By MARTIN JOHNSTON
Senior school students are being quizzed on how likely heterosexual teachers are to prey sexually on children.
In a deliberately provocative teaching programme designed to expose anti-homosexual prejudices, pupils are asked questions including:
* "Ninety-nine per cent of reported rapists are heterosexual. Why are straights [heterosexuals] so sexually aggressive?"
* "The majority of child molesters are heterosexuals. Do you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers, Scout leaders, coaches etc?"
* "Forty per cent of married couples get divorced. Why is it so difficult for straights to stay in long-term relationships?"
The 182-page document is published by the Christchurch College of Education and financed by the Health Funding Authority.
Gillian Tasker, the principal health education lecturer who coordinated the resource's production, said it contained ridiculous statements about heterosexuals that were often made about homosexuals, to get people to see how "crazy" such opinions were.
"Those statements are absurd - they are gross generalisations, they are based on faulty reasoning.
"The purpose is to get people to recognise that a lot of the myths and assumptions made about homosexuals are just as ridiculous."
She said the programme was used only by sixth and seventh form pupils taking health as an optional subject. It was not part of compulsory sex education.
But Avondale College acting principal Warren Peat questioned its value, and said he would want to look closely at it before promoting it in the school.
"If people are trying to get to the bottom of what young people think, there are probably more constructive ways of doing it."
Mr Peat said he would be surprised if many schools used the programme as sixth and seventh formers had little time for anything other than the mainstream curriculum.
The programme, published in September, was "probably not" used widely in schools yet, Mrs Tasker said.
Only a handful of schools so far were offering health as an optional senior subject.
The programme has seven sections - sexuality and gender; romantic love, sexual attraction and desire; sexuality and culture; sexuality and disability; HIV-Aids; the sex industry; pornography.
Its introduction says that over recent decades many men and women have crossed the socially constructed boundaries of gender dominance in workplaces and the family.
"However, narrow, rigid constructs of masculinity, femininity and sexuality still predominate in many environments, sometimes causing harm to the wellbeing of individuals and restricting their life choices."
The aim is to make students think critically, and spark debate that encourages more acceptance of difference, social-justice values, respect for others' rights and care for themselves and others.
Lyndsey Freer, communications director for the Catholic Church, said any programme at odds with the church's values would not be acceptable in Catholic schools.
"They are questions that are challenging but at the same time quite absurd ...
"It sounds to me as if it would not be a programme that would be appropriate in the context of a Catholic college."
She said homosexuality was a much more complex subject than just sexual identity. "We wouldn't propose it as something that is necessarily desirable."
QUESTIONS OF SEXUALITY
- from the school sex test
* Is it possible that heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
* Considering the consequences of overpopulation, could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?
* How easy would it be for you if you wanted to change your sexual orientation, starting right now?
* What have been your reactions to answering these questions?
School quiz targets sex bias
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.