Scottish Union for Education - Newsletter No24
Newsletter Themes: J. K. and nursery activism, and therapy vs facilities – what do kids need?
This week we have a report from a SUE supporter about her ‘journey’ into the world of transgender ideology, which has not only taken over many institutions in the adult world but also appears to have been carried into our schools, including at primary level, by trans rights activists. When ideology is overtly promoted to young children, with little or no oversight by headteachers or concerns raised by the education authorities, then we – as parents, teachers and concerned members of communities across Scotland – need to up our game. A teacher preoccupied with promoting her own brand of identity politics onto eight-year-olds, as in this case, is unlikely to be able to effectively do her job – a job that is meant to be about education, and about the nuts and bolts of reading and writing, not indoctrination.
If you are concerned about this issue and would like to learn more, download Dr Jenny Cunningham’s Transgender Identity in Scottish Schools or write to us at info@scottishunionforeducation.co.uk to order your hard copies (£5 for three). We have sent an e-copy of the pamphlet to every headteacher in Scotland, and we have heard that in some schools at least, it appears to be having an influence. One parent phoned to thank us for our work because she believes this has helped get rid of the RSHP transgender ideology lesson that her 11-year-old daughter was facing. As you’ll see when you read it, Jenny’s pamphlet is fact based and does much to expose the problems with the government’s Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools guidance – problems that teachers and headteachers can do something about. So download your copy or get a printed copy and share it with anyone you think may be interested. Some of our new activist teachers may not understand this, but knowledge is power, and the more we educate ourselves about what is going on in schools, the more prepared we will be to influence what happens in the new term.
Our second article is from parent Kate E. Deeming, who asks whether kids need more therapy or whether this is, in fact, part of a problem of turning kids in on themselves rather than helping them to get out into the world and just do stuff!
Trans rights activism in primary schools
A deeply concerned nursery worker speaks up
6 June 2020. J. K. Rowling, one of the most talented authors of our time, an advocate for women everywhere and an activist for human rights, states simply this: ‘If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.’ She later tweeted that ‘The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – i.e., to male violence – ‘‘hate’’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense.’
And the world went mad. J. K. Rowling got cancelled, receiving death threats and hate from the opposition. As I sipped my second coffee of the morning, I could not fathom what I was reading. And that for me was where my journey into this insanely crazy ‘biological war’ began. A bit of digging and researching in the days that followed absolutely blew my mind ... was this truly happening? In 2020? After years and years of women fighting for what is rightfully ours, the trans rights activist community were coming for the dictionary meaning of the word WOMAN?! Not to mention our children?!
Enter Posie Parker, aka Kellie-Jay Keen. During her huge billboard campaign, I was completely hooked and very much knew what side of history I wanted to be on. As a woman, a mother and a daughter, I found myself astonished to find that not ONE of my peers felt the same way. Until now.
Fast forward to 2023. It’s autumn and I’m about to start a brand-new job doing something new: working in my local primary school. I went in with my eyes and mind fully open, as I had read about many ‘woke’ incidents happening to our children which, quite frankly, I expected; however, I did not expect quite so much of it right on my doorstep.
Day 1: I’m all ready to start my new career. I enter the classroom and... There. It. Is. The rainbow brigade. The Stonewall posters. The transgender ideology in the form of worksheets, flags, EVERYWHERE. Being promoted to eight-year-olds. I felt deeply disappointed but not shocked. I later learn that this particular (primary 4) classroom’s teacher happens to have – shock – a ‘trans’-identifying child. How could this be happening? Why, because this woman happens to have a ‘troubled teen’, does she find it acceptable to teach this nonsense to innocent children without parental consent? Keeping my cool and saying nothing, I quietly got in touch with the SUE. The parents, it transpired, KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT.
Further into the school term and it’s World Book Day. Enter Billy’s Bravery, a ridiculously woke story, aimed at three-year-olds, discussing the idea that the main character, Billy, can in fact be a girl if he so wishes. Absolute madness.
At present, I have decided to step down from my role as an early years practitioner, mainly due to the fact I may be pushed out if this continues, but also because I just cannot continue to discuss this topic with academics in the primary school setting who continue to promote transgender ideology. It’s a form of grooming, however you dress it up, and this madness needs to stop.
