Adults are wrong to criticise ‘woke’ children, says Benenden head

[quote Fariha31]@Lovelyricepudding I struggle to believe any state school struggles to spend its money? Things must be very different in Scotland?[/quote]
They have to prove it makes a difference to the child's attainment. And it can't be spent on things like improving the building. So yes there comes a point where yes it is difficult to make an additional improvement to that child's attainment through spending more money within school.

I'd say some of the posts on here are pretty Orwellian tbh, and funnily enough also from anonymous posters on the Internet.

“All schools should host talks with parents on inclusion, diversity and gender to help them to understand the “new language” of the younger generation, Price added.“

A “new language” Indeed. Coming from Stonewall or such like, and the internet not from the children themselves. Orwellian language. Let’s get the game of Chinese whispers really going till people have no thoughts of their own, no sense of their own physical reality.

I will never cringe at the idea that it's important to listen to teens and hear what they are saying. I think perhaps the teens may cringe in years to come, but that's for them to work out for themselves.

Kikkomam I see you are an advocate for ageism. What other discriminatory practises do you favour?

@Kikkomam This is a white middle class movement that has left working class, BAME and refugee populations behind (thank god)
That you dont currently accept that its a fashion and not some discovery of an inate aspect of human being will change, I will bet you 100 quid that in ten years time you will read these posts and cringe.

@Lovelyricepudding I struggle to believe any state school struggles to spend its money? Things must be very different in Scotland?

No large state comp has only one or two "misguided" middle class white students believing in transgender inclusion. You are kidding yourselves. And also, how on earth would you know? Do you sit and talk to every single teen in your school about it? Do you discuss it in PSHE with every teen? Don't be daft.

In primary ^

Do you have the ability to see souls too?

I think I will just stop listening to you, if you dont mind.

That someone in a postion to influence the direction of schools then what she says will have some conquences in society, so yes we should listen and critisise when nessarry.

No we really don't

I'm afraid you absolutely do!

You don't have to listen to her. It's a speech to the Private girls school association. If private schools are so irrelevant then just ignore her 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think if you've sat and listened to a thoughtful teen talking about why they believe what they believe then it's harder to criticise.

Really?

In my fairly immediate family, we have one female teen who has had a double mastectomy and posts endlessly on Facebook about 'being the kind of man my father was', and another who prioritises any and all transgirls' feelings over the privacy of (female) girls, even when those (female) girls have solid reasons for wanting single sex provision. If she's ever wary of the motives of a male person around her, she berates herself for a lack of understanding.

I think that's achingly naive and sad in both cases.

Typo. That should read, I disagree with listening to people just because they are heads of expensive private schools..

The reality is that because indie single sex schools can select their intake, they are not going to admit ‘trans’ kids meaning that the changing rooms etc will remain single sex.

The girls’ schools also seem to be selling feminism (whether it is or not) and empowering girls as their USP. The data shows that girls in single sex environments are much more likely to do STEM subjects than in mixed environments because these are seen as boys subjects.

I’m not saying it’s right. It absolutely isn’t.

But I agree with the posters who say that these indie schools are so aware of their privilege that they are trying ham-fistedly to show it.

I also agree that some (not all) indie single sex schools put an absurd amount of pressure on girls. There’s one here which is regularly the no 1 or in the top 10 in the country.

They kick 7 year olds out of their junior school if they are not academic enough and plenty of their students drop out or end up with severe mental health problems because of the pressure.

I also agree with the sentiment that just because this woman is head of a £40k a year school she somehow has superior insight. Private school heads are recruited because of their own class and privilege.

Without giving too much away, I’ve seen a consultant dismiss a candidate for an Indy head job because she came from a state background and needed “to upgrade her wardrobe to meet parental expectations”.

Fortunately she performed best on all the tasks and was appointed.

So you have no working class or BAME teens who believe in transgender inclusion? OK then.

We get a one or two of the more middle class white kids falling for it in each year group, but thats where it ends

Do your parents run your school? Do they decide what policies the school has in place?

My DP's DC are at a (mixed) private school. I went to a state school and have worked in education-adjacent roles.

I doubt the majority of the commentators on the times article are women!