Re: Rod Liddle on Schooling

On 8/6/2026 7:20 PM, Dude wrote:
> On 8/6/2026 1:15 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
>> On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 13:06:22 -0700, Dude <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> On 8/6/2026 12:06 PM, Tara wrote:
>>>> On Aug 6, 2026 at 2:44:37?PM EDT, "Julian" <[email protected]> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 06/08/2026 19:21, Tara wrote:
>>>>>> On Aug 6, 2026 at 1:30:46?PM EDT, "Julian" <[email protected]> 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 06/08/2026 18:12, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Aug 6, 2026 at 12:33:45?PM EDT, "Dude" <[email protected]> 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Posted: by Julian, Jun 23, 2023, 11:45:25?AM:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The trouble with teachers by Rod Liddle
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> A teacher once told me that he couldn’t stand Pakistanis 
>>>>>>>>> ‘because of the
>>>>>>>>> smell’. I was 13 at the time and it was during a classroom 
>>>>>>>>> debate about
>>>>>>>>> immigration: he was very much agin, I was for. It struck me, 
>>>>>>>>> suddenly,
>>>>>>>>> that he was very stupid – an astonishing realisation, as I was
>>>>>>>>> accustomed to believing teachers to be full of wisdom, a delusion
>>>>>>>>> inculcated in me by my parents.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> This all took place in a very large comprehensive school in the
>>>>>>>>> north-east of England – a good school by and large, but almost 
>>>>>>>>> entirely
>>>>>>>>> white. Of the 1,800 pupils only one was not: a quiet lad of 
>>>>>>>>> Chinese
>>>>>>>>> Malay extraction, I think, who was known to all the pupils and 
>>>>>>>>> a good
>>>>>>>>> few of the teachers as ‘Fu Manchu’. In fact, there was another 
>>>>>>>>> non-white
>>>>>>>>> face in the crowd, but we didn’t know it at the time. It was 
>>>>>>>>> only 20
>>>>>>>>> years later that I realised my friend Jim was half Indian. He 
>>>>>>>>> kept that
>>>>>>>>> pretty quiet.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> All of this dates me fairly precisely. Such racist attitudes 
>>>>>>>>> would today
>>>>>>>>> be front-page news and there would be government inquiries. 
>>>>>>>>> Just as
>>>>>>>>> dated is my parents’ deference, and the deference shown by 
>>>>>>>>> society in
>>>>>>>>> general, towards teachers. Over the intervening 50 years, 
>>>>>>>>> society has
>>>>>>>>> become more diverse and so necessarily more tolerant and 
>>>>>>>>> accepting –
>>>>>>>>> and, by some sort of strange inversion, teachers have become 
>>>>>>>>> far more
>>>>>>>>> stupid. They had their stupidities then, of course, but not on 
>>>>>>>>> a par
>>>>>>>>> with the sort of stuff we see today. That is one reason why 
>>>>>>>>> parents are
>>>>>>>>> disinclined to show them deference. Another is that deference 
>>>>>>>>> is pretty
>>>>>>>>> much dead meat – gone the way of similarly despised qualities 
>>>>>>>>> such as
>>>>>>>>> discipline, respect, obedience etc.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Should there be any hope, it lies with the children – certainly 
>>>>>>>>> if the
>>>>>>>>> Church of England school, Rye College, in East Sussex, is 
>>>>>>>>> anything to go
>>>>>>>>> by. Two Year 8 pupils (what we used to call second years) 
>>>>>>>>> recorded a
>>>>>>>>> truly cretinous teacher hectoring and bullying them about their 
>>>>>>>>> views
>>>>>>>>> regarding gender. The kids had made the eminently reasonable 
>>>>>>>>> observation
>>>>>>>>> that a fellow pupil who wished to identify as a cat was seriously
>>>>>>>>> mentally unwell and should not be indulged in her delusion by 
>>>>>>>>> the staff.
