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Katharine Birbalsingh, a teacher and founder of the Michaela School in West London, is alarmed at students being allowed to express themselves as they wish.

Dubbed “Britain’s strictest head teacher” by The Telegraph, she’s warning that parents need to move their children out of schools that tolerate their children self-identifying as animals, moons, and even holograms in classrooms.

This is following a case of a 13-year-old girl who was told off by her teacher for rejecting her classmate’s claim that she “identified” as a cat. Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has ordered an investigation into this incident at Rye College, in East Sussex.

Birbalsingh said she was aware of a child at one school who identifies as a gay male hologram, and at least one school where a whole group of pupils identify as cats:

She also suggested the issue of children identifying as cats, horses, dinosaurs and other animals or objects in schools was more widespread than people realised, as teachers “are not allowed to tell you what’s going on”.

She said that schools were failing their pupils if they tolerated such behaviour and parents should act quickly.

“This is not a school problem, it is a societal problem. As a society we have lost our way. Teachers and parents have allowed children to lead the way and adult authority has completely dissolved.

“In schools we have allowed children to lead the way. We are scared of our children, we are scared of our responsibility of leading, and we are shying away from our duty of looking after our children. It starts from when they are babies or toddlers and we give them a choice of food, rather than showing them to eat what’s in front of them.

“For parents of children who are allowed to behave like this in classrooms, I think they need to move schools quickly. I don’t want to blame the school, because I think it’s society’s problem, but there will be schools that are more tolerant of this kind of behaviour and schools that are less tolerant.”

Wait, is she actually threatened by kids who come to school looking like cats? I fail to see the problem.

As an education reformer, you would think her main concern should be about whether or not the students are learning, and less about how students pitch up. As far as I can tell, nobody has mentioned anything about how identifying as an animal can potentially thwart learning – and learning should be the point, right?

Birbalsingh believes that every child is born with sin. It’s always good to hear that a person who is supposed to be forwarding a children’s future prospects has such a high opinion of them:

Image: Twitter

Birbalsingh is really hectic, even apparently punishing children if their parents don’t pay school fees:

@sketchy_bambi #stitch with @edu_news ♬ Easy On Me – Adele

Surely we’re in an age where schools, teachers, and parents need to be thinking more about collaboration with children, not control. Perhaps sitting down with the students who want to be cats with the aim of trying to understand their point of view will be more productive than isolating them further. They’re obviously feeling some kind of way and could benefit from a little empathy, kindness, and understanding.

[source:telegraph]