A student by the name of Agatha Tan has recently posted a letter that she wrote to her school principal in regard to the content of a sex education class that is taught in her school. The complaints mostly stem from content that appears to support traditional gender stereotypes while also diminishing the identity and feelings of women and individuals that are not heterosexual.
An American Christian group that goes by the name Focus on the Family organizes the workshop. If you were an American or familiar with politics in the US, you would probably already understand the reputation and goals of this group. In the US, they are known for having a long history of political meddling and trying to get their agenda taught in schools. With their efforts beginning to falter in the US, it appears that they are trying their hand at influencing the minds of children and citizens here in Singapore and in other nations.
The course is called “It’s Uncomplicated” and the student that posted this letter finds the greatest concern in content that implies that males cannot always understand women when they give yes or no answers. Claiming that sometimes a yes is a no and vice versa. This is obviously a dangerous impression to create in the minds of young men. When any person tells you no, they generally mean no.
The student also went on to criticize content that reduces women to emotionally frail creatures that continually need the support of men and other sections of the workbook that push the idea that the lives and feelings of LGBT groups are invalid or simply confused.
The bottom line is that sex education in schools is supposed to be practical and that it should not work to diminish any group of students in any way. If the workshop is driven by ideology to the extent that Agatha Tan claims, she is right to question it and administrators should reconsider whether it has any place in the classroom.