Recently, a 13-year-old student in Australia was given a failing grade on a school assignment that she refused to complete.
The assignment was to answer a series of questions from the viewpoint of a heterosexual living as the minority among a homosexual community. She refused to answer because she views the assignment as a violation of her religious and moral beliefs. Thus the question is raised: Given the circumstances, is it appropriate for the teacher to flunk the student on this assignment?
I think the student should absolutely be failed on those grounds.
The students were told to imagine life as a heterosexual person living among a population of 10 homosexual people on the moon. The student in question then responded by saying, “It is against my beliefs, and I am not going there.” While many groups and individuals have jumped to the defense of the girl, it seems few have taken the time to inquire what, exactly, about this assignment goes against her beliefs?
Does she not believe that gay people exist? Is it offensive to her morality to contemplate existence as a minority? Do her religious convictions also preclude her from watching TV, going to the movies or interacting with culture at all? No? Then what on earth is so offensive?
My first thoughts after reading about this were to applaud the school system for pushing the envelope and encouraging their students to think about diversity issues. Indeed, a spokeswoman for the public education system in Queensland affirmed that, “The aim of the assignment was to encourage students to think about diversity, culture and belief systems.” She also went on to say, “Schools can offer alternative assessment topics in consultation with parents, if the school is aware of concerns about an assignment.”
However, many people are not seeing what I am seeing. A lot of people are seeing an attack on the girl’s religious and moral values, but I do not follow that argument.
What is wrong with asking students to think about situations that they may or may not find themselves in one day? The school was not even asking the students to imagine themselves as homosexual individuals. No, the school was asking them to imagine how it would feel to be a member of a minority population.
What if the school had asked the girl to imagine that she was an Australian living as a minority among communists? Would that have been a problem? What if she had been asked to imagine being a Christian living in a community of Muslims? Would that have been a problem? Surely, Islam is against her “beliefs” too. How can this kid say that her religious and moral views are being imposed upon when she is only being asked to imagine that she is living among people different from herself? The teacher did not even challenge them by asking them to imagine that they are someone that they are not.
No, in fact, the girl was simply asked to imagine life in a different set of circumstances. It’s obvious to me that the school was not imposing upon her morals. They were imposing upon her bigotry. I cannot say that is a bad thing.
The only thing that should be up for questioning here is the fact that this is being presented to kids who are 13 or 14. As a matter of fact, the girl’s mother said, “When I started to read it, I thought, ‘Oh my God’ … I was shocked by the content. My daughter said she didn’t want to do the assignment because she did not believe in homosexuality and did not want to answer the questions. She was being challenged, but she should not be challenged like that at her age.” Maybe that is true. Maybe 13 is a bit young to be contemplating such issues, but then again, maybe it’s not.
No child is born a bigot. I would think that kids should learn that there are people out there in the world who are different than you. You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to accept the fact that they are people and deserve treatment as such.
Disagreeing with someone is not a bad thing, but refusing to accept that there are actually people out there with whom you will disagree is foolish. It’s time for that girl to learn that standing up for your beliefs doesn’t entail hiding behind them and refusing to interact with people different than yourself. She could have just as easily incorporated her viewpoints into her answers, and everyone would have been better off.
Thirteen seems like a perfect age to learn that lesson.