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Original poster

The intersectional feminist rewriting the national curriculum

59 replies

IwantToRetire · 26/07/2024 17:33

" ... The tendency of those with XX chromosomes to prefer empathising and working with people and the tendency of those with XY chromosomes to prefer systematising and working with things is something that’s true of all human societies – but it’s got nothing to do with biology, obviously. The way to dismantle the patriarchy, then, is to teach boys that masculinity is toxic and get girls to stop playing with dolls.

... Sixty-three per cent of girls meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of primary school, compared with 56 per cent of boys. Last year, 68 per cent of girls in state schools achieved both English and Maths GCSEs at grade 4 or above, but only 63 per cent of boys. (By that metric, the lowest-achieving demographic in England are white British boys on free school meals.) Just 40 per cent of 19-year-old males were in higher education at the last count, compared with 54 per cent of women. Moral panic? ... "

Full article at https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-intersectional-feminist-rewriting-the-national-curriculum/

This article for me shows the problem when some of the points made seem more than valid, but then when you find out the reasoning of the authoring for saying them, realising you can reach the same conclusion from very different starting points.

The intersectional feminist rewriting the national curriculum

The appointment of Becky Francis CBE to lead the Department for Education’s shake-up of the national curriculum is typical of Labour’s plan to embed their ideology across our institutions – or rather entrench it, since the long march is almost complete...

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-intersectional-feminist-rewriting-the-national-curriculum

OP posts:
biscuitandcake · 27/07/2024 14:07

cupcaske123 · 26/07/2024 18:32

I couldn't read the whole article but Young is a bit of a nob isn't he. For example,

"It means tilting the playing field so various fashionable identity groups – women, people of colour, members of the LGBT community, people with disabilities, etc – can win at the expense of the unfashionable – men, white people, heterosexuals, the able-bodied, etc"

So women are a fashionable identity group? I thought we were over half the population.

Its a little bit awkward because you could argue that the "playing field" is in fact being tilted in favour of boys. Girls currently do better than boys academically but this is as part of an educational system that has existed since before girls were educated - everyone sit quietly in rows and take in the information the teacher gives you existed in the 50s, in Victorian times, in Ancient Rome. Its just that, when girls were educated alongside boys, they turned out to be better at it. There is much more understanding of different educational techniques, learning styles, engaging rather than punishing hyperactive children.
There have also been explicit decisions made in favour of boys - when they made coursework a part of exam grading girls turned out to be much much better at it so they reduced its weighting compared to written exams - which girls still do better at but to less of a degree.
There is also (not enough damn you austerity) resources pumped into trying to help lower achieving/struggling children (majority boys) from falling too behind. Rather than just sticking them in dunces hats/up chimneys

Unfortunately, despite all that tilting, boys are still a bit behind girls.

If we applied the same logic that gets applied to measures to increase female participation in maths/science etc we would say "sod all the boys. Why should we alter the playing field. If girls are better academically than boys let them excel and the boys languish". I don't want that to happen though. Because I have a lovely, intelligent boy who finds it hard to concentrate at times and I really appreciate the effort put into helping him in the areas he struggles with. I wish men like Young had the same empathy for girls and their needs.

GiveMeMySoddingCokeZero · 27/07/2024 05:52

Omlettes · 26/07/2024 19:55

If I can just leave this here from a long life full of experience.
NEVER EVER trust anyone called Becky to be honest or straight.
I am deadly serious

I'm of that exact age where half the women I know are called Becky, Beccy, Becca, Becs, Rebecca, Rebecka, Rebekah, etc.

Can I ask, does your rule hold true only for Becky specifically?

Omlettes · 26/07/2024 19:55

If I can just leave this here from a long life full of experience.
NEVER EVER trust anyone called Becky to be honest or straight.
I am deadly serious

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 26/07/2024 19:28

I suppose he just saw another chance to be rude about feminism, but also "interesectionalism".

OP posts:
cupcaske123 · 26/07/2024 19:18

No, the reason for rewriting the national curriculum is to shoehorn even more progressive claptrap into schools.

The problem is, he hasn't actually said what changes she wants to implement. So I've got no idea if it's progressive claptrap or not. I suspect he doesn't actually know, he just wants to mock someone who studied Gender.

He does raise a good point about working class white boys doing badly at school, that's certainly something that needs to be addressed.

He also mentions girls not excelling in STEM, which is vital to address given the plethora of well paid careers they give rise to. He does nod towards this being down to stereotypes but doesn't pursue that.

cupcaske123 · 26/07/2024 19:11

IwantToRetire · 26/07/2024 19:09

Full article here https://archive.ph/8ywPf

Yes the problem is the author, but then on the other hand many people the FSU has played an important role.

I only bothered to read the article because of the word "intersectional" but then realised I might have fallen for him raising this a a false flag.

ie its not clear he even understands what a feminist is, let alone an intersectional one!

But also posted as it seems there are any number of reviews of education at the moment. And hadn't heard of this one.

Show quote history

Thank you will have a read.

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 26/07/2024 19:09

cupcaske123 · 26/07/2024 18:32

I couldn't read the whole article but Young is a bit of a nob isn't he. For example,

"It means tilting the playing field so various fashionable identity groups – women, people of colour, members of the LGBT community, people with disabilities, etc – can win at the expense of the unfashionable – men, white people, heterosexuals, the able-bodied, etc"

So women are a fashionable identity group? I thought we were over half the population.

Full article here https://archive.ph/8ywPf

Yes the problem is the author, but then on the other hand many people the FSU has played an important role.

I only bothered to read the article because of the word "intersectional" but then realised I might have fallen for him raising this a a false flag.

ie its not clear he even understands what a feminist is, let alone an intersectional one!

But also posted as it seems there are any number of reviews of education at the moment. And hadn't heard of this one.

OP posts:
cupcaske123 · 26/07/2024 18:32

I couldn't read the whole article but Young is a bit of a nob isn't he. For example,

"It means tilting the playing field so various fashionable identity groups – women, people of colour, members of the LGBT community, people with disabilities, etc – can win at the expense of the unfashionable – men, white people, heterosexuals, the able-bodied, etc"

So women are a fashionable identity group? I thought we were over half the population.

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 26/07/2024 18:26

This sounded like a very niche novel…

However, I was relieved to see that the quotations are from Young (the article's author) rather than Francis.

And this seems a helpful overview of the appointment.

In her role as CEO at the EEF since January 2020, she has been dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. She has focused on building and sharing the evidence base of what works – and what doesn’t – to support great teaching and learning.”

For the period of the review, Professor Francis will be on secondment to the DfE, where she will be acting independently as the Lead Reviewer as appointed by the Secretary of State. She will temporarily step back from her role at the EEF when she takes up the post in early August.

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/professor-becky-francis-to-lead-governments-independent-curriculum-and-assessment-review