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?

Why should this particular teacher have his 'preference and boundaries respected' at the expense of the child's common sense?

If he wanted to be referred to as 'most high and mighty emperor' should that be 'respected' too?

I suppose given that Sadam can't really be used due to historical reasons we will have to go with Siss for the non-binary variation.

They save the most high and mighty emperor for the bedroom, not work.

I can't believe some posters think the kid is in the wrong here. It's bonkers.

What exact purpose does it serve wider society to recognise people with non medical phd's as Dr? Yet I remember the Dr's in my school. Does wider society need to know if I'm Miss or Mrs (because not too long ago people scoffed at Ms)

As it happens, I'm married and I chose Miss. No one has cared. It's just a polite way of greeting someone and it's pretty impolite to call someone by a name they don't wish to be known as.

That's all I'm getting at. I'm not arguing for or against the gender argument.

This person is a man.

According to the SC ruling, he should be treated as a man legally in any situation where men and women are being differentated in terms of services / spaces provided.

For example, he would not be allowed to use female staff toilets in this school.

So quite what grounds anyone thinks they have to discipline a child referring to him as a man is beyond me.

It was Sir and Miss, it will always be Sir and Miss, It is polite. There is no space in primary school for condoning this level of woke nonsense. quite frankly if my kid got told off for this i'd be fuming and going to the head

Quite

I would complain to the school. The supreme court ruling states men are men and women are women. I'd complain that ideology should not be enforced in class, it has no place in schools at all.

Academic PhDs are much older and longer established than medical ones.

Sorry but there are only two types of human in terms of sex which is what ‘Sir’ references.

It is not respectful to children and anyone who doesn’t subscribe to gender ideology to demand adherence to such illiteracies as ‘Mx’.

A child should not have to be troubled by a grown up’s ‘identity’ in the first place.
What sort of narcissist is this teacher?

Ridiculous that these attention seekers are being allowed to brainwash or bully children into ignoring reality.

As I said. He is using children to validate himself. Adults should not use children to prop up their own fantasies of self. This is very basic.

I went to a convent school, taught by both nuns and female teachers.

Lost count of the amount of times myself and fellow pupils referred to one or other by the “wrong” name, ie Sister instead or Miss or vice versa.

Utterly ridiculous and a huge overreaction.

My dad used to be a teacher and he would get called "Mum" pretty much every day 🤣

@Nowherecitizen that's ridiculous to be told off. If they're insisting on being referred to as Mx, then they just need to correct the child if they make a mistake.

Same when teachers mis-gender a child. It's not like it's done maliciously. You just correct them.

I often get "mum" or "sir" when I do the register. I find it quite funny, especially when they call me mum!

I really struggle with the whole non binary thing. As someone who worked in a male dominated environment for years and has fought for equal rights for male and female, then this whole going back to insisting everything has a label is just such a regression. I just don't see why it matters. Male/female who cares?!? People should just be able to wear what they want and not be judged. What's important is that people are kind.

And I get called Miss, or Daddy, or Sir...

I’m happy to go into it in more detail when I am not feeding the baby but that is a very simplistic understanding of the judgment.

I don't necessarily think the kid is wrong. Like I say, I've had 11 year olds come to me and say "mum, can I borrow a pencil?" (Then look mortified!) These things happen. I got called louise by half my colleagues when I first started! These things happen. It may have been an accident and and overreaction. It may have been a rude little act of 9 year old naughtiness and the teacher may have been within their rights to tell the child off. Who knows, we weren't there and have no idea of the context of what else was going on in the classroom. Fwiw, I never let my children go home feeling upset if they have been told off. Maybe the thing that needs to change is the way the teacher concluded the telling off and ending on a positive at the end of the day.

Thank you, but as well as being my opinion it is also the convention of hundreds of years of language which reflect the settled fact that everyone is either male or female (even people with birth anomalies) so it doesn’t become any less of a fact because a certain group of Queer Theory/trans activists wish it to be so.

Do they get told off for accidentally calling the teacher mum or dad? Everyone used to do that occasionally!

Maybe the teacher tells his children to call him Parent. I wonder what the diminutive version of that is. Mummy, Daddy, and Parey?

Maybe in the future Mx will be accepted as Ms is now.
I remember that its use did spark some debate and criticism in the 1970s when it gained popularity

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.

But we still come up against the same issue. How does the school insist that this man, who would be required to use the gents in school, is somehow 'not a man'?