The National Academy for Education Research should impose more rigorous standards to review textbooks prior to publication, representatives of parents’ associations said yesterday, calling the sex and gender education content of some textbooks age-inappropriate.
“Concepts like a ‘gender spectrum,’ ‘heterosexual hegemony,’ ‘homophobia’ and the Web addresses of homosexual groups should be deleted from textbooks,” said Yang Chun-tsu (楊郡慈), a deputy secretary-general of the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations.
Protesters showed copies of textbooks using terminology they opposed.
“Education agencies should pay more attention to what textbooks schools use and ensure parents know the choices ahead of time,” Yang said, adding that parental membership in schools’ gender equality and curriculum development committees should be guaranteed.
While high-school curriculum guidelines only call for teaching “respect for gender diversity,” most textbook publishers have interpreted that as mandating instruction on homosexuality, with most textbooks including related content, protesters said, displaying examples.
“Our values should be reflected in the curriculum, because we are the ones who care the most about our children and we are by their sides the longest,” said Liang Mei-hui (梁美慧), another deputy secretary-general of the association.
“We are not opposed to gender-equality education, but we are opposed to a curriculum that cultivates homosexuality,” National Association of Students’ Parents chairman Chen Tieh-hu (陳鐵虎) said. “Gender equality education has started to include a lot of inappropriate additions we find worrying.”
“Using the term heterosexual hegemony is an offense to heterosexuals,” said Wang Li-sheng (王立昇), who heads the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations’ supervisory board.
He added that there had been some progress compared with last year’s textbooks, as content about bisexuality had been removed in response to parents’ complaints.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious