Primary school drops word school from name as 'too negative'

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | Jan 02,2009 | By John Bingham

[BreeLee]

Watercliffe Meadow primary in Sheffield is to be known as a "place for learning" after governors decided that the traditional description sounded to "institutional".The £6 million "learning experience", which opens on Monday, will also encourage pupils to wear soft shoes indoors and has got rid of the traditional school bell at the end of lessons, in order to make the place more welcoming."We decided from an early stage we didn't want to use the word 'school', this is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning," said Linda Kingdon, the head teacher.

"One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school. "Instead we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come."We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience.

"There are no whistles or bells or locked doors.....read the rest HERE

[BreeLee]

A new primary school in the U.K. has banned the use of the word "school" in its title because it has "negative connotations". ......Hmmmm, not sure what dictionary they were using, but all I checked were pretty much the same;

A school (from Greek σχολή (scholē), originally meaning "leisure", and also "that in which leisure is employed", "school"),[1] is an institution designed to allow and encourage students (or "pupils") to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools.

Next thing you know citizens won't be allowed to call the attendees, "Students", because if they are forced to "study" than that would hold a negative connotations as well. This is definately and OMG moment, right up there with not saying "Merry Christmas" to people because you may offend someone and wanting to take "so help me God" out of the Presidential Inaguration.

I really gotta ask this question, "So if there's a fire does everyone just scream at the top of their lungs and run randomly in fifty million directions, since there's no bells or whistles"??

[G Larry]

“Institutional”???

Hmmm...perhaps the governors could benefit from extended “institutional” familiarity?

[Peanut Gallery]

ping

[Peanut Gallery]

ping

[alexander_busek]

Likewise, their teachers are no longer to be referred to as "instructors," but rather as "people who help learners learn."

Regards,

[Marechal]

I remember the school system where I lived in the early 1970’s going through this kind of nonsense. Open classrooms, voluntary participation in lessons by students, nonexistent classroom structures, no bells....naturally, the result was mass chaos and no learning.

Think it goes without saying that the wealthy in this community are not sending their children to this school.

In the larger perspective, in both the U.S. as well as the UK, it’s fascinating to me how willing the populations are to accept the systematic “dumbing down” of their educational structures. As an extension, it’s quite interesting to observe exactly what is being dumbed down and how efficiently such efforts are preparing the population for eventual acceptance of tyranny.

[uptoolate]

I just about thanked John Semmens for another great “Semi-Satire News” piece from AZ Conservative, until I saw it wasn’t satire.

OOOPS!

[FlingWingFlyer]

1. There are too many people on this planet.

2. Seventy percent of them have nothing of any importance to do so they come up with this kind of crap!!!

3. Replacing a word with its definition is absolutely a dumbass thing to do.

[nufsed]

It’s clear that these idiots attended schools which were not places of learning.

[Flycatcher]

David Lee, the leader of Wokingham borough council in Berkshire, announced a personal mission to banish jargon including terms like "network model" - meaning map - and "predictor of beaconicity" for a good idea.

That's an excellent predictor of beaconicity.

[PeterPrinciple]

Peter Principal in action award, they are WAY past their level of competence so are trying to appear competent in something that has nothing to do with their purpose.

[randog]

Reality meets ideology in 5.....4.....3....

[SkyDancer]

How about them naming hospital to ‘place of healing’ ...??

[seowulf]

I think the word primary has negative connotations as well. Primary means "first" which implies that there is more learning to do after completing the course of study.

They should instead call this an Ultimate Place of Learning.

[BikerJoe]

In the larger perspective, in both the U.S. as well as the UK, it’s fascinating to me how willing the populations are to accept the systematic “dumbing down” of their educational structures.

What amazes me is that his crap is put into practice without ANYONE saying "What evidence do you have that this actually works?" Change the whole friggin' system nationally without proof that it will work, that's the ticket.

[centurion316]

Hummm, I wonder what the Ministry of Silly Walks will have to say about this. Clearly, some poor village is missing their idiot.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

This is actually pretty funny.

What might they call a sewage treatment plant?

An excrement amelioration facility?
An effluent transmogrification place?
A dynamic effusion collective?

[Peanut Gallery]

a learning facilitator?

[alexander_busek]

a learning facilitator?

Definitely an "indicator of beaconicity!"

You have talent, my FRiend.

By the way, how's work progressing on that 11th edition of the Newspeak Dictionary?

Regards,

[Duck Fan]

I’m suprised they didn’t redesignate it a madrassa.

[BreeLee]

Good analogy and very Good Point!!

[uptoolate]

They should instead call this an Ultimate Place of Learning.

hmmm. I don't know. Ultimate may make other places of learning feel inferior.

Maybe Average Place of Learning?

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.

[Clintonfatigued]

I agree with this decision- school is generally a negative thing.

[seowulf]

They should instead call this an Ultimate Place of Learning.

hmmm. I don't know. Ultimate may make other places of learning feel inferior.

Maybe Average Place of Learning?

Well, then you have another problem. Average would imply that some places of learning were better while some were worse.

That could inspire feelings of both superiority and inferiority at the same time, causing a dichotomy of conflicting emotions.

Perhaps we should call it the Ultimately Mediocre Place of Learning where everyone is equal (but some are more equal than others).

[Elvina]

I taught in a school where there were no bells to “interrupt.” As a teacher, I had to constantly synchronize and look at my watch to make sure I got the kids to their next class on time. Then I had to look out in the hall to make sure others were being let out at the same time. It was a ridiculous situation and made things much more difficult for everyone. This was the same school where the vice-principal (who was called some other non-threatening label—no kidding) told me on my first day when I saw that there weren’t enough books for the students that “We don’t really like to use books here anyway. Real world learning is so much better.” Don’t you love it when the inmates are running the asylum?

[MrsLilac]

All I can say is “corny”. It gets worse all the time the ridiculousness of these people.