Several parents’ organizations yesterday staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Education building in Taipei against a public high school’s decision to allow male students to wear skirts to school.
The demonstrators, holding placards that read: “Win Family Back, Reverse Education,” voiced their strong opposition to a decision by New Taipei Municipal Banqiao Senior High School to relax its dress code for students.
They said that gender equality education in the nation is focused on students’ “rights,” but does not promote the idea of “responsibility.”
Photo: CNA
“The boundaries between men and women are being broken. Where does a skirt-wearing male student go when the call of nature comes?” Hung Chih-ho (洪志和) of the Kaohsiung City Parents Alliance said.
“Without boundaries, how will boys treat girls with respect?” he asked.
Exposing one’s chest and back, and other “inappropriate” dress codes does not promote respect, Hung said.
“Children like to do something wacky, to be different from others, to draw people’s attention, but now boys are to be allowed to wear skirts to school, with the school calling the change respect for students’ right of autonomy,” he said.
It is not respect, but skirting responsibility, Hung said.
The protesting groups, including the Taiwan Mothers Shield Alliance and the Parents Association, issued a statement saying the school is misleading children into believing that allowing boys to wear skirts is gender equality.
They also expressed concern that boys might be allowed to use restrooms for girls.
They said that schools should teach students more about values and self-discipline to be able to make the right judgement.
Banqiao Senior High School on Monday confirmed that starting from the new school semester in September, it would allow male students to wear skirts to school, in a move to promote gender equality.
Student Affairs Division head Lin San-wei (林三維) said the school last month scrapped a regulation regarding students’ dress code, which originally stipulated that male students can only wear pants.
Scrapping the rule means that male students can wear skirts to school if they choose to, without facing punishment, while female students can continue to wear either skirts or pants, Lin said.
Asked about the protest, Huang Ching-yi, a deputy division head at the ministry’s Department of Student Affairs, told reporters that Banqiao Senior High School’s decision was made through a democratic process that involved discussions among teachers, students, parents and administrative staff at the school.
The ministry’s guidelines for dress codes state that senior high school authorities can make changes to their dress code and hair policies, as long as they consult students and parent representatives and democratic procedures are observed, Huang said.
The ministry is soliciting public opinion on whether the guidelines should be applied to junior-high and elementary schools, she added.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS