Non-binary teacher?

[Thompson198]

Name change.
I’ve got a 5 year old daughter due to go into year 2 in September. We’ve just been told that the teacher for next year is a non-binary/‘non-gender-conforming’ man who wants to be referred to by ‘Mx’ (pronounced mix) and they/them pronouns.
Quite a few of the parents have already complained and started looking for other places at local schools because of this.
what do you think?
My daughter has SEN and is one of the youngest in her class, I worry how she’s going to be able to keep up with the pronouns and understand this without us having to teach her about gender ideology at her age. My husband is extremely against teaching her gender ideology, especially so young, I’m not the most positive about it either but don’t feel as strongly as him. He also doesn’t want her being at the school in September but they have been very supportive for her so far and I’m concerned it might not be the same elsewhere.
Thoughts? How would you feel if this was your child’s teacher?

This. I'd hate the idea of my young child being taught by someone whose focus is on himself and how the children respond to his needs and desires. That doesn't suggest a sound mind that is suitable for teaching very young children.

DC had a trans teacher at secondary who I adored, as did DS who was taught by them. At that age, teens can process the info, but also, that teacher was passionate about their subject and the club they ran. Their jeffing pronouns were never even mentioned.

Using someone's name is absolutely fine.

Using they/them pronouns to refer to a single person is not generally used in the English language (no idea about other languages) so it's perfectly feasible that a five year old will forget. Will this error be ignored or punished in some way?

They them aren't correct pronouns for a man. I'm not comfortable gaslighting children - are you?

Mr reflects reality - unless he has some other title which also reflects reality then he needs to use that.

The child is being asked to use incorrect pronouns. We don't use gender neutral pronouns for an individual person whose sex is known.

I’d be looking for a new school Your daughter is going to be so confused over this .

I worked at a school with a non binary teacher. The kids didn’t care, only one parent complained as far as I remember and they were fine about it eventually.
I get your concerns ( as someone who firmly believes in self identification etc ) and I understand why other families get worried but to be honest if your school is good and your child is happy then why change. It’s only a year and she’s only year two.

As long as he doesnt want to push pronouns & students calling them “they” i think i could handle “mx”.
Starts pushing that “they” nosense i would be having words, far to confusing for 5 year olds.

You're wrong about that, and that's got nothing to do with what I posted in answer to the OP, but it's not worth discussing with you because you will say I've said things I haven't.

I'm off to help my sister now.

Black teachers are real. Muslim teachers are real. There's no such thing as a gender neutral teacher. This teacher is a man.

Teaching kids to deny reality is dangerous.

your wxpwriwnce is your own, other people have had different issues. It’s not the same as being called mum or miss or mrs wrongly. Some of these people have very thin skin about their identities, and get very upset if you get it wrong!

I always think about the poor autistic kid who got a criminal record because he asked a police man (woman) if they were a man or woman and the officer reported them for a hate crime!

You’d like to think most teachers were sensible about it, and most probably are, but not all, sadly! I suppose waiting to see what kind of teacher they get is probably most sensible for OP.

At my local university, a married man with grown up children has suddenly insisted he's a they/ them.

I’m not saying I want to pull her out, my husband does. I don’t have particularly strong feelings for or against this teacher (or any other teacher she’s had), I just don’t want to have to have the gender conversation with her so young when she starts asking questions.

It's probably a stepping stone to identifying as a woman.

But how can they do their job well if they are subscribing to falsehoods. People are male or female (bar the minuscule amount of intersex people) - that is reality. Gender is not reality.

I’d be concerned as PPs have stated that he would allow gender ideology to be learned in the classroom.

This person is putting personal preferences before the best interests of young children. It’d be a no from me.

Would you say the same if the teacher was therian or some other bollocks.

Neither ignored nor punished, why would you think either? I Gently/ politely corrected I imagine as a teacher generally would presumably if a child pronounced their name wrong .

They're already not. They would understand how inappropriate imposing their synthetic "identity" on children is if they knew anything about them. It reveals a lot.

It is not the job of six year olds to affirm their teachers 'non binary identities'. 🙄

I wouldn't be happy about this OP. Particularly as they are newly qualified. What are their expectations of their students going along with their 'identity' and what will happen if they don't?

So, gaslighting? Because the children know he's a man and they know that he is the correct pronoun for a man. And you think it's ok to 'correct' them to something wrong when they use the right words?

If the teacher can cope with Mr and he, but prefers Mx and they, then OK.

If there is going to be any correcting of pronouns when used for correct sex then it is a problem. Infants are learning the rules of grammar. My DD who it turned out has various SN would have been totally befuddled.

I would want to seek further assurance from the school that that would be the case.

This, along with teaching children they must #bekind and go along with others made up ideas..

Then don’t have it, OP. Say nothing at all. Your DD will be taught her teachers name thats as complicated as it needs to be.

I'd probably treat it similar to religion eg "some people believe that X. We respect their views but we know / believe that in fact it's Y"