A Texas school district withdrew a chivalry assignment that sparked widespread outrage after images of the class circulated online.
Some parents complained about the English assignment, which included rules about how students at Shallowater High School outside Lubbock should behave around their male counterparts.
“Hear Ye, Hear Ye ladies,” the lesson began. “The ladies … will demonstrate to the school how the code of chivalry and the standards set in the medieval concept of courteous love are carried over to modern days.”
The lesson called for them to dress “in a feminine way to please men” and “to address all men with respect for the title, with their heads bowed and a bow”. He instructed them to “never criticize a man”, “start a conversation” or “complain”. He instructed them to “walk behind men or walk gently, as if their feet were tied”. And they were instructed to cook, clean and “obey any reasonable request from a man. If you are not sure if it is considered reasonable, the ladies can check with their teachers”.
Students can continue their actions at home.
“Parents and adult men can insist on following the rules until the evening,” according to the assignment.
“Outside the classroom, women cannot show intellectual superiority if it offends the men around them.”
Bonus points were offered for each adult subscription, proving that they “were worthy of the gentlemen’s honor”.
A picture of the task was shared on Twitter by local journalist Brandi Addison.
“Here’s a really … interesting … chivalry task,” she wrote in the tweet. The teacher’s name is written on the photo accompanying the post, which has been shared hundreds of times.
In a statement shared with NBC News, Shallowater’s Independent School District Superintendent, Anita Hebert, said that “the assignment has been revised and, despite its historical context, does not reflect our district and community values.”
“The matter was discussed with the professor and the task was removed,” said the statement.
Colin Tynes Lain, an 18-year-old English class student who received the assignment, told NBC’s “TODAY” program that the boys had a complementary assignment.
The boys were to call the girls “lady” and “pay all expenses” when taking them out.
“Gentlemen will get up when a lady enters a room. Gentlemen should bow when greeting a lady,” said the task, which was also shared by Addison on Twitter.
Lain said that the girls’ task was “drafted in a very ordinary way”, but he also defended his teacher.
“I think she was just trying to find a different way to teach us about it,” said Lain. “So the men in our class could honestly see what it was like to be a woman in the 1300s … because that is something very important for you to learn only on paper or to read a book.”
Lain noted that the teacher received criticism last year for the same class. He said students who did not want to participate were allowed to refuse.
