A school said it is reviewing an incident where a teacher called a pupil “despicable” for disagreeing that a classmate could identify as a cat.
Rye College confirmed the exchange—recorded and leaked online last week—was under investigation “so the events do not take place in the future.”
The Epoch Times understands the comments were made during a Year 8 life lesson at the East Sussex Church of England school on Friday.
The heated exchange happened after one pupil questioned a classmate, “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”
During the recording, heard by The Epoch Times, the teacher says to one pupil: “How dare you? You’ve just really upset someone, saying things like [you] should be in an asylum.”
The pupil responds: “I didn’t say that. I just said that if they want to identify as a cow or something like that then, like, they are genuinely unwell and they’ve gone crazy.”
The teacher then states that the pupil was “questioning their identity” to which the girl disagrees.
“I was just saying about the gender, I haven’t said anything about them,” she told the teacher.
The pupil is then asked, “Where did you get this idea from there’s only two genders?”
She responds that it is her opinion, before the teacher says in an annoyed voice: “It’s not an opinion … Gender is not linked to the parts you were born with. Gender is about how you identify which what I have said from the very beginning of the lesson.”
‘Homophobic’
Two pupils can be heard disagreeing with the teacher in the secret recording, which goes on for a number of minutes.One pupil states, “If you have a vagina you’re a girl and if you have a penis you’re a boy—that’s it.”
The teacher interrupts: “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 sexual organ you were born with, that’s basically what you’re saying, which is really despicable.”
The teacher went on to suggest the girls were “homophobic” and confused, which they denied before saying their mothers would agree.
Responding “well that is very sad,” the teacher also suggests the pupils need to “go to a different school,” before saying she is reporting the teenagers to a senior school staff member.
She adds, “You need to have a proper educational conversation about equality, diversity, and inclusion because I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.”
The leaked recording, which went viral over the weekend, has led to an onslaught of angry comments on the school’s Facebook page.
One social media user wrote: “I have listened to the recording of the pupils and teacher. All i heard was pupils coming with facts and the teacher acting in a tyranical [sic] fashion. Basically agree with me or i'll punish you by reporting you.”
Another said: “As [a] gay man can I just congratulate the girls in the video for calling out the utter nonsense the teacher was spouting.
“The children clearly have more of an understanding on sex and gender than the so called teacher.”
The school has since restricted comments on its social media posts.
In a statement to The Epoch Times on Monday, a spokesperson for Rye College and the Aquinas Trust said: “We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education.
“Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to, and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.
“We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We will be reviewing our processes and working with the relevant individuals to ensure such events do not take place in the future.”
