The preamble of an essay question in the college admission examination of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of National Taiwan University (NTU) quoted the Bible, saying that a family should be formed by a husband and wife and that this law facilitates societal harmony. Students were then asked to write an essay about engineers’ social responsibilities based on this law. NTU students have been signing a petition against this test item since March 28. The NTU Student Association even made an announcement condemning it and calling on the school to have the question setter investigated by the Gender Equality Committee in accordance with the Gender Equity Education Act.
The department decided not to award full marks across the board, but made an official announcement to apologize, explaining that the contents of each year’s college admission examinations are known to only a handful of question setters, and, in the spirit of academic freedom, no other professors, including the management faculty, have prior knowledge of the test contents. However, it said that, following this incident, the department would ask its professors and other members to desist from using any language or words that could cause similar problems. The department also said that diversity is NTU’s most laudable feature and it hoped that people couod learn to respect and tolerate one another through understanding and forgiveness.
A user on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) — the nation’s largest academic online bulletin board — posted an article, saying that this test item accounted for 20 percent of the total score but had an introduction that said: “A man has to leave his parents and form a union with his wife, whereby the two become one. A family consists of a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, and this is a law of society and the family. Engineers’ engineering innovations cannot violate the laws of society, just as social harmony cannot go against those laws. Although there are some exceptions, the following question does not take exceptional circumstances into consideration.”
Photo copied by Lin Hsiao-yun, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者林曉雲翻攝
The National Taiwan University Student Council criticized the examiner for abusing his or her power and imposing personal points of view on the test takers, which it said was not only discriminatory and oppressive to certain test takers, but also spiritually tormenting. It said that the school should give its teachers some gender equality education as soon as possible and ensure the appropriateness of its test contents.
Kuo Hung-chi, president of NTU’s Academic Affairs, said this test item was inappropriate and outrageous, and that the school would strongly demand that the author of this test item should refrain from grading the tests.
National Alliance of Parents Organization president Wu Fu-pin said that respect and tolerance are values of education. He said that teachers who include opinions that are controversial and at odds with the medical point of view in their test items violate the code of ethics for educators and therefore should be chastised.
Internet celebrity Lucifer Chu asked on his Facebook page, “Is this an initiation test for the Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan, or is it an entrance exam for NTU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering?”
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
台大機械工程學系的甄選入學筆試考申論題的前言，引述聖經經文，指家庭應由「一夫一妻」組成，且強調是「社會和諧的律」，要求考生據此論述「工程師的社會責任」。台大學生三月二十八日發起連署抗議，學生代表會更發聲明譴責，要求台大應依性別平等教育法，將命題老師移交性平會調查。
台大機械系決定不送分，但發出正式聲明致歉，說明每年大學甄試出題，除了系上少數出題委員知道考題內容外，基於學術自由精神，其他包括校內主管的教授事先都不知情。但今後將確實要求系上教授與同仁，務必避免在任何言語或文字表達時發生類似情況，但也認為多元化是台大最值得讚許的特色之一，希望透過互相瞭解與諒解，彼此尊重與包容。
一名網友昨在Ptt貼文指出，此題占分比高達百分之二十，前言卻寫：「人要離開父母，與妻子連合，二人成為一體，家庭是由一男一女、一夫一妻組成，這是社會與家庭的律，工程師的工程創新不能違反社會的律，社會的和諧不能違反社會的律。雖然有一些例外，但以下的問題不討論例外的情況。」
台大學代會抨擊，出題者濫用出題權力、強加個人觀點於考生，不只是對特定考生的歧視、欺壓，更是精神上的凌遲，校方應加速對校內老師的性平教育及加強命題把關。
台大教務長郭鴻基表示，此題出得不恰當、「太超過了」，校方會強烈要求此命題老師不能參與閱卷評分。
全國家長團體聯盟理事長吳福濱表示，尊重與包容才是教育價值，把爭議性、違反醫學觀點的議題，帶入考題中，這樣老師已違反師道，應予譴責。
「宅神」朱學恒也在臉書評論說：「這到底是護家盟入盟甄選還是台大機械甄試啊？」
〔自由時報記者林曉雲〕
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