9 yr old told off for calling non-binary teacher Sir

[Nowherecitizen]

My friend’s son was told off by a teacher at his school for referring to them as ‘Sir’. The teacher is male but identifies as non-binary.

Their title is Mx which the children are aware of. But the little boy simply looked at an adult who is visibly male and used the term Sir.

I have seen this teacher and they are 'masculine' looking but will sometimes wear a skirt and heels.

Friend’s DS felt bad and can’t recall exactly what was said to them but said the teacher was ‘very cross’.

AIBU to think this was mishandled? Surely the child should be reminded gently of the preferred identity of this adult but should not face a telling off?

What is the non-binary version of Sir anyway?

This is happening though. There’s a Mx in a local high school who gets mad if referred to as a miss (she is female and presents as such). Hopefully this BS will have died off by the time my child gets there.

My child uses male pronouns for everyone! It’s a learning process.

Good for you OP but ‘that shite’ shouldn’t include a child using a perfectly correct word for the man he sees in front of him. ‘Non binary’ is an identity statement of a very contested ideology and teachers should not be forcing children to participate in that.

The teacher is a man, so should be called Sir.

This narcissistic delusion should not be indulged.

What does the SC ruling got to do with this? Teacher wants to be called Mx. It is no different to a Mrs wanted to be addressed by her title as opposed to Miss. Or Dr being addressed as their title as opposed to Mr. The SC ruling talks about biology, it does not support day-to-day nastiness and allows people to be whoever they want to be in peace.

I did a bit of supply at a former place of employment - a secondary school.

One of the absent teachers was a 'Mx'. There was a laminated nameplate for the classroom with the title, name and a cartoon pic of the said teacher - clearly a bloke with a beard.

The kids dutifully referred to him as 'Mx', but kept automatically calling him 'he'. Apparently, he'd gone off work with stress because of the constant 'misgendering'.

@SapphOhNo I can assure you this happened. It is actually a very child/young person centred school which takes all age groups. I think the teacher should be able to present themselves as whoever they want to be but also to cut the younger pupils a bit of slack if they get it wrong at first.

We don't have any cross-dressers (this is what these adults used to be called and they all knew what they were regarding their biological sex/gender) or confused teachers at my child's school. Even if we did, it's not fair or ok to expect a child to coddle an adult's feelings.
If the adult is a teacher, he should have control of his feelings, words and actions, and not need validation from minors regarding their identity situation.

Adults should not be disciplining children for slipping up on complying with their identity demands that go against everyone's natural instincts.

They need to be careful as they are making themselves unemployable with their narcissistic demands.

Hmmm but children should be taught respect from an early age shouldn’t they @GutsyScroller ? Shouldn’t they be mindful of feelings, even if they’re of an adult? I do they they need to cut the pupils some slack.

Man in a skirt is a sir. It’s not a 9 year old’s fault or responsibility. World’s gone fucking mad

But the kids KNOW the teachers' pronouns? If they're deliberately doing it then that's disrespectful. Regardless of what your opinions are on the gender debate, it's reasonable to respect a person's right to be addressed as they wish. I really struggle to understand how people can get so angry about the way other people live their lives? I don't believe that a child or an adult should be raked over the coals for misgendering someone as it's obviously hard to distinguish sometimes and there are those in the trans community for example, who are very outspoken and militant about it, but how hard is it to be respectful and kind?
Children should be taught to be kind and accepting of those who are 'different', not taught to think they can make their own decision about who a person is and how they wish to be identified or addressed.
Also describing it as abuse and gaslighting is puerile. Transgender people have existed (visibly or not) throughout humanity since the year dot and in some cultures are accepted or even revered so it's actually not a 'new thing', I'm glad to live in a society where people are becoming more open to being themselves and getting fair treatment.

This is bollocks. The kid should refer to this man as Sir or Mr Whatsit, because that is correct.
No one is obliged to call people by incorrect titles just because the person says so. No one gets to identify in to a pronoun.

Wasn’t the child aware for their title and name?

Honestly, I've lost count of the number of times that pupils and staff have got my title wrong.

At one point, I used 'Ms' with my own surname. The kids kept calling me 'Mrs'.

On supply, I was 'Mrs' plus my husband's surname. I had deputes accidentally calling me 'Miss'.

As others have said above, I've had pupils calling me 'Mr', 'Sir', 'Mum'... It comes with the territory. With the last three, it usually ends up with the class bursting out laughing. An accidental use of 'Miss' instead of 'Mrs', just led to a friendly 'Oh, it's...'

I once had a boy asking in astonishment 'Are you married?' I was widowed by then, and wasn't quite at the stage of saying that, so just held up my left hand to show my wedding band. There's no need for anyone to get into a strop about it.

They shouldn’t be “reminded gently”. The child was correct. A 9 year old shouldn’t even be in this position and delusional gender beliefs should have no place in schools

I wish they would leave the poor kids alone - this shit, Christ!

The 9 year old?

The pronouns for a man are he or him or Sir (clearly in the case of a teacher).

It is abuse and gaslighting to imply to children that people can be anything other than male or female or that people can change their sex.

See the Phalloplasty thread on AIBU for the logical conclusion of this highly contested ideology that should not be promoted in schools at all.

A male teacher wears a skirt and heels to school and expects to be taken seriously by a bunch of kids ?!

It makes no difference. Kids can come out with the wrong title or name without thinking. I've been called 'Mum' by pupils a few times over the years, and I'm fairly certain that it wasn't done deliberately.

@WearyAuldWumman totally, and we don’t know what’s happened here so that’s why it’s hard to give an opinion on the tone of that feedback. But it’s totally fine to correct in a regular way if you wish for someone to use your correct title.

I think I would be seriously reconsidering if this is the right school for my child.

Could not agree more.
Thanks be to god my children have never ever had to deal with such utter toxic madness during their school years.