Parents Fume over Inappropriate ‘Family Quiz’ Given to Children

By Tom Ozimek
November 14, 2017 4:23 pm Last Updated: November 14, 2017 4:44 pm
Parents of young kids at a Virginia middle school are fuming over a classroom quiz featuring answers like "Boy toy" and "Trophy wife." (Facebook)

Parents reacted with anger and disbelief at a “Family Quiz” given to young kids at a Virginia middle school, containing terms like “Boy Toy” and “Trophy Wife.” The outcry prompted the superintendent of Hopewell Schools to issue a statement on Monday, Nov. 13, promising to take action and acknowledging the learning tool was “not in any way appropriate,” reports WTVR.

A teacher at Carter G. Woodson Middle School assigned the worksheet on Friday, Nov. 10, in a Family & Consumer Sciences class, parents said.

The quiz began innocently enough, with questions like “What do you call the father of your father?” and “What do you call the sister of your father?”

Towards the end, the questions took an awkward pivot:

Question: What do you call it when a married person has a relationship with someone else?

Answer: An affair

Question: What do you call a married man’s girlfriend?

Answer: Mistress

Question: What do you call the much younger boyfriend of an older woman?

Answer: Boy Toy

Question: What do you call the much younger and beautiful wife of an older, wealthy man?

Answer: Trophy wife

A parent of one of the children given the pop quiz was upset about the material and shared a photo of it on Facebook.

“I couldn’t believe that an educator would be giving something like that to an 11-year-old,” parent Tara Sample said to WTVR. “No one in the schools system needs to be teaching my daughter what a mistress is or a trophy wife or boy toy. It’s inappropriate for a school. Period. We send our kids there to learn math, reading, science, and history, not to learn this other stuff.”

Other parents also weighed in with their disapproval.

On Nov. 13, school superintendent Dr. Melody Hackney provided the following statement, according to WTVR:

“We were made aware last evening of the Facebook coverage of the assignment given to students in the Family and Consumer Sciences program at our middle school. We immediately began to investigate. Upon further review, we have determined that a teacher downloaded this worksheet from the Internet. This content was not a part of the current and approved curriculum for this course nor was it in any way an appropriate learning tool for middle school-aged children. This assignment was also not included or referenced in the teacher’s weekly lesson plans that are reviewed and approved in advance of instruction.”

The quiz reportedly came from a website for learners of English as a Second Language and has been available for download since 2011. Hundreds of comments have been entered under the quiz, some praising its author’s unconventional approach, others critical.

In response to a post denouncing it as inappropriate, its creator said, “Please remember that this worksheet may not be appropriate to teach to younger students and can be adapted to your own needs.”