“Teaching kids about trans people will make them confused!” Yeah, so’s teaching them math. What’s your point? - ThreadSky

floralashes.bsky.social • 88 days ago

“Teaching kids about trans people will make them confused!”

Yeah, so’s teaching them math. What’s your point?

Comments

williampreston.bsky.social•88 days ago

“The day my momma socked it to
The Harper Valley PTA”

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

Math confusion arises when schools favor abstract numbers over tools like pictures or abacuses. Similarly, rigid gender norms confuse people, leading them to project their struggles onto others instead of confronting the gap between societal constructs and reality—especially regarding trans people.

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

Put simply, struggling with abstract gender roles in youth—like with numbers—leads some to impose rigid norms on their kids, mistaking it for rationality. Instead of accepting that gender isn’t binary and trans people exist. They cling to the same flawed, oversimplified ideas they were taught.

irrationalwisp.bsky.social•88 days ago

But doesn't teaching kids abstract concepts help produce more complex, nuanced views of reality?

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

Only if concepts are explained at a reasonable level. Kids are told they can’t take the square root of negative one—until later, when its uses are revealed. Lying to children largely works as teaching abstract concepts like times tables—before kids grasp why 4×12=48—is confusing and counterintuitive

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

It’s better to start with relatable systems: “If a line equals one and a circle equals ten, what happens when you multiply a line by four circles and two lines?” Grounding math in something tangible helps kids build understanding before abstract concepts are introduced.

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

By contrast, rigid gender roles, like “girls like pink and Barbie” or “boys like blue and action figures,” are similarly unhelpful. These ideas aren’t just lies—they serve no purpose in education, only limiting children. Passed down without thought, they reflect habit and fear of change, not truth.

nyaeko.bsky.social•88 days ago

Lying to kids depends on the lie. Teaching sex as just XX or XY oversimplifies nuanced biology, leaving them misinformed and overconfident in false "facts." In contrast, saying you can’t take the square root of -1 can spark curiosity, encouraging them to explore and discover more when they’re ready.

katharinethegeek.bsky.social•88 days ago

I'm a trans math professor, so my poor students get doubly confused.

fresnel.bsky.social•88 days ago

It's super bad when I teach physics for non-science majors and have a momentary lapse and forget I'm talking to an audience that doesn't know any calculus.

flaauws.bsky.social•88 days ago

You can get your phone to do your Maths. You can't get your phone to tell you about trans people: not the truth anyway.

cassandraoftroy.bsky.social•88 days ago

It is a bullshit trope that being trans is a contagious disease.

bcbarber.bsky.social•88 days ago

Yes is pi 3.14 or 22/7 make your mind up

mrrdocherty.bsky.social•88 days ago

There's nothing wrong with teaching kids 'Hey sometimes things are more complex' Like as a cis person I've had to relearn a lot of shit about gender and I'm still pretty dumb about it. If kids are getting a head start 'and' more importantly it helps inoculate them against transphobia. Great

thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social•88 days ago

I could handle pronouncing prehistoric animal names like “parasaurolophus” and “rhamphorhynchus” and the general notion of mass extinction when I was six, I don’t really think “trans people” would have been much of a hurdle.

pymbalsamo.bsky.social•88 days ago

Then they'll just get rid of math.

matunos.bsky.social•88 days ago

From what I've observed, the confused ones are almost universally adults. The kids get it pretty easily and move on.

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