Article (UK) Survey shows how out of touch Tories are on sex ed & gender identity in schools

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/surv...education/

PRESS RELEASE: New polling by YouGov has revealed just how out of step the government is when it comes to sex education and discussions around gender identity.

It comes as the Tories announced plans this week to ban sex education for children before Year 5 and told schools not to teach about gender identity at all, in the UK government’s latest attack on the trans community.

Yet again it seems the Conservative’s have been motivated by culture wars and headline baiting rather than evidence or public opinion, as a new poll has found that the majority of Britons think sex education should teach that people can be transgender or non-binary.

YouGov surveyed the public on a range of sex education topics from conversations about forced marriage to contraception. When asked whether schools should tell children that people can identify as a gender other than male or female, 60-61% of the British public said yes. While the number rises to 67% for parents with a child younger than 18, as the government prepares to ban the subject.

School leaders have said there is no evidence of a widespread issue regarding current sex education content and teachers have warned that banning certain topics risks shutting down the conversation, with negative consequences for children.

The General Secretary of the National Education Union, Daniel Kebede slammed the Education Minister’s proposals as “yet more culture war noise from an ill-informed and out of touch government.”

Commenting on the survey results, Labour campaign group Momentum said: “Tory attempts to erase trans people from public life are driven by elite right-wing fearmongering, not the public. Labour should stand up to the Tories’ latest damaging & regressive attack on LGBT+ rights”.

One LGBT+ campaigner wrote on X: “This shameless and divisive government want to play culture wars for votes. Everything we know tells us attacking LGBT equality is a losing strategy.”

Another X user said: “Section 28 attempted to ban discussion of homosexuality in schools – but even in a pre-social media era, that did not stop children from learning that homosexuality existed. It only meant that teachers were unable to provide information or any support.”

[stryder]

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/surv...education/

PRESS RELEASE: New polling by YouGov has revealed just how out of step the government is when it comes to sex education and discussions around gender identity.

It comes as the Tories announced plans this week to ban sex education for children before Year 5 and told schools not to teach about gender identity at all, in the UK government’s latest attack on the trans community.

Yet again it seems the Conservative’s have been motivated by culture wars and headline baiting rather than evidence or public opinion, as a new poll has found that the majority of Britons think sex education should teach that people can be transgender or non-binary.

YouGov surveyed the public on a range of sex education topics from conversations about forced marriage to contraception. When asked whether schools should tell children that people can identify as a gender other than male or female, 60-61% of the British public said yes. While the number rises to 67% for parents with a child younger than 18, as the government prepares to ban the subject.

School leaders have said there is no evidence of a widespread issue regarding current sex education content and teachers have warned that banning certain topics risks shutting down the conversation, with negative consequences for children.

The General Secretary of the National Education Union, Daniel Kebede slammed the Education Minister’s proposals as “yet more culture war noise from an ill-informed and out of touch government.”

Commenting on the survey results, Labour campaign group Momentum said: “Tory attempts to erase trans people from public life are driven by elite right-wing fearmongering, not the public. Labour should stand up to the Tories’ latest damaging & regressive attack on LGBT+ rights”.

One LGBT+ campaigner wrote on X: “This shameless and divisive government want to play culture wars for votes. Everything we know tells us attacking LGBT equality is a losing strategy.”

Another X user said: “Section 28 attempted to ban discussion of homosexuality in schools – but even in a pre-social media era, that did not stop children from learning that homosexuality existed. It only meant that teachers were unable to provide information or any support.”

Kids shouldn't have woke forced down their throat. Sure we as adults can talk about the freedom of choice and the capacity to respect other peoples decisions, however when we say this we are referring to other adults and we shouldn't lose site of that fact.

Kids should concentrate on being a kid (growing up, enjoying the time they have at that age since they'll never get it back etc), it shouldn't be about gender identity or other deviances... that is something for the mid-late teenagers to consider.

The problem with children being subjected to such things too young is that you can't tell if it's the education, the woke or some dirty old man pretending to be a 12 year old encouraging them to be something they are not to fit their twisted sexual fantasy.

So when a girl aged 9-10 starts identifying themselves as a "he" the question falls on where they got their idea from? who did they speak to? were they allowed too much online time un-monitored with clandestine molesterers coaxing them to become something they wasn't originally?

It's simpler in that stance to just derive that the age group where such thoughts as gender identity should be left to older and maturer mindsets rather than corrupting young minds.

[Zinjanthropos]

Doesn’t the very word conservative mean hanging on to tradition and not fully embracing change. I don’t find it surprising they’re sidestepping woke.. Don’t schools have psychologists and guidance counseling for kids already?

Got college grads out there that can’t even answer basic questions and some probably teaching. What’s that saying about teachers..’Those that do, do and those that can't, teach. I know a few of those personally. I’m old school and used to the three R’s and now it’s multiple identities and pronouns etc that they want schools responsible for teaching. But you can’t satisfy everyone, just the way things are. Times change and like throwing excrement at a wall, some sticks. Like natural evolution, failure and survival.

I guess if parents want to entrust schools to teach their kid about specific things then shut up if it doesn’t meet your criteria, you asked for it. No win for schools, smart to bow out or put a few restrictions in there.