Heads should stop teachers allowing children to identify as cats, says No 10

[IwantToRetire]

The spokesman said that teachers should not teach “contested opinions as facts” and called for headteachers to intervene in extreme cases.

“It would not be right to comment on the actions of a specific individual or a specific school without knowing the full details, but we understand why these reports will be concerning for parents,” the spokesman said.

“In broad terms, teachers have a responsibility to encourage their students to engage respectfully with those they disagree with.

“They should also not be teaching contested opinions as fact, shutting down valid discussions and debates.

“It’s important parents and carers are reassured that children aren’t being influenced by personal views of those teaching them. Any example that strays from this would be wrong and we would expect headteachers to act.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/20/rye-college-children-neo-pronouns-cats-moons-rishi-sunak/

Unlike the headline the article makes it clear that a "spokesman" (how old fashioned and sexist shouldn't that be spokesperson?!) has said this so Sunak may or may not have a public opinion about this ...

But the Telegraph seems to be keen to keep the issue of self identifying on their front pages.

When I first heard about children doing this I thought (hoped) that it was younger children making fun of the trans generation, but seems not.

NB article is behind a paywall but can be read at https://archive.ph by entering the Telegraph URL above into the box.

(The cat in picture below looks very cross. Probably feels the same way GC women feel - outraged at the notion that some young human could in any way know or speak with experience based knowledge about being a cat!)

Interesting to see that this is happening in both the state and private sector schools, so at least that’s one divide that we don’t need to labour on, it’s not all the fault of the Unions etc.

The whole thing is made up. Just like claims in the US that schools were putting litter trays in for students who identified as cats. Just totally made up.

TeaKlaxon do you still think this is all made up?

No, and apparently neither did the teacher in the recording, because there wasn't anyone identifying as a cat.

https://bylinetimes.com/2023/06/22/dead-cats-and-transphobic-lies/

Interesting article - thank you Noblegiraffe.
So is the whole cat and other animals identification apparently taking place around the country made up?

😂 Oh dear:

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did
You deserved it.

Wow. Well if that’s true, it makes it even worse. So the girls weren’t actually bullying anyone as some have claimed, but the teacher bullied them over a non-existent student’s feelings?! That’s even more outrageous.

Pepper should have checked, yes. Bu there is also a point being missed in that for most people there is genuinely no difference between identifying as a member of the opposite sex or identifying as an animal. Both are faith based and unscientific. It makes no sense to celebrate one and ban the other.

No, there's another pupil who the girls upset during a discussion (which they admitted), but that pupil doesn't identify as a cat.

Yep. It’s still not putting the teacher in a good light.

Fucking cockwomble that he is.

No idea. Can imagine some sort of internet anime cat thing causing kids to muck around with pronouns and dress up, and why not, they're kids?

I'm pretty sure the Telegraph's breathless reporting of teaching assistants taking horse kids out for a canter and feeding dinosaur kids strips of meat is bullshit though.

Have any of them identified as a teacher yet?

Thanks @Mba1974 for your post - but sorry that you and other parents are being put through this.

Before posting this link I did check for similar stories and in fact if was posts on mumsnet (I think it is called LGB Parents??) and other threads that made me think even if the paper is slanting the reporting clearly something is going on.

And how is it possible that there is such a huge disconnect between schools and parents.

And if a school does think what they are doing is valid why for instance dont the inform parents that they have a new police and it is xxxxxx based on advice from zzzzz expert / government policy.

I think I posted earlier on, apart from anything else which school your child/ren go to should be some sort of lottery where in addition to education they may "learn" other things that aren't relevant and could be damaging.

Which come back to why this is being done in secretly and as information has leeked out why isn't more being done to expose it.

On the subject of cat litter trays in US classrooms, I did find the most utterly depressing explanation, and it's not because kids are identifying as cats. But they are for children to go to the toilet in.

https://time.com/5658266/colorado-district-kitty-litter-buckets-lockdowns/

Or an award-winning student, who's scored all 9s!!!

The bylines article isn't that revelatory (and was linked earlier in this thread).

Most papers have put the sequence of events into their report but have chosen to highlight in headlines what they think their readers will respond to.

And as usual in an article by a TRA they remain blind to the totallity of the issue and just think everything should be about trans.

And even if it was just about trans identity how is it legitimate for a teacher to tell a pupil you are obliged to lie ie if a pupil knows that there are only 2 sexes why should they have to pretend there aren't to facilitate one child's false reality.

Its got to the point that some TRA positions are now so extreme, and they have been pandered to too much, that they really do seem to believe that any one who challenges their belief set is an evil person.

Although to be fair, if institutions and the media hadn't become such servile lap dogs it never would have got to this extreme. ie we would have the trans community, like to have the Goth community, who mix with each other and share values, but wouldn't presume to say the rest of society must join in the lived fantasy. (In the census before last weren't Vulcans the most claimed identity?)

typo or freudian slip?

they have a new police = they have a new policy

Why is the witness in that article any more trustworthy than the girls that recorded it though?

The school have also confirmed no cats.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gender-row-school-none-of-our-pupils-identify-as-a-cat/

And as usual in an article by a TRA they remain blind to the totallity of the issue and just think everything should be about trans.

yep

The bylines article isn't that revelatory (and was linked earlier in this thread).

It's a new article.

The teacher's language doesn't get any better if we take the cat out of the story.

No, but the deluge of abuse she has received for 'forcing pupils to accept a pupil's cat identity' and all the cat headlines look a bit overblown.

Wonder how that GB news presenter who dressed up as a cat will feel.

Maybe the teacher should give her version of events.

I don’t think the teacher can give her version of events. It’s like with hospitals, patients can go to the papers and the hospital will only put out a generic statement for confidentiality reasons. I haven’t watched the clip. Was the cat but then added out of context?