11 yo DD taught in class that JK Rowling was transphobic

[amter]

So DD shared with me that in their class the teacher raised the JK Rowling vs Emma Watson issue, and the teacher (and most students) were very much of the opinion JK was wrong and Emma Watson in the right when discussing the issues/Emma taking a stand against JK.

FFS, I was worried about this nonsense, luckily DD and I (and DS) have been openly talking about gender stereotypes not defining sex, and that you can't change sex etc for a few years now. DD firmly believes you can't change sex and we have previously discussed what JK actually has said.

The conversation in class was led by a teacher and it arose from being supportive to gay and trans students. DD was saying to me that she supports her friends who are gay (apparently 3 girls in her class of 30, 2 of whom are saying they are also trans). DD wants to support them however she doesn't feel she can say anything at school about believing sex and gender are different and that gender stereotypes don't do anyone any favours. I knew this was coming but honestly did not expect this in year 7 term 1!

Just wanted to vent...

I'm afraid this is not uncommon amongst teachers. I spoke to my sister-in-law and her sister a couple of weeks ago about this - one a teacher of English in a state girls' school, the other Head of Year - and they both adhered to Emma Watson's stance. I asked them if they'd read JKR's essay and they hadn't! They both went off on the line 'I know so many transwomen and they're all lovely people' and when I replied 'so do I, but's it not they who are the problem, it's predatory men' etc etc, they just didn't get it. I also explained why I was concerned about Stonewall influencing so much public policy - not just for its views, but because it's not right that any single lobby group should have so much influence - and they became very uncomfortable. It was a calm and friendly exchange of views, and I left it there, hoping they'd think about it some more. But I had three messages the next day (from their mother and two mutual friends) saying how upset they were about the discussion. These are two highly educated young women in positions of influence, but they have such a blind spot about this they have abandoned their critical faculties. It's a huge worry.

@Waitwhat23

Joking aside, have you had any response to your request for a quote of JRK's views which is 'transphobic' *@ArabellaScott*? Over a week, over multiple threads, has there been one response? We have regular posters who will pop up on every conceivable thread going but has a single one of them given you a direct quote?

Zip. Nada. Nothing.

I have a fire bucket to offer and a camp stove so we can boil more water for our thermoses.

I like this better than the clapping shifts, it took a week for my poor hands to recover! Clapping to keep alive fairies, fairytales and folk who need the gender fairytales is hard work and great responsibility. I have noticed though since I stopped clapping a few of those ‘folks’ disappeared off MN. Well, banned but hey ho!

Sitting round a fire with thermoses (thermosi?) could be almost festive, Helleofabore.

Let's not talk about the clapping. I feel bad every time I realise I'm not doing it anymore.

I was thinking of some fairy lights too. Because it gets so dark these days.

Is clapping guilt a thing then?

Yes this is definitely happening. I hear with concern and please complain because this teacher can’t go about it this way.

So obvious why the left want 16 years old to vote. They come fresh with the ideas and agenda these teachers pushed at school.

On a serious note OP. I would complain as this is so inappropriate on many levels. It also serves to put young readers off the books.

I noticed my teen who was HP crazy within days backed away all their HP paraphernalia after the JK is transphobic narrative started. No matter how much I tried to convince them otherwise and get them to show me how it was transphobic. The damage was done.

This should not be something discussed with 11 year olds. Even Nancy Kelley could not explain how Joanne Rowling was transphobic. She really couldn’t.

So, we have a group of activists declaring someone had egregiously wrongthunk without being able to give anything other than ‘she should have not said anything’. A very ambiguous charge yet teachers are using it as an example of clear cut hate. How?

How do they expect to teach and reinforce prior learning of critical thinking for children based on a poorly constructed political smear campaign. Did the teacher also show those misogynistic headlines at the time of activists declaring she weaponised her trauma?

No? So, no actual lesson there at all. Just propaganda.

So obvious why the left want 16 years old to vote. They come fresh with the ideas and agenda these teachers pushed at school.

I'm still in favour of 16-year-old voting. Mainly from my own personal experience of being very nearly 18 at a crucial general election, being unable to vote, and not getting to vote until I was nearly 23.

A 16 threshold makes the average first-time voter 18, which seems appropriate.

But then I'm Gen X, where we were all bloody-minded 16-year-olds. And we're still bloody-minded 40-year-olds, which is why we're here.

If there's a problem with the current 16-year-olds, I'm not sure it's simply age-related...

I'm another who says you must complain.

Increasingly I think critical thinking should be taught in school. This is unbalanced and political (not allowed under the Education Act or in PSHE teaching) and frankly its lazy. Instead of encouraging the children to think for themselves teachers who take this approach are turning them into sheep.

Let us know how you get on.

