Banned Words & Topics - Politics & Religion

RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

It's just the left trying to protect wimps from politically incorrect words and topics. Wouldn’t want any hurt or unpleasant feelings now would we? Too bad with the list we can't educate either. What's left lullabies?
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Jackwc
Queen Of The Forums

Location: Aaaanywhere Sex: Incredible

I definitely agree with Naples, this is some serious bullshit. How in any way are you protecting a child by keeping them from hearing the word "crime"?

HOWEVER

BEA does not ghettoize "certain" forums. The users that incessantly comment in them do. Now that GARY has left us, more people are coming to comment in the politics forums. Because GARY is no longer there. No one ever commented in the Iron Maiden thread, but it wasn't thrust into the politics ghetto. Why weren't people commenting there? Well, GARY, for the most part. It's a user thing.
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Facetious

Gender: Male
Age: 24
Location: Somewhere you've never been

I don't see the point of this list either. One can't even talk freely about their own religion? And yeah, diseases, crimes and such things might be unpleasant, but WHY ban them? They are an important part of understanding what the world is like. Looks like the people who banned all these words were trying to make sure children would never learn anything. And anyway, so many of these topics are unavoidable, that one wonders why anybody would bother to ban them. They might as well ban school too. Or, as Hayden said, the news.

The thing in the world that I would consider deserving the most to be banned, is censorship itself.

19loveless91
mag. druž. inf

nanny state. that recent south park ep is not far from truth, is it?

Hermes_requite

Gender: Male
Location: Goodlettsville TN

19loveless91 wrote:

nanny state. that recent south park ep is not far from truth, is it?

Truth be told, South Park has more truth than the nightly news.

HigherThanTheSun

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: UK

Whilst I think this list is a little ridiculous and likely the product of some overzealous public worker trying to justify his/her position, the list isn't about subjects to be banned from the entire curriculumn, just exams.

To be honest I think exam makers should be trusted to not raise innappropriate topics in their exams without this sort of guidance, but I can't say it's a bad idea to try to avoid evocative subjects in exams.

Just another case of public officials acting in good faith but going unneccessarily overboard. Not something to be too scared about though.
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junodog4
Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male
Location: Calgary

HigherThanTheSun wrote:

Whilst I think this list is a little ridiculous and likely the product of some overzealous public worker trying to justify his/her position, the list isn't about subjects to be banned from the entire curriculumn, just exams.

To be honest I think exam makers should be trusted to not raise innappropriate topics in their exams without this sort of guidance, but I can't say it's a bad idea to try to avoid evocative subjects in exams.

Just another case of public officials acting in good faith but going unneccessarily overboard. Not something to be too scared about though.

Thanks for addressing this, Higher...

Exams are routinely scoured of potentially contentious words, so as to avoid unnecessary anxiety, or throwing the students off topic or focus. Schools need to ensure the students are being assessed for their knowledge, skills and attitudes towards course concepts and material, not their reaction to language (unless it's course vocabulary).

I teach high school, and almost every term on the list is appropriate in class, and most are addressed in the curriculum. While I don't support the removal of most of these terms from the standardized tests, it's not the same as sterilizing or bubble wrapping the classroom experience. We have moved in that direction in some cases, but in others, our curriculum is becoming more diverse and critical, and we expose the students to more than in previous generations. I think it's a little dangerous when the media grabs a hold of a story like this and people miss the details or context.

That said, I'm speaking from a Canadian perspective. I don't know if my point applies in the USA.

Mr. Shankly

Gender: Male
Age: 52
Location: Auburn, Washington

RFNAPLES wrote:

It's just the left trying to protect wimps from politically incorrect words and topics. Wouldn’t want any hurt or unpleasant feelings now would we? Too bad with the list we can't educate either. What's left lullabies?

Uh, no. I seriously doubt the left had anything to do with banning books like Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye and the Harry Potter series. That was the religious right. I swear to god, I think you live in some sort of alternate universe you've crafted for yourself. I am endlessly astounded by how many things you post that make absolutely no sense.

On this issue though, I agree with you. I am absolutely against censorship, especially when it comes to education. If you really look into it or ask around, you'll find that most left-leaning progressive types are against this kind of censorship. What we don't like is ignorance, which is why we find politicians like Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum and right wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh so abhorrent. To me, censorship = ignorance.

RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

junodog4 wrote:

Thanks for addressing this, Higher...

Exams are routinely scoured of potentially contentious words, so as to avoid unnecessary anxiety, or throwing the students off topic or focus. Schools need to ensure the students are being assessed for their knowledge, skills and attitudes towards course concepts and material, not their reaction to language (unless it's course vocabulary).

I teach high school, and almost every term on the list is appropriate in class, and most are addressed in the curriculum. While I don't support the removal of most of these terms from the standardized tests, it's not the same as sterilizing or bubble wrapping the classroom experience. We have moved in that direction in some cases, but in others, our curriculum is becoming more diverse and critical, and we expose the students to more than in previous generations. I think it's a little dangerous when the media grabs a hold of a story like this and people miss the details or context.

That said, I'm speaking from a Canadian perspective. I don't know if my point applies in the USA.

Teachers in New York know that a good part of their evaluations will rely upon standardized exam scores. This means that a great deal of class time will be spent on test prep. That means that a great deal of class time will not be spent covering any of these topics. While banning these words does not directly impact the curriculum, it is obvious that they will impact it nonetheless.
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junodog4
Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male
Location: Calgary

RFNAPLES wrote:

Teachers in New York know that a good part of their evaluations will rely upon standardized exam scores. This means that a great deal of class time will be spent on test prep. That means that a great deal of class time will not be spent covering any of these topics. While banning these words does not directly impact the curriculum, it is obvious that they will impact it nonetheless.

Not necessarily. Removing words from tests doesn't ban them from the classroom. While standardized tests is a whole different issue (gotta love Bush and his No Child Left Behind Brick wall

) and teachers shouldn't teach to tests (but do out of concern for job security), this does not mean teachers aren't mentioning sports teams or swimming pools to their students. Don't insult the teaching professionals of the USA or even the school officials by thinking that this list is reflected in classroom teacher behaviour. Granted, our society has become alarmist about 'sensitive' topics, and schools are the canary in the coalmine. We should remain vigilant for censorship and sugarcoating in schools. However, this article is sensationalism at it's worst. They have keyed on a stupid government policy and used it irresponsibility to blow it out of context and get reaction out of readers.

You should know better, Naples. Stick to bashing Obama.