No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
It's hard to beat this for public school system stupidity. From the NYPost:
In a bizarre case of political correctness run wild, educrats have banned references to “dinosaurs,” “birthdays,” “Halloween” and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests.
That’s because they fear such topics “could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.”
Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays aren’t celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism.
Even “dancing’’ is taboo, because some sects object. But the city did make an exception for ballet.
The forbidden topics were recently spelled out in a request for proposals provided to companies competing to revamp city English, math, science and social-studies tests given several times a year to measure student progress.
There's more:
The city asks test companies to exclude “creatures from outer space,” celebrities and excessive TV and video-game use — items that are OK elsewhere.
Homes with swimming pools and computers are also unmentionables here — because of economic sensitivities — while computers in the school or in libraries are acceptable.
City officials also specified that test makers shouldn’t include items that are potentially “disrespectful to authority or authority figures,” or give human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.
Terrorism is deemed too scary. Slavery is also on the forbidden list.
That doesn't leave much to talk about, does it?
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Comments:
Jan '11
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
Oh sure there is. I have a Santorum-inspired topic to talk about ...
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
Rob, I went to parochial school. There were all sorts of words I was afraid of. Most frightening of all is this: "Sister is coming down the hall!"
May '10
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
Cake. All test questions will now be about cake. Just don't mention what type of cake.
Sep '10
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
On the upside, the NYC bureaucrats had the good sense to group "creatures from outer space" and celebrities in the same category.
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
Rob, this is the sort of thing that could only be true. No one would have the imagination to make it up.
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
I remember Report Card day evoking some fairly unpleasant emotions from time to time too. I wonder what their solution is for that?
Aug '10
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
You monster! Don't you know there's an obesity epidemic?!
May '11
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
I can sort of understand the rationale for excising this stuff from math problems. Monumentally dumb, painfully PC, but understandable. But social studies? Slavery? Isn't the whole point of spending thousands of dollars a year to make sure they know this stuff?
Sep '10
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
The article doesn't say, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that these NYC school bureaucrats have PhDs in Education, and get six-figure salaries. The Education PhD is the gateway for clueless administrators of this ilk.
Apr '11
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
We need to get some conservatives into the education system. This is what happens when you allow a bunch of soft kneed leftists to run things...
May '10
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
It is good to see that the NYC school system is now taking the concerns of creationists into consideration....
Feb '12
Re: No Swimming Pools or UFOs in New York City Schools
LOL
Misthiocracy
You monster! Don't you know there's an obesity epidemic?! · 13 hours ago