School Faces Backlash Over Controversial Quiz Question About Gender
Sexual identity has become a hot button issue, especially to parents. Social media has made classroom activities more visible to parents and the general public, which has landed many schools in trouble for their curriculum deviation.
Recently, the Farmington R-7 School District issued an apology after a quiz question was exposed to the public, sparking outrage among parents and netizens alike. The question, which the district claimed was from a health class video with embedded questions, asked: “Are there only 2 genders?” The multiple-choice question offered two responses, “no – there is male, female, non-binary and more” and “yes – male and female.”
However, the second answer, “yes – male and female” was marked “wrong.”
In response to the outrage, the Farmington R-7 School District issued a statement, stating in part:
The school district was not aware that this specific video was being used in the classroom. The video is not part of our curriculum lessons and was added by the instructor from an external educational platform. We are dedicated to ensuring that all instructional materials align with our approved curriculum and are implementing measures to prevent this from happening again.
We assure you that we are investigating how and why this video or any other content related to this topic was ever included in this unit of study, as it does not correlate with the standards addressed in this unit. Our priority is to ensure that all classroom content meets approved educational standards.
Following the district’s statement, one netizen asked, “Why do these “accidents” keep happening?”
We reached out to the Farmington R-7 School District regarding this matter but there has been no response yet.
Farmington R-7 School District is not the only school to be thrust into the limelight over the sexual identity issue, particularly regarding the number of genders. In April 2023, 7th grader Liam Morrison was suspended from Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, for wearing a t-shirt that read, “There Are Only Two Genders.”
Morrison and his parents sued the Middleborough school system and administrators, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, in Boston, ruled against them, maintaining that the “the message was reasonably understood to be so demeaning of some other students’ gender identities, there was the potential for the back-and-forth of negative comments and slogans between factions of students.”
Judge David J. Barron wrote that Morrison’s shirt “would be understood—in this middle school setting in which the children range from 10-to-14 years old—to demean the identity of transgender and gender-nonconforming NMS students.”
Despite the ruling, Morrison’s dad and lawyers maintained that he was just airing his opinion about a hot topic and that there were no sinister intentions as the administrators were painting. The issue of sexual and gender identity in schools has not yet been comprehensively addressed even as states pass laws banning or restricting gender and sexual identity discussions. Until then, parents have to remain vigilant regarding materials their children are exposed to in classrooms.
