Proponents of abstinence-only sex-education blasted the Ministry of Education's "Swedish paradigm" approach yesterday to reducing the problem of teen pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
Instead of teaching students about contraceptives and safe sex, educators and legislators at an event held yesterday called for Taiwan to take its lead from the US and adopt a system that encourages students to "Wait, think and talk."
The ministry's sex-education booklet, which utilized a comic-book presentation and a direct, informal style to talk about sexually related issues, came under heavy fire from Yang Ko-ping (楊克平), principal at the Cardinal Tien College of Nursing.
The booklet caused a stir when it was first released earlier this year as some legislators found it excessively raunchy.
"I understand that those in the Ministry of Education have good intentions. Underage sex has become a major problem on so many levels in our society," he said at the event hosted by Fu Jen University's faculty of divinity. "However, in trying to curb this problem, the ministry has gone down the wrong road."
Referring to the text titled Youth Experts, Yang complained about the priority of issues in the book.
"Sex is discussed in the first chapter and love in the last. This reverses the natural order of things, and could have the effect of encouraging sex in our junior high school students," he said.
Father Louis Aldrich, head of the faculty of divinity at Fu Jen University said:"it's all about respect for yourself and others."
Aldrich introduced a "promise card" program where cards are given to students who have promised to abstain from sex until marriage, upon which they give the card to their partner as a sign of their commitment.
Father Aldrich credits the US' falling teen pregnancy rate to the rise of abstinence-only programs.
Yao Li-ying (
Yao said he objected to non-abstinence sex education methods such as asking students to practice putting on a condom.
"I consider a lot of this a form of child harassment. We protect our kids from sex at the movies with the classification system, but then we put this type of thing in their textbooks. It's just not consistent," she said.
When asked by a member of the audience whether they were more interested in the "process" of having an abstinence-only sex education program or the "results" of lowering sex related problems in teens, members of the panel had differing responses.
"There can be no result without process," said Hsiao Hui-ying (蕭惠瑛), a lecturer at the Fu Jen University's faculty of divinity.
On the other hand, Yang said "I think the media in Taiwan should bear a lot of responsibility. If only they spent as much time on the problem of underage sex as on the campaign to oust President Chen Shui-bian (
"We can only control the process, not the results," she said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS