A few days ago, a special textbook called Flower Girls made its debut. Why was it so special? It’s because as the name indicated, these textbooks are designed only for girls and touch upon topics exclusive to them.
Published by Shanghai Educational Publishing House, the book is now being used by grade four and grade five girls in some of Shanghai’s primary schools. Last year, the publishing house also published a similar textbook exclusive to boys called Little Men.
At first sight, Flower Girls may strike you as an ordinary textbook focusing on sex education, but that’s not all. In addition to sex education, the book also covers subjects like how to get along with BFFS, sex discrimination and self-awareness.
As a matter of fact, this is not the first time textbooks dealing with sex education have been published. Over the years quite a few have made their appearance, but most of them were withdrawn since many parents found the content too explicit for kids to read.
Textbooks withdrawn at the demand of some parents
Flower Girls takes note of parents’ concerns. Instead of showing illustrations of genitals directly, the book handles the topic in a milder way. In the certain chapter, the book provides some scenarios (i.e. being stalked by male stranger at night) and teaches girls how to protect themselves.
“We want to discuss the sensitive topics in a different way,” says Xu Jing, chief editor of the textbook, who is also the headmaster of Shanghai Jing’an Zhabei No.1 Central Primary School. “It’s easier for parents to accept. Also, students will show more interests.”
Many citizens have shown great support for the book, saying it has done a great favor for parents.
“Wish I had this textbook when I was a kid.” - @longlong
“It’s meaningful and necessary. Hope more schools and parents will use the books” - @frankie
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However, since the textbooks are currently only used for selective courses, there are also netizens doubting its practicability and effectiveness.
“Now the kids have so many courses to take. I doubt the schools will really teach this course.” - @shallowshadow
“Is it too much to set textbooks for boys and girls respectively?” - @qingshibanjie
Do you think the textbooks will bring any changes? How do you handle the problem of sex education? Let us know your thoughts.
[Images via The Paper]