This has cheered me up.

twitter.com/exulansic/status/1465517368919035909?s=21

Thing is - children aren’t stupid. They are perfectly capable of seeing through this BS then where will we be? They will think that teachers are dumb or liars. You are supposed to trust your teachers aren’t you? But for some reason so many educational establishments are hell bent on pushing this agenda of gender/sexuality and misogyny that there will be a veneration of kids who just don’t know what to think (and who are unhappy and angry).

We used to joke that we were the guinea pig gen in the 70s with progressive teaching and new reading/writing methods. This takes it all to a whole new level of ‘messing up your kids’.

Er.... a teaching post is not a soap box to train up the next generation in your personal politics, that would come under abuse of position of trust. DfE guidance has recently been updated to re emphasise this; the teacher in question believing that they are on the side of the righteous does not make this duty go away. No partisan or extremist views, and no unbalanced presenting in the aim of developing/encouraging a specific view point, taking advantage of children's trust in a teacher and their lack of wider views and experience. You could get them on that alone.

Other point - has the teacher left themselves and the school open to legal action from the person they used a lesson to smear? Because that has consequences too. Not least that the teacher was damaging JK's image and earnings with customers for personal reasons. And that what the teacher was saying was unproven and flat out untrue.

Honestly, we're at the point where anything to do with TQ needs containing under religious/faith regulations or bloody Prevent, since so many silly people are apparently in positions of trust with children without basic common sense or capacity to think when mindlessly repeating what they think they've heard.

I’ve brought you a pot of my homemade vegetable soup, Arabella and friends. With my sourdough rolls & my friend’s onion chutney.

[quote OhHolyJesus]This has cheered me up.

twitter.com/exulansic/status/1465517368919035909?s=21[/quote]

An now interestingly I am looking at a twitter so auction a little Tommy Sheridan, Richard Dorkins, John Cleese etc- men with the opinion that sex is real and their lack of death threats and violent hashtags aimed at them.

I’d be asking the school to be doing a workshop for the kids on this - to let them see with their own eyes and ask the questions on sex and the relevance of this (and how the ‘activitists’ always seem to know who the women are when issuing threats and insults). Funny that.

The girls will be fuming.

@NecessaryScene
As they would be on the election roll, would you expect a 16 year old to sit on a rape or murder jury too?

@KittenKong
Twitter is where you go to have an argument" is how it was described to me.

The teacher could have the class analyse any thread have a look at the who is targeted in the replies.
How do people agree or disagree and the tweet conduct of between both parties.
Of course to do that the school would have to be rather selective of the thread selected for some reason the uploaded of sexual imagery don't appear as frequently on threads started by males.🤷🏼‍♀️

I would be calling the school and demanding to talk to the teacher in question.

well, not something we discussed before but seems my youngest are agreeing with her being transphobic but at the same time refusing to discuss or listen to counter arguments. Shocked.

Me too - but then I’m a stroppy old bat and have had enough of this balloonery.

Yes, I have finally turned into my grandmother, who could strike the fear of god into any man, woman or child. And she was only 4”11. You would never mess with her.

@Notagardener

well, not something we discussed before but seems my youngest are agreeing with her being transphobic but at the same time refusing to discuss or listen to counter arguments. Shocked.

Yes. I discovered this. There is a very clear message going out to accept no discussion.

It has been framed as ‘discussion is denial that trans people exist’. It is another, less direct, version of ‘no debate’. Straight for the emotional manipulation this time.

Hi Arabella, I’m digging out my woolliest socks and gloves, and will bring some spares for anyone else who needs them.

I’ll also be busy at the photocopier with JKR’s actual comments.

It’s frightening that teachers are so indoctrinated. It only takes one generation to instil a whole new belief system as fact.

Possibly bordering on propaganda.
I can't understand why people won't or can't explain what JR said that's transphobic! It's bandied around without any thought and does little to encourage critical thinking.
Good luck OP.
I'll come and sit outside with you: I have a new bobble hat 😀

First of all I'd want the school's version of what happened.

My first impressions though are that a) hands-up votes are coercive and bordering on indoctrination and bullying and b) voting on 'right' and 'wrong' is usually a bad idea, especially on complex issues.

Whether JKR is transphobic or not is immaterial really.

Your DD has learned an important life lesson in that forum: the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

That you should not discuss politics in academic or workplace to people with power over your future.

If forced to express an opinion, it is always best to vaguely agree with the person in power and keep your actual opinion to yourself.

The DfE and the Chartered College were captured quite early on. The head teachers Union had a charity partner last year that was ostensibly about diversity, but quite dominated by gender. Schools are an easy target because teachers are so overworked and overwhelmed, that when ‘charities’ produce fully resourced PHSE lessons, endorsed by national bodies, they are grateful. They assume, fairly reasonably, that they will represent the law correctly, and they don’t have time to double check things.

So this teacher is swimming with the tide, sadly.

However, among the professional standards a teacher must adhere to is:

• ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability or might lead them to break the law.

And

• not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Arguably, especially given Maya’s judgment, this lesson shows poor understanding of these standards, and that would be cause for concern if I were the headteacher or a governor.