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A Lesson on Bad Words
KGO TV/DT ^ | 10/16/06

Posted on 10/18/2006 1:16:08 PM PDT by Sopater

Oct. 16 - KGO - It's no secret -- many middle school students now swear like drunken sailors. The question is how do you stop it? One Alameda school tackled the problem in a way that has parents hopping mad.

In Shane Vance's 7th grade class, his teacher put up a big piece of paper and had the kids call out every cuss word and racial epithet they could dream up. The idea? Demystify bad language.

Shane's mother Caren was not pleased.

Caren Vance, mother of middle schooler: "He said we got to write down all kinds of swear words in class today. I'm like, 'oh really."

Decorum and the FCC prohibit us from telling you the words that went up in the classroom but they were racially and sexually explicit.

ABC7's Noel Cisneros: "Was it appropriate?"

Judith Goodwin, Lincoln Middle School principal: "It was appropriate as a lesson that is going to support teaching tolerance."

Lincoln principal Judith Goodwin says the lesson's been taught for 10 years. This is the first complaint.

Judith Goodwin, Lincoln Middle School principal: "These are words that are hateful. We have a society where we need to continue to create an atmosphere of tolerance, particilarly amongst our students, of anti-hate and understanding."

Vance, who is also a pediatrician, says maybe parents didn't complain because they didn't know. The children were told not to discuss the lesson outside the classroom, which some interpreted as -- 'don't tell your parents we're swearing in class.'

Caren Vance, mother of middle schooler: "You have a very big problem on your campus. Profanity is socially unacceptable at this age group so if you're finding you have a lot of children of this age group who are swearing, you need to find a more effective way to address it."

Vance lobbied the school for, at the very least, a parental notification letter and an apology and got nowhere. But on Monday afternoon, the district told ABC7 News they will send home letters warning parents of the swearing class and giving them the option of opting out next year when they teach the class again.

Copyright 2006, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: profanity; school; swearingin; tolerance
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To: Hazcat
Hazcat -

You may be right. I never did hear from any angry parents - and my plates are personalized so it's not like they couldn't find me.
21 posted on 10/18/2006 2:10:50 PM PDT by ninergold3 (Jesus Loves Me - This I Know - For The Bible Tells Me So)
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To: Sopater

-Judith Goodwin, Lincoln Middle School principal: "It was appropriate as a lesson that is going to support teaching tolerance."-

Marvelous. What about readin', writin', and 'rithmatic?


22 posted on 10/18/2006 2:13:27 PM PDT by AmericanChef
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To: ninergold3

Swearing in our home is accidental. My husband works at a jail and it kind of becomes part of his vocab. He works very hard not to cuss when he's home, but sometimes he slips. I work at a race car shop. Sometime I slip. My 8 year old son will look at us and say "Mom/Dad, could you please not cuss in front of me?" Makes us feel guilty, then we hug him and his sister and apologize.


23 posted on 10/18/2006 2:39:48 PM PDT by CherylBower
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To: Sopater
Idiots, I cuss like a sailor because I grew up in a home that was very desensitized to using foul language. When you become used to hearing and saying them words you lose your vocabulary and incorporate the cussing into your conversations.
24 posted on 10/18/2006 3:29:08 PM PDT by FancyFrogPants
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To: ninergold3

"Oct. 16 - KGO - It's no secret -- many middle school students now swear like drunken sailors. The question is how do you stop it?"

Put adults back in charge! We dont tolerate bad language in our household and swearing happens in school because of the children who come from an environment where the parents do tolerate it.

Cleary you solved it by moving from a place where the inmates run the asylum to a place where the adults are in charge.

Well done.


25 posted on 10/18/2006 3:45:55 PM PDT by WOSG (Broken-glass time, Republicans! Save the Congress!)
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To: Sopater

We keep hearing about teachers who talk dirty with kids in class who then tell the kids not to tell their parents. That is what child abusers ALWAYS do. "Stick with me kid. Forget about your stupid parents." Gay School clubs have secrecy rules, too.


26 posted on 10/18/2006 4:22:43 PM PDT by Texas Chilli
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To: Sopater

Lowest-common-denominator desensitivity training when what's needed is insensitivity training.


27 posted on 10/18/2006 7:32:22 PM PDT by Dumb_Ox (http://kevinjjones.blogspot.com)
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: DaveLoneRanger
This actually causes conflict in me. On the one hand, I'm sure those kids already know those words inside and out, therefore it's not like they're introducing them to the kids, and demystifying might actually reduce the word usage. But on the other hand...bad words in class? Just not kosher!

I went to Catholic school, and our eighth grade nun, Sister David, gave us a similar lesson. One day, she wrote the F-word on the chalkboard. We all sat there in stunned silence. She said she'd heard some students using the word in the schoolyard. She said no one should laugh because we all should be mature enough to have this discussion. Then she proceeded to tell us the word is an acronym (I forget what the letters stand for) and that its original meaning was entirely different. She then gave us a lesson on all the other words, too.

I'm not sure it helped matters, though.

29 posted on 11/03/2006 9:04:52 PM PST by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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