Misgendering, mathematics and a misdirected mission

On Monday, November 13th a Times leading article warned of a confused debate about gender which threatens to harm young people. In the same edition there is a report of a teacher being suspended for “misgendering.” The teacher had referred to a pupil by birth gender rather than an assumed gender.
The teacher concerned is a teacher of mathematics. The head teacher who suspended him has refused to discuss the matter.
Good mathematics teachers are not easily found. Has this head teacher found time yet to discuss with the parents of all the other pupils taught by this teacher the matter of their likely progress in mathematics?
It is one thing for a teacher to get thirty or so young people to focus on the topic of a lesson and engage their varied selves in the work in hand. It is another to expect him or her never to forget each pupil’s personal foibles and preferences. Much easier to help young people to understand that to overlook their particular concerns and preferences is sometimes merely human.
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1 thought on “Misgendering, mathematics and a misdirected mission”

  1. I read this one, Pedro; very soon teachers will be required to know the make-up used by individual students, their bowel habits, their personal hygiene routines. Maths? What is that?

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