Pendulum Swung

Over the weekend there was a new story about a Year Nine girl who was failed for refusing to complete an assignment that asked students to imagine they were the only heterosexual living in a colony of homosexuals.

(Full version)
Short version:

A 13-YEAR-OLD student was failed after she refused to write an assignment on life in a gay community, because of her religious and moral beliefs.

The girl was among a class of 13 and 14-year-olds asked to imagine living as a heterosexual among a mostly homosexual colony on the moon as part of their health and physical education subject.

They had to answer 10 questions, including how they felt about being in the minority and what strategies they would use to help them cope.

Sources said the students were told not to discuss the assignment with their parents and that it was to be kept in-class.

They said many of the students were uncomfortable with the subject matter or did not understand the questions.

The 13-year-old girl instantly refused to do the assignment on religious and moral grounds.

"It is against my beliefs and I am not going there," she told the teacher, who responded by failing her.

After a series of discussions between the school and her mother, it was suggested the girl would be better off leaving the state education system and attending an independent school.

She said the school claimed it was powerless to change the curriculum.

Bronwyn said the school seemed more concerned about how parents found out about the assignment.

"That's what concerns me most . . . the parents had no opportunity to even see the assignment," Bronwyn said.

All I can say is, WTF? Find the middle ground people...