- Whalan Public School in Western Sydney has made an apology to parents
- The multi choice homework asked questions about migrants and refugees
- Parents took to Facebook to voice their frustrations over the homework
A public school in Western Sydney has made an apology after parents complained that students were asked in a homework assignment if Australia is accepting too many migrants.
Whalan Public School issued the multiple choice homework, for year 5 and 6, that asked students a number of questions about their views towards migrants and asylum seekers, Yahoo7 has reported.
‘Do you think that the number of migrants coming to Australia each year is too high, too low, or about right?’ the question asked.
The homework that asked students multiple choice questions about their views on migration
Whalan Public School apologised after parents took to social media to vent their frustration
Other questions included ‘Should immigrants be required to learn English?’ and ‘Should Australia accept asylum seekers?’
Parents took to Facebook to share their concerns over the questions, with many of them saying that 11 and 12-year-olds’ were too young to be dealing with the subject.
‘I’m still baffled at the idea of how they intended 11/12-year-olds’ to answer those question,’ one woman wrote.
‘How about they stick to teaching our kids to bloody spell, read and add up?’
‘Should immigrants be required to learn English?’ and ‘Should Australia accept asylum seekers?’ The homework asked
‘I majorly studied this in year 11 and 12, not year 5/6 damn,’ another added.
The school sent out a letter to parents apologising but maintained that the questions were in line with the state syllabus.
‘The intent of the survey was to ask students to reflect upon their current thinking about Australia and its people,’ the letter said.
‘However, unfortunately, the closed questioning style has resulted in some inflamed responses from parents who are questioning the units of work being taught in classroom.’