Let’s not stereotype organisations

I refer to the report “Sexuality workshop carries no religious content: Vendor” (Oct 11), and commend Focus on the Family Singapore for its honesty and humility in handling the matter.

It clarified that the workshop’s curriculum was based on well-researched materials and the views of well-regarded experts. It also disclosed the programme’s feedback ratings, which showed that most of the students had no issues with the content or the facilitators.

However, I am most impressed that Focus on the Family admitted that the workshop was not perfect and can be improved. This shows that the organisation is not bigoted as imagined; in fact, it is open to receiving feedback and improving its services.

While I can understand where Hwa Chong Institution’s Agatha Tan is coming from and her concern about gender stereotyping deserves an audience, her disparaging remarks about Focus on the Family were lost on me.

She brought up the religious element unnecessarily, painted terms such as “conservative” in a negative sense and used words such as “bigotry” against the facilitator and the organisation.

I find these remarks invalid and edging on the stereotyping of organisations, especially when she wrote: “Having a known conservative group preach the non-existence or non-importance of individuals it does not approve of is extremely damaging to the self-discovery process.”

To get a feel about the organisation, she only surfed the Net; she should therefore have known better to withhold her judgment. I am a beneficiary of Focus on the Family’s many services and these have been positive. It invests in and supports families, parents and individuals, beyond counselling divorcees, individuals facing infidelity and troubled teens. So, I am unsure why Ms Tan thinks it preaches the non-existence or non-importance of such individuals. My experience says otherwise.

As much as she is against gender stereotyping — as I am too — may she not fall into the stereotyping of organisations.