Schools in Scotland ask children to address gender neutral teacher as 'Mx'

Edinburgh, Scotland

A lot of teachers in Scotland have asked students to use gender-neutral titles when speaking to them.

Children, who are just four or five years old, have been encouraged to use pronouns like "they" and "them" when addressing the classroom staff.

These titles are being used by people who identify themselves as non-binary, which means neither male nor female regardless of their sex.

According to the figures from councils, at least 86 teachers, classroom aides and teaching assistants were seen using Mx titles and not Miss, Mrs, Ms or Mr.

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The City of Edinburgh Council alone had 44 teachers using gender-neutral titles, which was the highest number ever recorded.

Here's how critics and teachers reacted 

Critics said that "contested ideology" should not be brought inside the classrooms by the teachers.

Speaking about it, Scottish Conservative spokeswoman for children and young people, Roz McCall, said, "These sort of fringe issues are a distraction from making sure our children are getting the best possible start in life and are not made to feel uncomfortable."

"Teachers should not be bringing contested ideology, which has no more basis than astrology, into classrooms," Marion Calder of the campaign group For Women Scotland added.

A mother said that she got to know that teachers are using Mx after some signed achievement certificates reached their homes. She added that when she raised her concerns, her points were dismissed by the school.

"My initial response to the head asking why I had a problem with “Mx” was because we are telling small children something that is false – you get to choose your gender – and we are forcing a very dangerous ideology onto very young children, with no discussion with parents," said the mother, The Daily Mail reported.

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“Also, when I asked what [pronoun] the teacher gets the children to refer to [them] as he said ‘I don’t know, I haven’t asked’. These are activist teachers and it should not be happening,” she added.

"Titles like 'Mx' confuse primary school children, no one knows how to pronounce it and too many teachers use it as a conversation starter to introduce their non-binariness or 'gender identity'," stated Parent Watch Scotland, another campaign group.

"How are children to believe anything a teacher says if they lie about something so fundamental? ‘And what happens if a child or their parents push back? Will the child be disciplined for holding to science and reality?," Calder added.

(With inputs from agencies)