A pro-establishment lawmaker has suggested that teachers who have never been on a date are not qualified to teach sex education.
Edward Lau Kwok-fan from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong made the comments on Friday during a legislative council panel discussion on updating sex education guidelines for schools, Ming Pao reported.
He said: “Maybe some teachers have never dated before, or they have no experience, then how do they teach [sex education]?”
Because, what’s the point sexual education without a couple of raunchy first-hand accounts thrown into the mix, right? Surely that would make parents more comfortable.
Lau said he believed young people were experiencing an information overload, and suggested the authorities consult experts to help schools prepare teaching materials so that some of the pressure is taken off teachers.
Naturally, some netizens on Facebook had a bone to pick with Lau and his logic.
“If you haven’t died, maybe you shouldn’t be a coroner,” one chimed-in. “If you weren’t fighting in World War Two, then you shouldn’t be teaching history,” commented another.
Others joked that there should be a “Sex Proficiency Assessment for Teachers”, that a prostitute should be called in to teach students about sex, or suggested that maybe there should be a field trip to the one-woman brothels of Shanghai Street.
DAB lawmaker Lau Kwok-fan during a LegCo debate on sex education reform: "Maybe some teachers have never been on a date, or have no experience, so how can they teach sex education?"
Applying that logic, I feel so cheated that all my history teachers weren't World War II veterans pic.twitter.com/d4MwI5LKt8
— Aaron Mc Nicholas (@aaronMCN) February 2, 2018
Other lawmakers who weighed in on the topic include Ray Chan Chi-chuen, who criticized the current guidelines for classifying transgender identity under “abnormal” sexual practices next to cross-dressing, flashing, and voyeuristic behaviour.
Chan, who is the city’s first openly-gay lawmaker, said that transgender issues relate to gender recognition and are not a matter of “personal choice”, and asked if the guidelines can be withdrawn altogether, Stand News reported.
The undersecretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin said the guidelines were a “historical document” and will not be deleted, adding that the curriculum has been reformed with the emphasis on cross-curriculum programmes in civic education.
The authorities’ guidelines on sex education were established in 1997, however they were designed as a reference for schools implementing sex education and “should not be regarded as a curriculum guide”.
Sex education is currently taught as part of the Liberal Studies curriculum at secondary level, and the Moral and Civic Education at primary and secondary level.
But some critics argue that although sex education is part of the curriculum, it is not compulsory.
Last week, a group of medical students at the University of Hong Kong carried out a spot test on campus to see if students could put a condom on a dildo correctly.
For a lot of students, it was the first time they’d practised using a condom, and some did not check the condom for perforations or expiry dates, or did not leave a space or air bubble at the tip of the condom.
In November, a survey by local NGO called AIDs Concern found that of the 112 university students they surveyed, nearly 40 percent said they had had sex on campus, and 80 percent said schools never provided them with information on sexual health.
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