Teacher fired for asking student to engage in critical thinking is ‘absolutely insane’

Sky News Digital Presenter Gabriella Power discusses the firing of a teacher who questioned a student's claim that author J.K. Rowling was a transphobe and bigot.

A teacher was fired after his video went viral on X, where he gently challenged a student’s stance on whether Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is a transphobe and bigot.

“It’s absolutely insane, isn’t it the point of education is to teach the next generation how to think critically,” Ms Power told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“Hopefully, this teacher will receive a lot of support and go on to bigger and better things and will continue to educate people in some way.”

“He was so careful language when he was being asked about JK Rowling he was pointing out some pretty fair points.”

[Fatima_Garabandal]

He committed the capital offence of teaching kids to THINK.

[thenarsian]

He needs to sue the school for wrongful termination.

[Space_Logic]

they removed him because they found out, HE IS AN ACTUAL TEACHER.

[unclejezza]

This is disgraceful. An outstanding teacher gets fired. Disgusted.

[NebirosVT]

They fired him because he was actually teaching instead of brainwashing.

[grannygear]

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.” Mark Twain

[rob]

A teacher asked his student to THINK? 🤯
The teacher didn’t make a “remark”; the student made a “remark.”
The teacher asked his student to explain what he meant. That’s it! That’s what he did to get himself fired, folks. He asked his student to elaborate.

This world has lost its damned mind.

[nancylivengood]

He got sacked because he was teaching a student how to think. He is not allowed to teach his students how to think, he is only allowed to indoctrinate them. That is why we are in the sad state of affairs that we have.

[AdornamentDesigns]

That teacher is great. Another school needs to hire him immediately. A great asset to any school.

[TheDuckHasArrived]

Seriously, schools which fire teachers for teaching critical thinking should be defunded and shut down. Period.

[stevenpage]

No way, that proves critical thinking is banned in schools.
Government interference.

[kentl]

Disgraceful. He didn't really voice his opinion. He asked questions of a student. He even said "thought experiment"

[myliutave-yv]

Oh nooo!! A student being forced to think!?!?!?!?!? How disgraceful!

[fish]

The kid came to his own conclusion after listening to what JK said instead of believing what he was told about JK

[energt]

Time to sue. This is illegal and unconstitutional.

[polw]

How dare he teach critical thinking contrary to the Ministry of Truth

[dionnepalmer]

The teacher never gave a personal opinion or told the student his opinion was wrong!!! There are a lot of people who have opinions but aren’t able to explain how they’ve come to that conclusion. That’s all the teacher is trying to teach. Wrongful termination.

[jf]

Educated parents should ask whoever fired him to resign, and pull all support from the school

[melyssagarguilo]

He didn't even tell that kid he was wrong, he just wanted to know the source of his students' information. He's helping them work with information in a constructive way.

[Niiiiiiiila]

As a former high school social studies teacher, this is exactly why I left. Teachers are not allowed to help students learn to think for themselves lest they be cancelled. I hope he gets an even better offer, he didn’t deserve to be let go. Their loss and society’s loss.