Exams are now virtual signalling?

[WarOfTheWolds]

Details changed to protect identity, but in summary:

DS had an exam today, He's at college. The exam mark will go towards his final grade. He was tasked with answering questions on several case studies. One of the subjects of a case study was a person called Sam. Sam had they/them pronouns and Sam's sex was unclear.
DS has ASC and dyslexia. He's bright, but can tend towards rigid thinking. He said that he just kept on getting confused by the case study, having to re-read it several times to understand it because of the plural pronouns (other people were also involved in the case study, so a lot of pronouns flying about). DS also ended up editing his answers several times to try and make sure he got the pronouns right and consistent.
It seems that adding these pronouns to an exam question, when it was unnecessary to the case study
(a) was virtual signalling of woke-ness by the examiner
(b) likely to confuse students with issues like ASC and dyslexia and
(c) therefore be discriminatory towards some students - both in terms of understanding, and the extra time taken to check and re-write answers.
DS gets extra time in his exams, and usually doesn't need it all. Today he only just finished in time.

So, AIBU - inclusive pronouns are great and including them in exams is important because it raises visibility
or
YANBU - these pronouns are confusing and including them in exams is unnecessary and unhelpful for students with learning difficulties

(With thanks to the posters on my first thread attempt who pointed out my logic fail on the poll 😂🙏 )

Please, enlighten me.

They can still sit the exam and the map can be enlarged to a certain point, but it is impossible to braille a map due to the size required. For colour blind pupils, the adaptation is to use a black and white map, which inherently makes the questions more challenging as it is more difficult to identify a road from a river in greyscale than it is in colour.

If you have any other ideas, please let me know. I’ve contacted the head of a school for visual impairment who is also a geography teacher and he’s stumped too.

What have you checked? OP hasn't said what the exam was. Or have you assumed....?

The use of they as a single person is well established. I use it frequently at my work because tasks might be picked up by anyone. Eg someone will be with you shortly... what they will ask? Where should I wait for them?, I'll pop it in their diary.

I've never met a single person who struggles with it outside of when people are making a political point.

It's a complete red herring

Do you really not believe that it’s possible that a humanities course would teach about gender issues? Granted, they don’t all, but it’s certainly not unlikely.

YABU.

It’s virtue signalling, but see you’ve already been corrected on that.

You use “woke” as a pejorative.

Your son is studying a humanities subject, so it feels entirely appropriate to consider inclusivity and difference.

Your son was able to complete the exam in time and it sounds like it was an excellent opportunity for him to use this question to learn & grow and challenged his thinking.

i strongly suspect this thread feeds into the very divisive debate on gender and as a fairly impartial onlooker, I find it horrific (both sides actually - just how binary can a subject be?!).

I'm not familiar with school exam adjustments - fair enough you are aware of the adjustments for VI geographers. (Though they could clearly be better, and perhaps the royal Geog soc could be persuaded to campaign?)

At uni level we could give students the choice of which question to answer, so VI students could avoid one where detailed map work was needed, or we could adjust the mark scheme so VI students weren't penalised.

Other exam boards could do the same. It just takes a bit of thought.

Not using unclear pronouns in a question where students with SpLD could be confused is another way the playing field can be levelled - leaving the inclusive 'they' to ensure representation of another group, for a question where plural/singular ambiguity doesn't matter.

You are definitely correct, it should be better.

Again, without seeing the question, it’s not clear whether the genders of the people involved were required. If a pupil had issues with understanding gender terminology in my class (or was against people self identifying gender) I’d suggest that they use names rather than pronouns in their answers, which would prevent this issue.

Yes, but the crucial difference here is that you don't know in your examples what sex the person is. As soon as you do know, English speakers automatically start using the correct pronouns.

Someone will be with you shortly. Ah, here she comes. This is Anna.

Once I know who's allocated to your job, I'll pop it in their diary. Oh, it's just come through. Bob will be doing it. You're in good hands there, he's very good.

Well I hope the exam gave him an opportunity to learn. Given he had to go back to check a few things I'd say all things considered he made a good effort! Good luck to your boy!

Just because the SNP are woke-central, so I wonder how far that has permeated into things like exam setting?
that sentence alone makes it seem your objections stem primarily from transphobia.

If the question was badly written then surely all those sitting the paper will have struggled with it.

The use of the pronouns you mention is common now in newspapers, on TV, at work etc

So I don't think the use of the pronouns is the problem. I'm sure your son must understand their use generally. It was the way the case study was written and understanding which person was being referred to that was confusing for him. Did other children find the question badly written? If so then it is worth the school raising with the exam board who can reflect this in the marking scheme.

YANBU

This is part of the stated aim from Stonewall to embed gender ideology deep into the curriculum as quickly as possible from age 2 upwards. Some other organisations that provide similar materials to schools also promote Queer Theory.

This is against DfE guidance and should be removed.

The ops son didn’t know what sex Sam was. The question could have been something like:

Sam is going for an interview. Kate, the receptionist called her boss, Dave, to let him know they had arrived for their interview. Sam explained that they were late for their interview due to the childminder arriving late.

Sam wheeled the wheelchair into the interview room. Dave appeared shocked and confused by Sam’s appearance. Sam is 5ft1, with shoulder length blonde hair, with a large facial tattoo, a pierced nose, and their left leg is amputated above the knee. Sensing his shock, Sam asked if everything was okay. Dave stated that Sam was not quite what he had expected. The pair proceeded with the interview. Upon completion of the interview, Kate stated that Dave would let Sam know how the interview went by the end of the week.

Sam was notified that they were unsuccessful, which was disappointing as Sam felt they had interviewed well. Sam ultimately felt that they had been discriminated against.

Would Sam have grounds for discrimination? Justify your answer with specific examples.

‘They’ can be singular or plural. Some pedant you are!

‘They’ can be singular or plural. Some pedant you are!

@RampantIvy I think they're coining new pronouns. It's worse in German because everything is gendered, but they're mangling gently adjusting the language to try to accommodate people's feelings. They're coming for Welsh now.

Beard and moustache is feminine in French, probably something, something Latin roots.

I'm dreading the day it shows up on Duolingo

YANBU

It seems to me a student with learning difficulties struggling with this kind of thing gets extra time for just this reason. My son has ASD and severe dyslexia. He copes ok with they/them pronouns in his sibling and their friend group.
Also, I don’t see anyone complaining about you being both singular and plural and that confusing the poor students with LD? Or is it just because that doesn’t give you an excuse to have a pop at trans and non-binary people as is SO popular here on mumsnet?

Everyone knows “you’s” is the plural of you 😉

Also, wait til they hear about fish! And sheep!

This use of 'they' as singular is for referring to an person of unknown sex, not for use in referring to someone who is known. That was not how it was used in this exam.