After that story of the girl who expressed her doubts about gender beliefs and was subsequently forced out of school after being hounded as a "transphobe", here's another teacher telling of the sudden growth in young children - tutored on social media and by the likes of Mermaids and Stonewall - who are convinced that they can change sex, and that it's liberating, and that anyone who disagrees is a horrible bigot.
From today's Sunday Times:
Some teenagers would say: “Why can’t I be non-binary or why can’t I be a boy?” Children seemed to feel emboldened, absolutely certain that there was only correct point of view. The school seemed to be reinforcing this. If a teenager questioned the prevailing view among their peers and said: “You can’t just become a boy, you can’t change your sex”, then they could be sent to the pastoral hub and it might be suggested they undertake an LGBT course.
Around the same time, more children in the lower years were starting to question their gender identity. It began to feel like a social contagion was spreading through the school.
Eventually I decided that it was time to move on. I kept quiet until I had a new teaching job — I knew I would need a reference. Then I aired my concerns in my exit interview. The head listened but pointed out that the changes in the school had been welcomed by some LGBT pupils who had told him how much they appreciated them.
I don’t blame the school for its chaotic approach; the arguments about gender identity and biological sex have become a fearsome culture war. Teachers lack the training and information to cope. Like most parents facing the same questions, they are afraid of doing something that is not in a child’s best interests.
That is why it is imperative that the Department for Education (DfE) gives clear guidelines for schools on how to tackle this problem; it should be a policy that is evidence-based and universal. That is the only way to calm the anger bubbling up in classrooms and to allow teachers to get on with their jobs.
A return to the standards of science and biology might be a good place to start.
I chose this profession because I wanted to impart knowledge; that’s about more than teaching my subject, it’s considering a child’s wellbeing and their mental health too. I believe that most teachers feel the same way. But in the current climate, this is becoming increasingly hard to do.
We are under instruction from the DfE to teach British values and to teach tolerance in particular. The idea that it is transphobic to suggest that sex and gender are different and to howl down opposition is not tolerant, nor is it tolerant to brand a teacher transphobic or to bully a pupil out of school.
But that's what's happening. That's where we are now.
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