Since then, the war continues, with attacks being made on any soul who dares to speak out about anything related to this subject matter, which I’m simply not standing for. Even in our own homes we are being asked to use the ‘correct’ (actually wrong-sex) pronouns, and if we dare not to, we could, in fact, be charged with a hate crime.
If you’re a parent, you should be outraged. In the words of the late feminist and women’s rights campaigner Magdalen Berns, ‘it’s not hate to defend your rights and it’s not hate to speak the truth.’
Make childhood fun again
Kate E. Deeming is a solo mother to a P5 child; she is also a dance artist, a child advocate and a community organiser. She has developed dance programmes with children in educational and community settings globally for three decades. Originally from Philadelphia, USA, she has been based in Glasgow for 23 years.
Just when I think this batsh*t crazy nonsense with kids and schools etc. will end and common sense will prevail, and that kids will be able to enjoy their lives and have ‘normal’ growing-up experiences, society decides to turn it up a notch and reinforce the idea, yet again, that they (alongside our world) are BROKEN. It’s more disaster for them to sort out. Wonderful.
Last month I was a call-in guest on BBC Radio Scotland’s morning programme ‘Should mental health services be brought into schools?’ This comes off the back of worrying research suggesting that children’s mental health is rapidly deteriorating. The Scottish government is priming to integrate the therapeutic education model into every classroom.
Of course, I want kids to be happy and to live fulfilling lives. For three decades I have dedicated my life to child advocacy. I am also a mother, and nothing is more important to me than my son living a good life. One cannot help but notice the absolutely devastating trend of imbalance among our youth. But is integrating another strand, another demand into the classroom day the best approach?
I consider how we have just completed three years of the most horrific conditions for kids in the methods of our lockdowns; we stole their childhood. So now, alongside screen addiction (which is literally changing their brains) and an utter lack of normal service for kids (sports, arts, etc.), we have a depressed and angry generation. In my own community we have gone from four community centres to none. Last summer I had a daily two-hour bicycle commute to get my son to an available summer camp so I could work. I made myself physically ill in the process, as on top of the two-hour cycle I was also dancing four hours a day in the hot summer sun. It’s not tenable.
But instead of standing up to say ‘we did this, we did something bad, we adults; we caused you harm and we’re going to make it better’ and fund such programmes appropriately, we tell children they need self-analysis – that they need to look inward to have a ‘more positive mental attitude’ and to ‘be aware of their feelings’. It’s the equivalent of punching a kid in the face numerous times beyond reckoning and then having circle time to discuss how everyone feels. It’s sociopathic. AND IT’S GOT TO STOP.
I was in my local park last week and got talking to some kids I know, 13 or 14 years old. One told me:
‘I’m so out of it miss. There’s nowhere to go. Nothing going on. Used to have football. Now it’s not running, I don’t know. Started smoking weed, don’t worry – it’s only once a week. It’s just I’m stressed.’
This kid doesn’t need therapy. He needs a youth club; he needs somewhere he can reclaim the very little of his childhood he has left.
And where is the Scottish government in all this? Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s First Minister, enthusiastically (our politicians are very good with enthusiasm) announced a £4.5 million investment to help local authorities provide school-aged childcare and holiday clubs, targeted to help those from low-income households. Sounds like a lot untill you figure what that means in real terms and remember that last year Nicola Sturgeon pledged £10 million. And the numbers don’t add up.
There are 798,000 students enrolled in Scottish primary and secondary schools. Of these, 24% are living in poverty. If we were to only allocate the £4.5 million to those 191,520 children, that would be the equivalent of £23.49 per child. How much after-school provision can £23.49 realistically provide for a child? Our school’s local after-school club runs cheap at £11 per day. That’s a couple of minutes over two days of care. Our local tennis club charges £5 per session (also cheap). Same with other sports and drama clubs. £23.49 is not going to get you very far.
Do you see the problem here?
And it drives me crazy because Scotland is driving forward this UN Rights of the Child utter codswallop, as if that boy in the park can declare ‘I have the right to play’ and, like a Harry Potter–style spell, the statement is going to magic-up some activities and a community centre for him.
So is therapy in the classroom going to sort this out?
Short answer from me: absolutely not. You want to ensure our kids are wholly unable to deal with the world? Integrate therapy into every lesson. What a disastrous idea. Let’s make childhood fun again and then see how things sort themselves out.
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Two excellent pieces. And as a retired Counsellor, parent and grandparent I agree with the second article author. Less naval gazing and much more fun, preferably outdoor fun!