Parents and Residents Are Outraged by This High School Biology Quiz Question

Some parents and residents in Oklahoma are outraged over a question that high school biology teachers recently posed to students as part of a non-graded assignment aimed at starting a conversation about genetic mapping and disorders.

An Edmond Santa Fe High School quiz asked teenagers to consider what they would do if they found out that their unborn child had the gene for dwarfism, defined by the Mayo Clinic as, "short stature that results from a genetic or medical condition."

The quiz offered up three multiple choice options for dealing with the dilemma.

"You’ve found out that the child you (or your wife) carries has the gene for dwarfism," the question read. "A new therapy exists that may repair this gene before the child is born.  What do you do?"

Students were allowed to either: allow the child to be born and accept who he or she is, attempt the new therapy to repair the gene — or have an abortion (worded as "terminate the pregnancy").

Critique followed news that the question was administered, with some parents and residents claiming that it was not appropriate for a school setting and should be a conversation that is, instead, had in the home; others, though, argued that there are no right answers and that it is good to get kids thinking about these issues, KFOR-TV reported.

"This is not a subject I want my child discussing in class," one person wrote on the Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education Facebook page, according to the outlet. "Ethics and beliefs are for home, not school."

Another added a different view: "From someone who is married to a biology teacher… whether it’s right or wrong, it’s teaching our kids to think."

Edmond Public Schools spokesperson Susan Parks-Schlepp said that the assignment, which was administered in five classes, will be reviewed by officials to assess whether it is appropriate, but affirmed that kids were not forced to participate and that the assignment wasn't graded.

"There was no punishment for any of the choices that they circled," Parks-Schlepp told KFOR-TV. "It was meant to be a discussion."

She also explained that the district believes in teachers' abilities to be professional, adding that educators' personal abortion views were not brought into the discussion.

"At no time did the teachers try to interject any of their personal beliefs, nor try to sway a student," Parks-Schlepp said.

What do you think? Let us know below.

(H/T: Live Action News)