Pronouns in maths exams

[OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow]

I scribe for GCSEs. Today was aqa maths, calculator paper. Now maths textbooks and exams have long done diverse names in the examples, eg, Sarah and Rashid are making cakes...Dafydd is planting a garden, Safira is buying rope. You get the drift. This year though I’ve noticed that gender neutral has been introduced. So Kai is making a cake, they use 50 grams of sugar. One could say that making the questions genderless is ok, and maybe so if it was consistent. So there was they their, he him and she her. A few of my fellow sribers said that their candidates were confused by the wording of the questions (especially the they/theirs, the kids thought there were more than one person being talked about). I was talking about it with the maths teachers later and all of them said why can’t it be Student A, student B? And especially why cant the exam board be consistent?

Think this sort of language isn't a problem for ESL speakers? Imagine you have a basic reading knowledge of German. Maybe even GCSE level. Mann / Weib would be among the first words you learn, so if they crop up you're golden. "bei der Geburt männlich / weiblich zugeordnet", not so much.

But it's a fictional character so where is the problem of using he or she?
Why use their or they at all? There is just no need?

For many teachers, it won't be obvious what the problems are that the child is experiencing -

One of the worst evening with HW I ever had came about because a Y3 teacher and maths co-ordinator at the school decided on a whim that the op set in Y3 should be given Y5 worded questions.

DS had been awful at maths - really behind so we'd spent years doing extra building up his confidence - and he'd got very good in top set.

He could do the maths but couldn't extract the information - he refused not doing it and even with me finding the information it was a very fraught evening. I spoke to them next day explained while he could do the maths his reading - which he was still receiving extra help for - wasn't yet at the standard needed to extract the information from the questions -was told many other parents had said similar but that if he could do the maths he should be able to do the questions.

Took ages to build DS confidence back up.

It is a different skill set - and one DS developed with age - but even now ambiguous confusing questions aren't helpful.

I can easily see an ESL speaker being confused by the Petra question by thinking part of the question had been left out / misprinted.

Indeed - and it is nowhere near GCSE level, showing that wording of even very simple Maths questions can be problematic if not written in clear and precise terms.

Actual footage of one of suggestionplease1's lessons:

Thanks @NecessaryScene - you've actually made me smile with that video which is quite an achievement today!😁

I teach children with SEND and asd.

This would be very problematic and is ableist.

I'm concerned a poster who advises in the areas thinks this is A ok.

That video just shows how stupid it's all become. Of course in some languages tables, chairs, shoes, houses and so on, do have a gender.

"They/ them" pronouns aren't on the maths or English curriculum.

Yes, just another sobering example that inclusivity only applies to the (largely by, able bodied) 'minority'.

Fact is it's harder to cater for actual disability and learning difficulties, which is why schools are so rainbow washed. It's virtue signalling. The rainbow people require no specialist equipment, adaptations or true learning. All the time and money is squandered on people who don't need any additional help.

This ticks me off, especially in primary. Primary children have only the vaguest understanding of sexuality and only need reminders of tolerernce, diversity etc.
Yet we have a huge number of pupils with physical or mental disability and they are never ever centred. No one gives a shit they have to sing hymns about the joy of running etc yet GNC children are pandered to with language constantly.

Inclusive my arse.

No. They might do pure maths at postgraduate level if that was the right way forward for them.

I would hope they would receive support which enabled them to achieve more general maths qualifications first, but of course individuals can have vastly differing profiles of abilities.

I can't cope with this level of ignorance. Pure fucking maths. Snort.

No. They might do pure maths at postgraduate level if that was the right way forward for them

Really? Really? That's your solution? Make the 15 year old with language processing disorder who is pretty good at maths, sit a postgraduate maths module rather than ensure the GCSE they actually want to access and have been taught the content for more accessible? Really? You think teaching them something entirely different, which cater for young adults rather than children, is the solution?

My gob is smacked.

Enabling a child to understand the use of the pronoun 'they' is a far, far, more straightforward cognitive task compared to the vast majority of the more complex language demands placed on students taking GCSE maths.

Hey the gig is up - we all know that suggestions please has nothing to do with children with additional needs.

Let's not humour "they" with any more responses.

Enabling a child to understand the use of the pronoun 'they' is a far, far, more straightforward cognitive task compared to the vast majority of the more complex language demands placed on students taking GCSE maths.

Dude. Read the fucking thread. Particularly all the posts from people who know far more than you about kids' language acquisition and are telling you that you are wrong. THIS DISADVANTAGES ND KIDS.

I know you think there're the price worth paying for your flavour of inclusivity. It isn't.

*they're

Off-topic, but this craziness reminded me of this funny short video from a few years ago: 2+2=22
m.youtube.com/watch?v=uBE_jEGRcEs

Isn't it revealing how gender-woo trumps the boring, unglamorous stuff like SEN, learning difficulties, disabilities etc.

Off-topic, but this craziness reminded me of this funny short video from a few years ago: 2+2=22

ds1 was asked for a two digit number a few years ago…he said 2 😀

we’ve never let him forget it

Good post @BotCrossHuns

Yep! I'm also surprised they haven't seen, and made the link between children identifying as trans and with autism and other SEN, learning differences and mental health.

Working in this area is what alerted me to the horrors of this ideology.

Children do understand it. It’s plural, or can be used when you don’t know the sex of a person.

Trying to confuse matters by altering the text of an exam to cater to people with a psychological condition is imbecilic. A person’s pronouns, to anyone normal, refers to their sex.

And yet mainstream dictionaries, newspapers and tv and radio broadcasters are all happily acting on this awareness of this use of 'they'.