My 5yo's teacher is insufferably woke

[Ladyday1995]

Apologies if this is not in the right category.

My DS started year 1 in September. His new teacher has been somewhat of a thorn in my side for a few weeks. Nothing serious though and I've never had much need to speak much to her.
DS came home last week waxing lyrically about COP26, how we are wrecking the planet and destroying animals habitats. He quite rightly doesn't understand what he can do about it, we live a fairly "green" lifestyle etc. We talked about it at length so I could make sure he understood.
Anyway, I'm not all too happy that this is what he's being taught in his valuable schooling hours. I've had a little peep on teachers Twitter and she jumps on many trendy societal issues of today, even supporting insulate Britain FFS.
I realise this is a slippery slope. I'm in Wales and I know the gov has recently slipped past a controversial new "diversity and equality" plan for the curriculum. I can't say I agree with much of what I've read being taught to children, particularly regarding sex education, and gender identity.
It's a bit of a minefield. The climate change lessons aren't ideal, but I digress. My worry starts when the PSE lessons start. Ideally I'd not have my son attend these lessons at all. I am more than capable of explaining these matters to him myself when I think he is mature enough to understand. Is it unreasonable to ask for a more detailed report of what they will be studying? I don't want to look like some Pearl clutching bigot. I am concerned about how much of his teacher's political stances could seep into her teaching practice. Does anyone else have any experience or ideas of what little uns are being taught in school these days?

OP I’d be interested to know what you mean by ‘she jumps on many trendy societal issues of today’. I assume her Twitter page shows her support for a few causes - as do many people’s - do you have reason to doubt her sincerity or integrity?

[quote Megalameg]@rrhuth

Sure tell yourself that if you want.[/quote]
yes. And you keep telling yourself the shit you do, too.

@UnsuitableHat

Oh it definitely offends people. That’s why most of the comments on the first page or so of this post were commenting on the word woke itself or claiming it wasn’t a thing lol. It gets under woke peoples skin to be called woke because people associate the word with the perpetually triggered and outraged trying to cancel everything they disagree with - when they think of themselves as righteous progressives who are in the right to tell people what to think - and they hate anything that contradicts that image.

It just doesn’t really mean anything though. Anyone can accuse anyone of being ‘perpetually outraged’. We could say OP was ‘triggered’ or ‘outraged’ by the mention of climate change in the classroom as a way of diminishing the validity of her views, but she’s trying to be anti ‘woke’ so these lazy terms can be flung around in both directions and they just come across as insult rather than argument. I wouldn’t take much notice of someone who used the word ‘wokeism’ in an argument. It’s like saying ‘political correctness gone mad’. Says more about the speaker than the issue.

It gets under woke peoples skin to be called woke makes no sense.

If woke people think being woke is good and want to push their woke agenda on the unwoke, why would they be offended by the word woke being applied to their woke thoughts and actions?

Maybe I've just been triggered

@UnsuitableHat

Oh no, it definitely means something. It’s just short hand for a certain type of person who will support the same sort of woke causes, be predictably triggered in the same way by the same same things and use the same kind of “woke” language (privilege, problematic, toxic etc.) and of course generally be for shutting down or deplatforming anyone who has views they consider “problematic”, “toxic” etc.

If the OP has looked at the teachers twitter and it’s like this then calling them woke us very appropriate as it’s far more than just being for climate change action or supporting green causes etc.

@UnsuitableHat

It’s like saying someone is “punk” or “emo” or whatever - it’s that kind of thing we’re they belong to the same scene l, like the same things, use the same words that the rest of their group uses.

@rrhuth

Yes. You have been.

Pull him out of school and home school him OP. That way you can teach him that global warming isn't anything to worry about.

[quote Megalameg]@UnsuitableHat

It’s like saying someone is “punk” or “emo” or whatever - it’s that kind of thing we’re they belong to the same scene l, like the same things, use the same words that the rest of their group uses.[/quote]
Yes, and you're in a similar little group. What do you call people like you?

@Purpoole

Can I ask what the ‘race theory’ concerns relate to?

Yeah, that jumped up at me too.

@Ladyday1995 what exactly is your issue about a teacher who believes there is such thing as systemic racism?

@rrhuth

Mums looking out for their kids.

[quote Megalameg]@rrhuth

Mums looking out for their kids.[/quote]
riiight.