>>>>>>>>> The teacher reacted with fury, heightened when the girls 
>>>>>>>>> insisted that
>>>>>>>>> there were two genders and that you could not be ‘agender’. She 
>>>>>>>>> shouted:
>>>>>>>>> ‘What do you mean you can’t have it? It’s not a law… Cisgender 
>>>>>>>>> is not
>>>>>>>>> necessarily the way to be. You are talking about the fact that 
>>>>>>>>> cisgender
>>>>>>>>> is the norm, that you identify with the gender of the sexual 
>>>>>>>>> organ you
>>>>>>>>> were born with or you’re weird, that’s basically what you’re 
>>>>>>>>> saying,
>>>>>>>>> which is really despicable.’ She then said she would be 
>>>>>>>>> reporting the
>>>>>>>>> girls to the assistant head and suggested that if they 
>>>>>>>>> continued to
>>>>>>>>> think in that manner they should find another school.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Obviously, the teacher should be sacked – and the head too, 
>>>>>>>>> given the
>>>>>>>>> school’s refusal to accept that what this teacher did was not 
>>>>>>>>> merely
>>>>>>>>> stupid, but evil. You do not call your pupils ‘despicable’ and 
>>>>>>>>> tell them
>>>>>>>>> to find another school when they are simply telling the truth – 
>>>>>>>>> a very
>>>>>>>>> easily demonstrable truth.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So, let us raise a glass to these two canny schoolgirls who 
>>>>>>>>> recognised
>>>>>>>>> that their teacher was a halfwit dedicated to lying to her 
>>>>>>>>> charges and
>>>>>>>>> had the perspicacity to record her doing so. But maybe there is a
>>>>>>>>> general rebellion under way, because after a bit of digging, 
>>>>>>>>> the Daily
>>>>>>>>> Telegraph, which first reported the story, discovered that in 
>>>>>>>>> schools up
>>>>>>>>> and down the country, loads of children are cheerfully 
>>>>>>>>> identifying as
>>>>>>>>> animals. They include one child who identifies as a dinosaur 
>>>>>>>>> and, best
>>>>>>>>> of all, there’s another who identifies as a moon.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I daresay a small number of these kids are genuinely disturbed, 
>>>>>>>>> but my
>>>>>>>>> suspicion is that the majority of them are indulging in that 
>>>>>>>>> excellent
>>>>>>>>> British pastime of taking the piss. They are aware that the whole
>>>>>>>>> self-identification thing is a counter-rational absurdity which 
>>>>>>>>> has been
>>>>>>>>> swallowed whole by the idiots who teach them every day and they 
>>>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>>>> determined to have a good laugh at the expense of the staff.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It all made me terribly nostalgic for my schooldays and the fun 
>>>>>>>>> I might
>>>>>>>>> have today at, say, Rye College, if I were a second-year pupil. 
>>>>>>>>> I can
>>>>>>>>> imagine identifying as having handed in my homework, for a start,
>>>>>>>>> despite comprehensive evidence to the contrary. I would inform the
>>>>>>>>> teaching staff that while I was entirely relaxed about what 
>>>>>>>>> pronouns
>>>>>>>>> should be used when addressing me, I did insist upon the 
>>>>>>>>> teachers using
>>>>>>>>> my preferred adjectives. In future I should be addressed 
>>>>>>>>> directly, and
>>>>>>>>> referred to, as ‘the stupendously brilliant Rod Liddle’. I 
>>>>>>>>> would also
>>>>>>>>> demand the right to run in girls’ sports races and use whatever 
>>>>>>>>> lavatory
>>>>>>>>> I fancied, depending on which of the several hundred imagined 
>>>>>>>>> genders I
>>>>>>>>> was identifying as on that particular day. I would exhort all the
>>>>>>>>> children to do likewise – and thus utterly destroy this 
>>>>>>>>> ludicrous and
>>>>>>>>> damaging ideology by exposing its obvious inconsistencies and
>>>>>>>>> unrealities, laughing at teacher as they do so.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Teachers regularly complain that their biggest bugbear is the 
>>>>>>>>> parents –
>>>>>>>>> and as I mentioned, it is true that these days parents are more 
>>>>>>>>> inclined
>>>>>>>>> to take the side of their kids in disputes. Back in the 1970s, by
>>>>>>>>> contrast, if I was punished for wrongdoing in school, my 
>>>>>>>>> parents would
>>>>>>>>> simply say I deserved it and probably punish me a bit more for 
