Today's award goes to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, which appears to have planted both its bureaucratic feet firmly in its institutional mouth.
It may be an innocent enough racquet sport, but Hong Kong's Education Bureau has unintentionally given badminton a whole new meaning.
In teaching materials it released last week, a module titled adolescents and intimate relationships for Secondary Year 3, suggested that teenagers who wanted to have sex with each other could "go out to play badminton together" instead.
The materials also include a form called "My Commitment" aimed at getting "young lovers" to attest that they would exercise "self-discipline, self-control, and resistance to pornography".
The new materials have raised eyebrows and attracted criticism for being "out of touch". But officials have defended the decision.
Meanwhile social media has been flooded with jokes centered around "playing badminton".
"FWB [Friends with benefits]?? Friends with badminton," read one comment on Instagram that had more than 1,000 likes.
"In English: Netflix and chill? In Cantonese, play badminton together?" read a Facebook post which was shared more than 500 times.
Even Olympics badminton player Tse Ying Suet could not resist a comment.
"Everyone is making an appointment to play badminton. Is everyone really into badminton?" she asked on Threads with a smirking face emoji.
. . .
Local lawmaker Doreen Kong said the documents showed that the education bureau did not understand young people. She specifically criticised the badminton suggestion as unrealistic.
"How could they borrow a badminton racket on the spot if it happens?" She asked.
There's more at the link.
I suppose the effort was well-intended, but it's reduced the local teenage population to giggles, innuendo and snarky comments. Some of them are very funny indeed. The whole affair has made quite a racket (you should pardon the expression). I suppose it's inevitable that I read about this over the Net - the internet, that is, rather than the badminton net! As for the use of shuttlecocks . . . the less said, the better!
Peter
4 comments:
You'd think they'd want more sex since the native population is shrinking.
Well, back in the day, Nancy Reagan's solution to drugs was 'Just Say No'. I don't recall how successful the campaign was, but it was realistic. Didn't cost anything - just relied on trusting individuals to decline drug use.
Young adults are full of raging hormones and these individuals have a hard time controlling their 'calls to action'. Doing Adult Stuff means I'm a Grown Person. Especially when you are "In Love", lol.
I live in Hong Kong. The local Education Bureau is not known for moving with the times or for being particularly imaginative. In matters of sexual morality, I suspect that's not entirely a bad thing. You won't have a very long career trying to queer or trans the kids in your class in Hong Kong, I can guarantee that.
Also should look up the Hong Kong PISA Scores and compare with USA. God's Truth is that the far superior performance is more about RACE and IQ genetics than about Pedagogical Praxis, but CivNat (funny, the spell check wants to change it to Civet -- which Chinese have been known to eat) Boomers will find it easier to mentally process the Three Rs Emphasis which is very strong in East Asia.
Westerners of a certain age think of table tennis as being the proverbial Chinese sport, but Badminton and Basketball are far more popular.
The main problem with Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign, is the outright rudeness of it. I was there, I graduated high school in 1988, and my parents taught me to say "No, thank you". Nancy always was a rude bitch.
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