Calif. school district bans dictionary: 'A number of referenced words are age-inappropriate'

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

A Southern California school district has pulled dictionaries from classrooms because a parent complained when a child came across the term "oral sex."

District officials said Friday that the Menifee Union School District — which serves 9,000 kindergartners through eight graders in Riverside County — is forming a committee to consider a permanent classroom ban of the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

A memo from Assistant Superintendent Karen Valdes acknowledged it is a respected resource but district officials found that "a number of referenced words are age-inappropriate."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/01/23/state/n211828S82.DTL&tsp=1

[browntyphoon]

1. And people wonder why our kids are so stupid, can't get jobs and end up losers

[SPedigrees]

17. +1,000,000 etc nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I'm a people and I don't think our kids are stupid

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Next lets ban books altogether

Damn when people can get more stupid.

Though there are a few LESS complete dictionaries.

[paulsby]

3. is there a grade school dictionary they can use

vs. a "collegiate dictionary"?

[Luciferous]

18. Yep, my daughter has a children's dictionary

Why can't they just replace them with different ones?

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Because then they wouldn't be able to wring their hands and act all hot and bothered

[emilyg]

60. They can and should.

[Posteritatis]

61. Why? To protect them from definitions of words they're looking up anyway? (nt)

[emilyg]

67. They'll learn soon enough. Elementary

school is not the place.

[Posteritatis]

70. So to protect them from words they're looking up anyway, then.

I'm curious about the whitelist approach this suggests (and the idea that eighth graders are "elementary").

[emilyg]

71. The article said Elementary School. Not

all are looking this up. Why are we trying to make them grow up so fast. Childhood is short as it is. Enjoy your day.

[Posteritatis]

72. The article is talking about a k-8 district, but please, continue your moral panic. (nt)

[emilyg]

74. I'm too old to panic

over anything. I do believe each parent has a right to choose what's best for their child. 'bye

[Posteritatis]

75. So you think eighth graders should lose their dictionaries?

Because a first grader in another school might look up the wrong word?

Sorry, but that's enough of a common sense breakdown that I refuse to consider it anything other than a kneejerk panic reaction.

And each parent doesn't have a right to choose what's best for everyone else's kid, even if you seem to think you can make that choice for them.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. There are literally hundreds of them

Sure seems like a better solution, doesn't it?

[paulsby]

29. works for me

i'm all for oral sex, but i'm not super keen on having my 1st grader (if i had one) reading about it

[Behind the Aegis]

31. I think the bigger question might be...why was the 1st grader looking up "oral sex?"

On edit: seems the article claims the 1st grader "came across" the word.

[paulsby]

34. riiiiiiiiight

reminds me of the old eddie murphy routine

"dr, i have this friend who..."

[LWolf]

53. There are plenty, and I have a bunch in my classroom.

I also keep collegiate dictionaries. "Grade School" dictionaries don't have as many words. Obviously, since they don't have all those "bad" words, lol. That means that students often can't find more advanced words in the dictionaries for younger people. The latest Webster's Collegiate has 225,000 entries. The Webster's Intermediate, intended for middle school, has 70,000 and doesn't include as much information for each word.

We don't limit vocabulary development because they might run into a "bad" word. The collegiate dictionary provides word origin, which is part of Language Arts curriculum for my 6th - 8th graders. The others don't.

Of course, the print dictionaries are always a last resort, anyway. They'd rather use online dictionaries. We just don't have enough 'puters for all of them to have access whenever they need it.

[Xithras]

76. Yes, from Mirram Webster no less. The school district does hold some fault here.

The Collegiate dictionary is an adult dictionary designed for students and adults of a college reading level. Mirriam Webster actually makes dictionaries in the following levels: Childrens, Elementary, Intermediate, and Collegiate. While it's easy to get flustered over this, there is a valid question as to why the school purchased college-level dictionaries for elementary school students, when the same publisher offered another version of the dictionary that was more age appropriate for the students of those grade levels.

We're not just talking about inappropriate words either. Everything from the format, to the comprehensibility of the explanations and pronounciation keys are adjusted for younger readers to make them more accesible and usable.

Still, I think the parents are overreacting. Just have the schools replace their classroom dictionaries with the proper ones for that age level, and relegate the collegiate dictionaries to the reference desk in the library for students who need them. Banning them outright is rather dumb (some kids do read ahead of level, and might need something more advanced).

[elleng]

4. NOTHING LIKE PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION!!!!

:crazy: :wtf: :dunce:

:rofl: :rofl:

[bluestateguy]

5. One parent complains and a whole policy has to change

One parent.

[Posteritatis]

63. They're terrified the parent will sue, so s/he gets to define district policy

It's why so many school districts drop things up to and including course textbooks on the first complaint.

[BlueJazz]

6. Very Intelligent move because there's absolutely no way that "Fuck" "Cocksucker"...

.."Mother-Fucker" "Shit" or other foul language could possibly be found on the Web.