>>>>>>>>> good measure.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> But one of the reasons this shift has taken place is that, 
>>>>>>>>> captured by a
>>>>>>>>> fatuous ideology to which only a tiny minority of the population
>>>>>>>>> adheres, the teachers have encroached upon territory which more 
>>>>>>>>> properly
>>>>>>>>> should lie in the domain of the parents – and they are rightly 
>>>>>>>>> resented
>>>>>>>>> for it. That, and the fact that seemingly many of them are that 
>>>>>>>>> very
>>>>>>>>> worst of combinations: dim and totalitarian.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Rod Liddle
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If it's true, and I think it may be, that only a tiny minority 
>>>>>>>> of the
>>>>>>>> population adhere to this ideology, why is it as dominent as it 
>>>>>>>> is in schools.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> To thrive and survive in the profession you have to play the game.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Talent is a ball and chain.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For generations, think Hippy shit, from top to bottom rank,
>>>>>>> the education system (blob) has grown up and compromised with
>>>>>>> the ideology. Like with many institutions if you point out the
>>>>>>> emperor is naked your career is over.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The technical term is Ideological Subversion
>>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1EA2ohrt5Q
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All true.
>>>>>> However, there are a lot of teachers in my area, on my street and 
>>>>>> those I've
>>>>>> known and know through friends. It's about 50-50 I think, who 
>>>>>> believe in and
>>>>>> practice the woke ideology willingly in school and in their 
>>>>>> parenting with the
>>>>>> other half playing the game.. :(. But it's gradually turning 
>>>>>> around :)
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, the teachers aren't the major problem as to an extent they're
>>>>> accessible to parents. The major problem is the massive ship of the
>>>>> education administration which, even if you could pirate in a skilled
>>>>> navigator the careerists would mutiny at every touch of the tiller.
>>>>>
>>>>> BTW Our new Education Sec is questioning the value of reading and
>>>>> writing even in English. The last one was happy just to cancel Latin.
>>>>> There's a bit of Pol Pot in this one.
>>>>> https://order-order.com/2026/07/28/education-secretary-says- 
>>>>> spelling-and-grammar-tests-are-too-obscure-and-takes-aim-at-exams- 
>>>>> and-ofsted/
>>>>
>>>> When you actually read what they say and think, you know its real 
>>>> and almost
>>>> bloody unbelievable.
>>>>
>>>> One little stupid:
>>>>
>>>> Oxford was too academic: “I just didn’t get on at Oxford. I mean it was
>>>> academically very, very hard as well to be honest with you. Not that 
>>>> I wasn’t
>>>> able to do that, but it was, it was quite, it was, those, those eras 
>>>> I think
>>>> it’s got a bit better since then in that era. Academically it was a 
>>>> quite sink
>>>> or swim. There was a lot of self-teaching, self-learning which I 
>>>> wasn’t really
>>>> used to. And I, I found myself just in a, in an environment I wasn’t 
>>>> really…
>>>> used to.”
>>>>
>>>> I mean, that's the point for gods sake - to teach self discipline and
>>>> self-reliance  just wow!
>>>>
>>> A decades-long campaign to elevate people based on arbitrary
>>> characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation) instead of merit.
>>
>> So that they can acquire merit.
>  >
> Miss North Carolina dethroned weeks before Miss USA pageant, officials 
> cite racism, homophobia and transphobia posts on social media.
 >
Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse says losing her 
crown may have been a “blessing in disguise”—and believes her 
conservative Christian convictions helped put her on the wrong side of 
pageant officials.

The Miss USA Organization removed Boltinhouse on August 5, only weeks 
after her June 28 victory and less than a month before the national Miss 
USA competition.

In a Friday interview with the Carolina Journal, Boltinhouse said:

“I believe and think I was stripped from my title because of my 
political stance and my belief system as a conservative Christian woman.”