Instant transfer request
This is the real problem – the how we got here. It’s more basic even than the belief in magic gender.
It’s the obsession with self self self self, and the insistence on forcing one’s precious divine holy sanctified fascinating SELF on everyone else.
Adults used to know that other people are never as interested in Precious Me as we are, and that it’s childish and embarrassing to act as if they are.
Teachers aren’t there to tell the children all about the teachers’ darling selves. That’s not the job. That’s not the point of school. They’re not there to chat to the kids about their sex lives.
I suppose it goes all the way back to the dreaded “self-esteem” movement. Forget the self-esteem; shut up and teach something.
There’s something inherently prurient about the incessant focus on identity politics in school. Once kids graduate to chapter books, they read endless versions of the same book, where a child of an unusual demographic overcomes social obstacles and makes new friends. They’re kind of like the board books the kids read at first, where an anthropomorphic animal would overcome a minor discomfort within ten pages, but now it’s with brown children instead of bunnies and racism instead of a stubbed toe, and it takes 150 pages instead of 10.
The incessant harping on inclusion spills over into a mandate that the children all define and talk about their own identities, which inevitably leads to the teacher – who has been sitting with bated breath – telling all the kids how important it is for them to include her special identity as an ACE trans furry or whatever.
It would be nice if teachers would give up on the assumed mandate to help children “figure out who they are,” and revert to teaching children useful things about the world outside themselves.
Reminded me of this.
Ophelia’s comment about the “obsession with self self self” reminds me of this piece Suzanne Moore wrote four years ago:
https://suzannemoore.substack.com/p/what-does-the-keira-bell-case-tell
Also, why would the pupils need to know about so-called “queer” people before meeting this teacher? Would they need to know about left-handed people before meeting a southpaw teacher?
Well, he’s got a point, but not the one he’s trying to make. It’s better for parents to explain this thing to their children before he does, as what he’s likely to teach them is going to be genderist bullshit. It’s a shame that children have to be innoculated against this rubbish, as school is supposed to be teaching them how to learn and think, using truthful information, not indoctrinating them with delusional narcissism that they’re supposed to respect and obey.
Maybe I lack context, but it’s not clear to me that this teacher intends to discuss his sex life with the children. My guess would be this is about pronouns or something like that. Even if it were about his relationships, he could be discussing them in an age-appropriate way – although I very much agree that this isn’t what teachers are for. (Of course, it’s not uncommon for teachers to mention details about themselves in passing, but that fails to explain the bizarre contention that parents should make sure their children “know QU**R people exist” before they meet him. A charitable assumption would be that he thought it sounded good and didn’t give it much thought, but it does sound like he wants to ramble about his darling self, doesn’t it?)
I think OB is hitting the nail right on the head. We certainly should be criticizing the bizarre, entitled egotism that is manifest here as elsewhere. (Doesn’t the uppercase, rainbow special-ness of the word “QU**R” seem significant?) On the other hand, I don’t quite agree with weird MAGA people like “WaywardGreg” taking offense at supposed perversions – not that I’d hold Ophelia responsible for this guy’s attitude, of course.
Mosnae: Yeah, I made the mistake of reading the replies.
Well no, it’s not clear to me either that this teacher intends to discuss his sex life with the children, but I don’t suppose the source did either. It’s a joke, a metaphor, a bit of hyperbole. It’s shorthand for NOT WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE TELLING THE KIDS YOU ARE “TEACHING” YOU NARCISSISTIC GOON.