So I teach elementary school ESL in Korea, and I have gotten that quite a few times. We always have a nice laugh about it in the office.

You are half correct. The movie is essentially a parody of the book. The book is unironic.

The irony here is that Starship Troopers is pretty damn fashy, and a lot of the manosphere leans in that direction as well. So it does ring true, in an odd way.