[Quantess]

11. That's what they call each other at the bus stop each morning.

[Obamanaut]

14. Or on the stalls in the restrooms. nt

[niyad]

41. or heard in the halls, on the bus, etc.,

[emilyg]

73. My elementary school grandson does

not have unsupervised internet.

[Terra Alta]

7. banning dictionaries from schools?

I've heard it all now.

Kids are going to find out about oral sex sooner or later... ya can't keep 'em shielded forever. Might as well find out about it in school.

[immoderate]

48. They'll find out about oral sex, but they won't know what to call it...

or how to spell it right.

--imm

[Posteritatis]

62. And I see at least three defenses of it in this very thread. (nt)

[lunatica]

8. The parent just stumbled on the words 'oral sex' by accident no doubt

That so that no one will notice!

[Selatius]

9. This nation is run by a bunch of puritanical and sexually repressed morons. nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. The nation might be, but most school districts aren't.

Having worked within the ed system in So. Cal., I am happy to say that conservatives/RWers are few and far between.

[niyad]

42. sorry, I give you kansas and texas as examples of districts run by idiots.

[PDJane]

10. Oh, please..........

That's utterly ridiculous, and incredibly stupid. I cannot understand banning a dictionary for any reason. Hell, be grateful that the kids might want to use the damn thing. This isn't even funny anymore.......

What is in the water down there?

[givemebackmycountry]

12. Good thing the little fucker didn't "come across" the term "anal sex."

Shit, they would have had to shut down the entire Southern California school district.

[blogslut]

13. When I was nine

I sat listening as my sister told my mother about the plotline of some movie where a character is raped.

I ask "What's rape?"

Mother pauses for a moment then says: "Go look it up in the dictionary."

After I looked up the word "rape", I had to look up the definition for the term "carnal knowledge" because it was the late sixties and dictionaries were more bashful then.

I'm not sure what my point is except that no one should ever be afraid of words.

[lunatica]

15. The dictionary is just like the bible

It has everything. violence, love, faith, obsession intrigue and sex, but no one bans bibles.

[PDJane]

20. My father gave me that answer.....

the carnal knowledge without consent answer.....when I was seven. It took me several hours in the town library to figure out what he was talking about. Sort of.

Mind you, my father was also the man who told me that if I gained an excellent vocabulary and learned to use it well, no-one would ever misunderstand me. I'm afraid it was a prevarication.

[blogslut]

22. Ha!

I hear that!

[RC]

25. Yeah, but you can be misunderstood in style and no one will know because

they can't understand you when you use your sesquipedalian style of speaking.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. I wonder how many are going?????

Prevarication... what is that?

Go to the dictionary kiddies.

[Fumesucker]

49. Indubitably. n/t

[pipi_k]

37. I think I was about the same age when

I discovered the joys of words and language and how neat it was to be able to look stuff up in my own classroom "Websters Abridged Edition" dictionary. Late 50s - early 60s...dictionaries were even more shy then...

I was forever looking up words, and just sort of browsing through it whenever I finished a class assignment and had some free time.


Funny to think of now...I think the raciest word I read in my dictionary was "abdomen".


:7

[niyad]

40. did you ever see "auntie mame"? in one scene, she is telling patrick, after he has asked her about

a word that he didn't understand, that he was to write down every word he didn't understand, and she would explain, or they would look it up in the dictionary. so, later that evening, he hands her the list--she looks at it (she had been hosting a party) and says, "goodness, some of these words you won't need for years".

if I were a parent in that school district, I would have their heads for that kind of stupidity. of course, I speak as one who, in various language classes, went through the dictionary looking for what I termed "all the really useful words", much to the dismay of my instructors.

[blogslut]

54. Life is a banquet

And most poor suckers are starving!

:hi:

[Book Lover]

65. I have a similar story

My mom, sister and I were watching "MASH." The scene was the surgery, and someone asked Hawkeye why he was in Korea. He said that he was over there to study the effects of VD. I turned and asked my mom and sister what VD meant. They had one of those "you tell her," "No, *you* tell her," moments, then my sister turned and said in a loud funny voice, "It's a disease you get when you have *sex*." I was like, "OK, and went back to the show.

If only they knew they were scarring me for life.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. OMG I thought for sure it would be The Onion

[PJPhreak]

27. I read this to my Gf and her response was...

"Oh for Fucks sake" LOL!

[PDJane]

28. I read it to Miss Agnes......

my 83-year-old mother. Her response was, "Well, that's a fine way to ensure that your children don't learn anything. What is WRONG with these people?"

[Blue_Tires]

30. so one ignorant prude parent flings mentally repressed shit and the school board caves

almost immediately??

