A new union was formed to counter the Scottish government’s education policies. The policy, the union claims, indoctrinates schoolchildren with ideas about “white privilege” and “transgender ideology.”
The Scottish Union for Education (SUE) was founded in response to growing concerns from parents, grandparents, teachers and former teachers about schools incorporating important racial theories and gender ideologies into their teaching materials. .
Stuart Weighton, a senior lecturer in sociology and criminology at Abertay College, founded a union that operates under the banner of “education, not indoctrination.”
Other members include Professor Emeritus Lindsay Patterson, one of Scotland’s leading educational experts, Penny Lewis, Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Dundee, and Stuart Baird, a teacher.
“I have to do something”
so substack post When announcing SUE, Waiton wrote:
“I’m an atheist on the political left, but over the last few years I’ve worked with people from all kinds of backgrounds who recognize that something needs to be done,” he added.
Waiton told The Epoch Times that the union’s campaign “depends on what people want to do.”
The union was established so that its members could have a say in the SNP government’s education system.
“But we are holding online events and public meetings across Scotland to advance research and try to pressure schools to listen to parents. We want to re-establish the understanding that it should be knowledge and subjects rather than the ‘correct’ values of
social justice
Materials in the Scottish education system, such as the principal’s standard documents produced by the Scottish General Education Council, prioritize ‘social justice’ in their values.
At the SUE substack, Waiton warned: .”
The Scottish government and education authorities have incorporated anti-racism and race equality into many aspects of schools.
Its “Report on the Promotion and Development of Racial Equality and Anti-Racism Education” (pdf), the Scottish Government wrote: The report also mentions “white privilege.”
The Scottish government also promotes transgender ideology in its school guidance document Supporting Transgender Students in Schools (pdf) said that breast bonding may have “positive effects on the mental health of young people.”
“The fundamental question that still needs to be addressed is the idea of whether you can self-identify as something, a question that ultimately must be answered. You can’t have sex, or you can, but the rest of society doesn’t have to react to that,” Waiton said.
The union plans to campaign on the issue rather than seek a legal challenge.
“I trust the public and their common sense more than courts, judges and lawyers,” Waiton said.
“I think in a democratic society, the voice of the people will be louder and it will be impossible for the government to ignore it,” he added.
push back
In Britain there is a backlash against controversial theories being taught as facts.
Last July, Conservative MP Miriam Cates told parliament that she had exposed children to “extremely inappropriate, highly inaccurate, sexually explicit and harmful material” in the name of sex education. We discussed how materials are being introduced into schools by external providers.
Last December, Cates introduced Secretary of Education Gillian Keegan to research by Professor Eric Kaufman. He wrote a report for Policy Exchange, which thanked conservative thinking, arguing that British education was ideologically framed in much the same way as American education.
Cates is concerned that children are taught that “the organizing principles of society are racism, gender theory, the idea that there are many genders and that everyone has a gender identity”. Said there was
She called them “extremely subversive ideas that are really attacking liberalism, the foundation of our democracy.”
In Wales parents are fighting compulsory education on fairness, sex, gender and sexuality.
In December, child protection advocate Public Child Protection Wales lost a lawsuit against the Labor-led Welsh government for requiring relationship and sex education classes for students aged 3 to 16. The team said it was preparing an appeal.
The Scottish government declined to comment for this article.