Birbalsingh: wokeness rife at fee-paying schools

PRIVATE schools are becoming more “woke” than their state counterparts, Katharine Birbalsingh has warned.

Ms Birbalsingh, labelled Britain’s strictest headteacher, argued that political correctness was becoming worse at “privileged” fee-paying institutions.

The founder of the Michaela Community School in Wembley criticised parents who assume selective education stops their children from being taught contested ideas as fact in the classroom.

“Since you take your children out of a state school and put them in a private school, you think you’ve dealt with the problem,” she told the National Conservatism Conference in London.

“What you don’t get is that private schools are like state schools in terms of culture. In many ways they’re worse.

“If you don’t like the woke agenda, you had better avoid private schools like the plague.”

She went on to warn: “If we don’t get on top of the culture that schools are propagating, we will lose our country.”

The former social mobility tsar challenged audience members on whether they loved their country and British values enough to “tweet under your own name” and “change your child’s school to one that’s less woke” if necessary.

Ms Birbalsingh also claimed she was aware of schools where “some kids identify as furries” – people who enjoy dressing up as cartoonish, anthropomorphised animals.”

In November, podcaster Joe Rogan acknowledged he had spread false information by suggesting American schools had installed litter boxes for pupils who “identify” as furries.

Ms Birbalsingh also lamented that Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love Of All “never mentions duty or sacrifice” despite its “inspirational” message.

“Whitney Houston explained to us in 1986 that children are the future, which she was right about, but then she said we should let them lead the way.

“The celebration of ‘me’ in 1986 was the precursor to the ‘me, me, me’ culture in 2023.”