That label covers almost all mums, whether you agree with their politics or not.

So completely meaningless.

Are the pearls you clearly clutch sustainable?!

Our school had a big push on diversity and inclusion last year. Good thing. But that involved reading the reception kids a book called "my shadow is pink". Huge alarm bells. But they were really open with us and told us in advance what they were doing, and I had a word with the teacher and asked him to specifically say "some people believe this" same as with anything religious (which he was very happy to do- he had no agender, just trying to do the right thing!)

So basically, I would expect a school to be totally clear and transparent about what resources they use. In England, schools are very specifically not allowed to talk about "being born in the wrong body" etc, but I don't know the situation in Wales.

(And I wouldn't try to guess the teacher's personal views on gender identity based on her views on climate change!)

How is talking about climate change ‘woke’? It’s evidence based science - the very thing I thought you wanted your child to learn. It will also be part of the national curriculum - certainly my kids learned about it from 5 years old and they’re well into their teens now.

Your child has another 13 years of education to get through and I suspect you’re going to spent a lot of it very angry. Wait until you get to secondary school when you have to stalk 13 teachers Twitter feeds.

You can get your schools RSE policy from them.

Don’t stalk your child’s teachers social media. It’s weird.

I suspect the bigger issue here is whatever has caused her to be a “thorn in your side” so far and now you don’t trust her with your DC.

I think you’re now talking about wider issues rather than just climate change. Children should be taught about this in an age appropriate manner.

Language at school has changed and my dd’s secondary was captured by stonewall. They produced and showed the children a video during lockdown, which went against current DofE guidance, which I complained about. Letters written home with ‘your child’ and ‘they’ pronouns. Primary wasn’t too bad but this was pre changes to guidance. She’s now at private school and the phrases used are ‘your son or daughter’, sex specific pronouns etc. Her school is pretty traditional.

You can ask school what is being taught, challenge anything, which you consider political ideology and equip yourself with DofE guidance to cite if lessons go off piste. And ask the obvious question of what learning is the school going to put in place rectify the situation. I think you’re correct to be worried after reading up on the teacher. Bias does slip into the classroom.

“I don’t want to seem like a bigot” equals “I’m not racist but” it also seems with this OP “I don’t think climate change is fake but”

[quote Megalameg]@UnsuitableHat

Oh no, it definitely means something. It’s just short hand for a certain type of person who will support the same sort of woke causes, be predictably triggered in the same way by the same same things and use the same kind of “woke” language (privilege, problematic, toxic etc.) and of course generally be for shutting down or deplatforming anyone who has views they consider “problematic”, “toxic” etc.

If the OP has looked at the teachers twitter and it’s like this then calling them woke us very appropriate as it’s far more than just being for climate change action or supporting green causes etc.[/quote]
You seem to get ‘triggered’ quite a bit yourself @Megalameg. Your posting history indicates you are forthright and opinionated. Some of your posts certainly feel like you are pushing your own personal agenda and you are very quick to tell people how wrong they are. I hope the irony of this isn’t lost on you.

Goodness do you really want your child to be excluded from current affairs discussions? As long as the lesson is age appropriate then its useful learning.

I don’t understand why you would t want your child to learn about climate issues. Environment is a huge topic and extremely important, if we don’t teach our children about these things when they are young how are they going to learn how to be responsible adults, surely understanding and looking after the planet is a number one concern. As for it being ‘woke’ that ridiculous, fo you even know what woke means ?

I remember making posters about the ozone layer and recycling when I was at school in the 1990s. So it’s hardly a new thing to have the environment on the school curriculum.

He has his entire life to comprehend that the planet is facing a crisis. He has just about gotten over the global pandemic that shook the world. I don't understand why we can't let kids be kids for a little while,

I am SO with you here OP

The majority of 5 year olds have a worldview that doesn’t easily allow them to make much sense of huge global issues. They can just about wrap their heads round 3 sleeps till their birthdays, fire is hot so don’t touch it and you shouldn’t beat up your toddler sibling because they accidentally stood on your Lego model.

Teaching them to not drop litter, teaching by example by turning lights off when you leave the room and shutting the door to keep the warmth along with a talk about why we have various bins for different waste, is probably enough. There’s plenty of time to learn how their parents have fucked up their home planet and what they can personally do about it but at five they need not to have the weight of that world on their shoulders.