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!)

Well. I had a child enter the classroom on all fours today. She said she was a dog. When I told her you are not a dog, stand behind your chair, the whole class laughed, including her. Getting them to settle down and do their maths wasn't easy after that.

The government has evidently had very little idea of what's been taught - even some heads are clueless as far as I can tell.

I think this is right.

When I challenged what was being taught at my school, no one had even read the lesson plans. They'd just been downloaded from the internet and passed on to the random teachers scheduled to teach PSHE instead of their usual lessons.

If you search mumsnet for "furries" you will find from at least the past year parents who have found this is taking hold.

Unfortunatley it seems not all schools have teachers like SunnyFog to deal calmly and sensibly with the situation.

Although of course threads like this and news paper columns and headlines will probably mean it will spread more widely than it has already.

I wonder what professions these young furries think they will have when grown up. Rat catcher?

How does that work though? If my daughter likes to play football and has a short haircut she will turn into a boy, so surely if she likes climbing and screaming at me she will turn into a cat. You can’t say ‘you’re not a cat, you’re a human girl’ to one girl but say ‘yes you can turn into a boy today’ to another girl. And then you get into whether people can racially identify and decide they ‘feel black’ one day. I even saw a lady who wanted to get leg amputations because she felt she was disabled.

Although I do think it’s normal for young kids to play animals. All my kids have ‘been a dog’ or ‘been a tiger’ or whatever. Normal part of play acting and playing with identity and so on. By pretending to be something else it’s easier to explore what you are. But they know they’re not really that animal and can’t ‘identify’ as being it.

I‘m not surprised students are running this to its natural conclusion

If people around them say they can identify as anything, they will for a joke (usually) but some will just go there

I despair - we are watching the destruction of society and there is seemingly no-one left who has any sense and any that do are agressively shut down and called bigots. How did this get into schools? Where is the Education minister? How are Ofsted allowing this? If this is not stopped now we will be totally lost when these young grow up.

I wonder what would happen if a child/teenager said they identified as a cat, and the school provided them with a species-affirming litter tray in the corner of the room for them to use. Would the teacher in this instance be quite so happy to affirm the pupil’s feline identity if they were going to the loo in a litter tray in the classroom, I wonder.

And this is with a Conservative government who have been broadly supportive of concerns about this whole thing and willing to allow debate and endorse commonsense.

I hate to see what a change of government will do. I really do.

Tbh I’d prefer someone to identify as a cat than as a gender they aren’t because the stereotypes really annoy me.

Why if you identify as a boy do you all of a sudden need to cut your hair and play football.

Why if you identify as a girl do you all of a sudden need to wear a bra (with no boobs to fill them), wear make up and can’t possibly play such a masculine sport like football.

For years we’ve tried to break down stereotypes and it’s really damaging that we’re going backwards.

I’ve said for a while that I wish all schools put a blanket ban on students changing gender and using different pronouns etc.

If you identify as the opposite gender, great.
Theres nothing stopping you from growing/cutting your hair, playing different sports etc but there’s no need for teachers to have to change your name or pronoun.

At home or at breaks then they can be called a different name or pronoun by friends and family but I think all schools need to stick to the name and sex they were registered with.

As a teacher I am getting very annoyed with the constant changing of genders and them picking and choosing when they implement it.

I do not feel supported enough because senior staff are also struggling with it.

We recognise that by calling them a different name/gender, can be the lesser of 2 evils if they are at risk of suicide or self harm but I think this is creating a bigger problem.

The government needs to ban it completely in schools and then all staff will be on the same page.
It then won’t lead to identifying as cats and other animals.

Apparently 8/10 kids are identifying as cats in some schools…

Also behaviour is getting worse in schools because the students voices are more important than the staff.

Identifying as a cat and making school staff go along with it just proves how crap it is to be a teacher right now.

Genuinely wonder how this time will be looked back on.

As someone who works with SEND kids I completely agree.

But even they know not to act like that in the classroom.

They can play pretend being a cat or opposite gender as much as they want at breaks or at home and I think it’s good for them but there needs to be a rule that we don’t encourage it or allow it at schools.

As you said in your PP where does it end.
They’ll be identifying as all sorts.

It's not the sort of thing I thought I'd live to see.

But there we are.

That is probably the least of her worries now, her position must be totally untenable following this announcement from No 10. "The Prime Minister says you're a shit teacher, Miss." "The Prime Minister says you have to stop lying to us, Miss."

And to be honest the kids would be, once again, spot on.

At least there isn't any ambiguity on this one from No10. No 'im not answering that'. Just a simple 'teachers need to stop kids pretending to be cats in class'.

The trouble is teachers have to then explain why a girl identifying as a boy when everyone can clearly tell and knows she is a girl is legitimate but identifying as a cat isn't. When it's all on the same kind of internet forum. With a straight face.

Except of course it isn't bloody legitimate. They are still girls who are just playing dress up. And they always will be, cos they can't change sex. But everyone is supposed to pretend they can. Even if they go to see a HCP. Even if it's damaging their health. They are supposed to pretend it's not. And pretend that trans is anything other than a load of sexist rot. They can't just dress differently like they would have in generations gone by.

I must admit that given their federal members and leadership, and how I believe they accept furries as a legitimate identity, I am wondering what the official LD line on CatKidGate is going to be and whether they will be so bold as No10. Or whether they (and Labour) will stay very tactically quiet on this.

De-lurking to say this is getting ridiculous. Can we simply start throwing around the word ‘realityphobic’ - seeing as our belief in biological reality should be protected.

Miss got caught with her trousers down gaslighting and bullying. I hope her children at home are being safeguarded from the monster as well as those at school.

It’s always a cat.

no one is an individual any more. Couldn’t one of these kids try to be original? A serval, maybe?

Just think all those years ago on Big Brother, George Galloway was years ahead of his time.

And thank you for that.
Now I'm replaying that in my head.
Shudders.

It's a classic moment. Obviously culturally significant as one of the first mainstream representations on UK TV of someone identifying as a cat.

We will have pride celebrations in time. Galloway is a LGBTQ+ icon.

Meeoww!

Tbf cats are often a special interest of autistic children.
Autistic children are vulnerable to gender ideology.
I'm just surprised that there's not more trains tbh.