventually. Will he question children identifying as the opposite sex next or is it only cross species he has a problem with?
I really hope that these children self identifying as other entities are just taking the adults for a ride, because the alternative that they truly believe these new identities is just too worrying.

*Keir Starmer has said children should identify as children not cats www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/21/keir-starmer-children-self-identifying-as-cats/
I can only read the headline, but it would appear that Keir knows what a cat is and knows that's different to a child. Perhaps he'll grasp the difference between men and women eventually.*

Here is the rest of the article. I have shared access to the Torygraph for a while, so am making the most of it

Sir Keir Starmer has made clear that children who present themselves as cats “should be told to identify as children”, as he joined the growing row over self-identity.

The Labour leader believes “it is clearly ridiculous” for teachers to treat pupils as anything other than children, after The Telegraph highlighted cases of students identifying as horses, dinosaurs, and other animals in school.

It came as one of Britain’s leading head teachers warned that “adult authority is long gone” in many classrooms, as she said some schools have multiple children identifying as cats.

Katharine Birbalsingh drew attention to a school where a “cat” child is even allowed to lie down in lessons. She hit back at critics who had accused her of lying when she previously mentioned the issue.

“Now everyone can see that what I was saying was true,” she said.

Outspoken comments
Sir Keir’s comments are the most outspoken by any party leader over the issue since The Telegraph revealed that two children were reprimanded by a teacher for questioning a classmate’s cat identity.

His spokesman said: “It’s clearly ridiculous if you’re in a situation where children are not being recognised as children. I think it’s fairly obvious what the right approach should be in this case.”

Asked whether Sir Keir thought a child could identify as a cat, the spokesman said: “I think children should be told to identify as children.”

Asked if the teacher was out of line, the spokesman replied: “Yes.”

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has ordered an investigation into what happened at Rye College, in East Sussex, where a teacher was recorded telling pupils they should accept their classmate’s decision to identify as a cat.

The Telegraph has also disclosed that children are identifying as horses, dinosaurs and even a moon in British classrooms.

Ms Birbalsingh, sometimes referred to as Britain’s strictest head and who was chairman of the Social Mobility Commission until January, said that she knew “teachers who work and have worked in schools where there is more than one cat”.

She added: “I don’t ‘think’ this is happening. I know.”

The founder of the Michaela Community School, in Wembley Park, London, tweeted a message from one teacher who said there was a “cat” in their school who was allowed to lie down in lessons, which the teacher said was “complete madness”.

The teacher in question said other children in the class were being “failed by being allowed to watch this tolerated” and complained that “we have had a new set of gender guidelines which define nothing, take an ironic ‘do not harm approach’. It does harm to the whole community to leave people scared to question obvious unmet needs”.

The teacher ended the text message by saying: “How do you get the strength to call it out?”

Thanks for that Doodledog. Is there a chance this is the beginning of a much wanted return to sanity?

I’d like to think so, Rosie.

Rosie51

Thanks for that Doodledog. Is there a chance this is the beginning of a much wanted return to sanity?

I don't know, Rosie51

I am beginning to identify as a dinosaur.
☹

Thank you for that article. Sense at last?
Strength to call it out and support when you do!

Thanks for posting the article Doodledog it does look as if this ridiculous nonsense is going to be knocked on the head, although I still find it hard to believe that it ever happened in the first place.

Well at least Starmer knows the difference between a child and a cat, hopefully he will soon come to terms with the differences between men and women. We can but hope.

Callistemon21

Rosie51

Thanks for that Doodledog. Is there a chance this is the beginning of a much wanted return to sanity?

I don't know, Rosie51

I am beginning to identify as a dinosaur.
☹

Plant eater or carnivore.......just in case I ever bump into you or the sort that only hoards rights according to David Lammy?

Oh, plant eater of course!

Are you a Doyouthinkhesaurus?

Do you have a dog Callestemon? If so, are you a Doyouthinkhesawusrex .

Smileless2012

Do you have a dog Callestemon? If so, are you a Doyouthinkhesawusrex .

Not now, but I can borrow one 😁

I tend to be a Dinothesaurus!

Smileless2012

Thanks for posting the article Doodledog it does look as if this ridiculous nonsense is going to be knocked on the head, although I still find it hard to believe that it ever happened in the first place.

I think it was inevitable, really. As soon as the line between fact and fantasy was crossed and people were criticised or disciplined for 'misgendering' (ie refusing to say that a boy was a girl or vice versa) the genie was out of the bottle.

As children like to push boundaries, and as they usually have a low tolerance of staff who like to appear (or think they appear) 'trendy' it was always likely that they would want to go a step further than the last classmate to gain attention by changing identity, and now they have. I have no idea whether they really thought they'd get away with it, but they did, at least until the recording was made public. Unfortunate for the teacher caught in the crossfire, but ultimately I think it's for the best that it did.

My guess is that the vast majority (of cats, transgender children, dinosaurs, teachers, parents and governors) will be utterly sick of the whole thing, and will be relieved when the whole identity nonsense is knocked on the head and teachers can start teaching again.

I hope your guess is correct, Doodledog. I’ve already seen evidence of girls rejecting their previous I’m a boy claims once they had got their desire and there was no option to get other children into trouble.
The only pity about that, is that it reflects badly on those children who really feel they are in the wrong body and need counselling etc to help them cope.

The only pity about that, is that it reflects badly on those children who really feel they are in the wrong body and need counselling etc to help them cope.

It is often the way that a minority spoils things for the rest, but my understanding is that clinical Gender Dysphoria is vanishingly rare. That doesn't mean that those suffering from it aren't important, but that if treatment is focussed on them, as opposed to the increasing number of children who simply 'identify' as the opposite sex (or a different species) it might be better all round.

Gender Dysphoria is rare. I suspect identifying as a cat even rarer, well it was until adolescents realised what fun could be had at school by identifying as a feline
When I was in year 9/then known as 3rd year in high school, we identified the temporary French teacher who was indeed French and wore minuscule skirts, as weak. We were mean, collectively, for most of one term. One day she went into the stationery cupboard, weeping. A couple of ring leaders shut and bolted the door. I remember the sense of shame I felt, for not having enough, this must stop. Shame seemed to infect everyone and the bad behaviour stopped then. Life was simpler I feel, boundaries, expectations , rules much clearer. I’m not saying the 50’s and early 60’s were a golden age, just that I believe it’s more difficult now to negotiate through the challenges adolescence brings

Iam64
I think the main difference is that back then there wasn’t the media support for the appalling behaviour of some children, nor the excuses made for that behaviour.

Excuses for behaviour
Should we start a separate thread Mollygo?
I have the Dylan lyric singing in my ear - well yes I’m liberal and want everybody to be free, but if you think I …..

I’m fed up with the constant references to mental health problems, when the reality is it’s feelings like sadness, confusion, worry, stress etc not clinical anxiety/ depression, psychosis, schizophrenia that is being discussed. Like many of our generation, I was brought up by parents who were born in the 1920’s, ww1 just over and ww2 central to their young adult lives. They’d known hardship, fear, loss and their mantra was ‘let’s get on with it’.
I’m not dismissing the complexity of modern life but honestly feel a bit more getting on with it and not pandering too much to nonsense is needed

Apologies, I’ve gone right off thread topic

It’s an interesting question though, Iam. Why not start a thread? It might attract more posters as many avoid any discussion of ‘trans issues’ for obvious reasons.