I have a 12 yr. old and 15 yr. old, if my child had been given this list......let's just say I might have lost my religion (as my grandma would say )!!!! I'm so thankful I made the decision to homeschool!! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090630/posts
Wow. It seems like, if all of the kids already knew the words, because their parents use them, then... Just say, bad language will not be tolerated. If you are wondering what words you cannot say then you may make an appt. with the vice principal and ask him a list of words you are wondering about and he will tell you. OR when you say a forbidden word you will be sent to the vice principal. IF you say it again, or another confusing word, then you will be in "official" trouble. My daughter in college says she has one prof. who is quite open about his political feelings and is very derogetory about Christianity and Conservatives. When I mentioned that must make her feel awkward, she stated that she could handle that, she just doesn't speak up in class much...but it is the continuous F* word that really upsets her. It makes it hard to concentrate on the lecture. I told her, for that, she should go to the dean.
When we saw this on the news, me and DH rolled our eyes and said, "Humph! The kids surely giggled upon reading it, as they could have told the teachers what the words were."
Okay. I'm not going to endorse how this school handled the situation. However. Twenty years ago, I was teaching high school in the NYC metro area, in a not-so-bad, not-so-good situation. I learned very quickly that retaining the power to say firmly to a student, "Don't say &^%$# in my class," was one of the more effective classroom control tools I had. I learned that many teachers were squeamish and when a student would swear, wouldn't even write the word on the discipline referral documentation. Once the students assigned to my classes learned that I was there to teach, not police, and that, if necessary, I would not hesitate to make clear what was not acceptable (in no uncertain terms) and that I would not hesitate to document inappropriate behaviors in crystal clear language, most of those types of problems were not an issue - at least not in my classes. Now, I'm not saying that I would have introduced a list of words to a group on middle school kids. That (to me) doesn't seem like a smart strategy with that age. And as a parent...well, here I am, a former (successful) teacher, and my kids aren't in a public school - not even a public/charter homeschool. I think the public schools have an impossible set of tasks on their plate, and this is one area I would not be hasty to criticize. Just some food for thought: if more reasonable measures would have worked, they probably wouldn't have gone to this.
My favorite comment was the one that said (roughly): what idiot thought that telling a group of kids NOT to do something would work?
I had not even heard of this before now. That is awful. I can't believe that they didn't talk to the parents or wait until a child offends and deal with it child by child. Or at least tell them that 'bad' language would not be allowed and that anything they wouldn't say in front of "fill in blank" (preacher, parents, priest, grandmother... whatever fits) don't say here either. I know that kids grow up fast, but sometimes they have a little too much help. JMO - Michelle
What made them think that they had to show the students vulgar words not to use. Kids now days know more vulgar words than some adults. That's just like bringing a gun to school and showing the students how to use it, but then telling them not to use it. What would have really made the teacher blush, is if one of the students walked up to the chalk board and started writing more vulgar words and stated, " Ms. ????? you forgot s@#*@, and don't forget not to use f@*#." I am glad I chose to homeschool.:shock:
If that happened to my children that would have been their last day of school EVER! I'm so glad I don't have that problem because my children are homeschooled and probably will always be since schools are only getting worse.
No matter what excuses the school tries to come up with, this isn't an acceptable way to teach students not to use these words.
