Another reason why our kids can't read - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Kuan · #1 01-25-2010, 09:04 AM

A school district actually banned the dictionary

http://carnalnation.com/content/45976/898/school-district-bans-websters-dictionary-containing-lewd-entries

Quote:

School District Bans Webster's Dictionary For Containing Lewd Entries

For some crazy reason people love to ban books. A lot. Especially if the books are about sex. Rather than being excited that kids might actually want to read a book instead of playing violent video games or shooting heroin or whatever, parents regularly pester both public and school librarians, angrily demanding books be pulled from shelves, refusing to return books they find offensive, and suing towns for emotional damages after being exposed to the cover of a book with a gay character.

So.

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that a mother in Menifee, California asked the school district to ban the 10th edition of Merriam Webster's Dictionary after seeing that the book--distributed district wide to fourth and fifth-graders--contains an entry on oral sex. But what is surprising, and terrible, is that the school district decided that removing the dictionary would be a good idea. The Press-Enterprise reports:

Randy Freeman, an elementary school teacher who lives in Menifee, says he supports the district's decision to ban the book. He notes that Webster's is "a prestigious dictionary that's used in the Riverside County spelling bee," but adds that "I also imagine there are words in there of concern.""

The lewd entry, incidentally, defines the phrase as "oral stimulation of the genitals," and refers readers to entries on cunnilingus and fellatio.

The district says it will review the dictionary before deciding how to proceed. “It’s hard to sit and read the dictionary," says Betti Cadmus, spokesperson for the district. "But we’ll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature."

#2 01-25-2010, 09:45 AM

LOL, that's pretty silly. These same kids have access to the internet which contains stuff that I had never even heard of when I was in elementary school. The average elementary school student can find more porn on their phone in 5 minutes than most people have ever seen. I think that horse left the barn a ling time ago.

Txjake · #3 01-25-2010, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

LOL, that's pretty silly. These same kids have access to the internet which contains stuff that I had never even heard of when I was in elementary school. The average elementary school student can find more porn on their phone in 5 minutes than most people have ever seen. I think that horse left the barn a ling time ago.

X100

suginami · #4 01-25-2010, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txjake

X100

I'm not sure I agree.

My 6 year old kids have no idea what porn or sex is. I don't think they even have a clue what the words mean.

Having access to or understanding what sex / oral sex / porn, etc. is, is different for say 5 to 7 year old kids than for 11 to 12 year old kids.

#5 01-25-2010, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suginami

I'm not sure I agree.

My 6 year old kids have no idea what porn or sex is. I don't think they even have a clue what the words mean.

Having access to or understanding what sex / oral sex / porn, etc. is, is different for say 5 to 7 year old kids than for 11 to 12 year old kids.

Agreed, but by the time they are likely to look up "dirty" words in a dictionary, they would also know what to look for online.

BodhiBenz1987 · #6 01-26-2010, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Agreed, but by the time they are likely to look up "dirty" words in a dictionary, they would also know what to look for online.

Agreed. And what they find in the dictionary is going to be a lot less damaging than what they find online or from their friends. Heck, maybe they'll actually learn something useful in the process. I can remember as a youngster looking up, with delight, the "F word" in the dictionary, giggling at the fact that it was there, but not coming out of it knowing anything I didn't know before. It's unlikely any child who had never heard that word would stumble upon it by chance. And if so, they'd breeze right by it, not knowing it was something rebellious enough to repeat.

As far as I'm concerned, banning the dictionary is a nod to lazy parents and teachers who don't want to take the time to actually discuss such matters as sex or foul language with their children. And in that laziness they're taking away a sea of interesting benign language that could expand a child's ability to communicate and think in a creative manner.

aklim · #7 01-26-2010, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Agreed, but by the time they are likely to look up "dirty" words in a dictionary, they would also know what to look for online.

You are forgetting the most important source. The misinformation from their latest BFF.

suginami · #8 01-26-2010, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Agreed, but by the time they are likely to look up "dirty" words in a dictionary, they would also know what to look for online.

That's true.

aklim · #9 01-26-2010, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suginami

My 6 year old kids have no idea what porn or sex is. I don't think they even have a clue what the words mean.

Having access to or understanding what sex / oral sex / porn, etc. is, is different for say 5 to 7 year old kids than for 11 to 12 year old kids.

Yoda: So sure, are you? Do you lock your kids up in a room all day long and restrict their contact with the outside world? This is where the idea that you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex spreads.

Either they can read it from a more clinical source or there is their BFF who can explain it. You choose.

LUVMBDiesels · #10 01-25-2010, 09:50 AM

Oh man...

Maybe we should make a 'lite' version of the 'dikshunary' just for Cali...

I love how they are going to read the whole thing now cover to cover to see how many offensive words are listed

I know, let's ban English altogether and start using NewSpeak

That would be doubleplusgood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Newspeak_words

pj67coll · #11 01-25-2010, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

Oh man...
I know, let's ban English altogether and start using NewSpeak

That would be doubleplusgood.

Indeed. trippleplusmorons.

- Peter.

suginami · #12 01-25-2010, 10:22 AM

Upon careful reading, the school district isn't banning all dictionairies. Just the collegiate version.

Ara T. · #13 01-26-2010, 01:28 AM

Really? Kid culture is so messed up these days anyways, theres no way of protecting your kid unless you home school. 12 years ago, at age 9 we somehow knew what blow jobs were... dont ask me how haha.

aklim · #14 01-26-2010, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara T.

Really? Kid culture is so messed up these days anyways, theres no way of protecting your kid unless you home school. 12 years ago, at age 9 we somehow knew what blow jobs were... dont ask me how haha.

The wife was doing a shift at the OB-Gyn units and she noticed that some of her patients are young. Think maybe 12 yo girls and up.

okyoureabeast · #15 01-26-2010, 12:42 PM

Hehehe

I remember looking up curses in the dictionary in forth grade. My friends and I got a kick out of it for like 5 minutes.
ddd
The real fun was looking up curse words in french!

Je m'en fou and casse-toi! Ah the looks on my french teacher's face