[Behind the Aegis]

32. This is nothing more than a continuation of the "dumbing down" of the US.

I thought this was from The Onion at first. On the upside, I guess they won't have to do "oral reports" because if they don't know what it is, they won't be able to look it up in the 'filthy' dictionary. :eyes:

[JDPriestly]

33. But

looking up those words is the main reason kids consult the dictionary.

What normal 12-year-old is going to actually use a dictionary that doesn't have the age-inappropriate words in it? Isn't that what being 12 is all about?

[bridgit]

35. Humbug! Utter and complete: Hogwash!!

[slay]

36. It's just fucking WORDS!

These people are stupid with fucked up priorities. Banning the dictionary? I just have two words for ya - Fuck You. Sheesh. I mean god forbid kids actually LEARN something at school. I wonder if this idiot would rather their child read about "oral sex" in Penthouse or Hustler - oooh look - graphic illustrations! :facepalm:

[ddeclue]

38. What's next? Banning the alphabet because those letters can be used to spell dirty words?

:eyes:

[niyad]

43. geez, don't give these cretins any ideas!!!

[The Straight Story]

39. First they took out the bibles, now the dictionary - they just don't like words

:rofl:

[Ishoutandscream2]

44. Well that's backwards Texas and the south for ya

Oops, wait a minute...

[WolverineDG]

45. aw, c'mon

half the fun (okay, most of it) of looking stuff up in the dictionary was looking up the dirty words!

dg

[spanone]

46. the book banning nazis just never go away

[RedCappedBandit]

47. ... LOL. We're doomed. nt

[madmom]

50. Wait a minute..oral sex is TWO words. What word were they really looking up to see the

"term" oral sex?

[joe_sixpack]

51. Parents should be happy if their kids are opening up a dictionary,

even if it's to read up on dirty words, as I remember doing myself. In the process I discovered all sorts of other interesting, non dirty words that piqued my curiosity and fueled my love of reading. I always thought it was fascinating, what the "official,scholarly" definition of "fuck" might be.

[ShadowLiberal]

52. I don't like my kids learning about Reagan, can we ban all history books mentioning him to?

Seriously, if you ban dictionaries for the reason of a parent complaining about it, then what's to stop other subjects from being banned if enough parents complain about it in ways similar to what I just said about Reagan?

"Can be we ban Algebra, it makes my kids feel like morons when they get F's on their tests in that subjects"

"Can we ban all that Liberal history and only talk about the glory days for conservatives, like the days of McCarthyism rooting out communists and the 1994 republican revolution? Oh wait, you mean you're already doing it in my Texas school district, great!"

"Can we ban science, it's causing my kids to think heretical thoughts that question my religious beliefs, especially those evolution lessons, and lessons about the earth being round and orbiting the sun, religious text knows better then scientists"

[Neurotica]

55. American Heritage College Dictionary is guilty too-wonder if Roget's

Thesaurus contains anything objectionable...!

Encyclopedias might be suspect as well.

[renegade000]

56. you know dictionaries are gateway books...

If you let them read dictionaries, the next thing you know they'll be cracking open copies of all those satanic screeds like On the Origin of Species, start believing in evil-lution, go to a godless university, get a PhD, and otherwise have their lives completely destroyed.

[L0oniX]

57. ...and when they use Google to find the definition of oral sex what will they find?

Oooops ...gotta ban Google too.

[lpbk2713]

58. I would have expected that from Flawda

... but from SoCal comes as a surprise.


(no play on words intended) :eyes:

[MorningGlow]

64. My brother lives in Riverside

IIRC, Riverside County is damned red.

[Lorien]

66. Don't you mean Flori-duh?

At least that's what those of us who live here call it. ;-)

[justabob]

59. surreal

banning a dictionary.... in a classroom? I get it that the 'collegiate' version is not needed in kindergarten, but really.... This is one of those headlines that just makes you shake your head.

[alp227]

68. "Reality has a well-known liberal bias" --Stephen Colbert

After reading this, I now think that all the Parents Television Council members are so much more sane than that dumb hick.

[tonysam]

69. American Heritage and Webster's New World dictionaries RULE

I spent many hours going through these books finding all the words I needed to know to be able to function in life.

[brooklynite]

77. UPDATE: Banned dictionary to return to Riverside County school

from the Los Angeles Times:

After being pulled from the shelves for what some saw as racy content, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary may have the last word in Menifee.

A committee of parents, teachers and administrators decided Tuesday to return the dictionaries to the fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms at Oak Meadows Elementary School just days after they were removed over complaints about entries detailing references to various types of oral sex.

"The dictionary will go back to the classroom but the parents will be given the option to determine if they want their kids to have access to that dictionary," said Betti Cadmus, a spokeswoman for the Menifee Union School District in southwest Riverside County. Students will take permission slips home and parents who don't want them to use Webster's 10th Collegiate Edition can opt for alternative dictionaries.

If any parents don't know the definition of "access" and "permission", maybe they could look them up in a dictionary.....