Seriously.
Recently, for Lit we get to play a song of our choice and talk about the lyrics for a poetry thing we're doing and the teacher said "ABSOLUTELY NO SWEAR WORDS PERIOD FOREVER"
What I don't get it, why?
The reason that he gave is that "It might offend someone" but who the forget gets offended by swear words?
Let's say I walked into a typical classroom full of people I know and said "forget". Just the word, not pointed at anyone or anything. I just walked in and said "forget" loud enough for everyone to hear it with no tonal inflection. Just as even if I were saying "Hello."
The teacher would obviously get mad, but he/she has heard that word before. They'd probably get offended because they're supposed to be, but every person in the administrative staff have heard and used it, so why?
The other students probably wouldn't have a problem with it, unless they've never heard the word "forget" used, which I find unlikely. But the kids that have heard it have no problem using or hearing it, but the teachers get offended on behalf of the kids on behalf of the parents who have used and heard it, but they get offended because their children are hearing it, but their kids are fine with it and if they're not they need to grow a thicker skin and not be sheltered all the time.
FINALLY we have the school entity as a whole getting offended because it's a "learning institution" but those rules were created by people who know what the word is and have used it and they're trying to protect kids who have heard the word and use them behind the backs of the people that made the rules to protect them simply because the rules are there.
All this sheltering about swear words really pisses me off. The more a child of any age hears the word the less shocked they are each time they hear it, and if they understand that swear words are supposed to carry a heightened sense of meaning and emotion, then they can use it less and not freak out when it is used.
Which basically brings us back around to the whole issue of kids wouldn't be so frail and weak if we didn't protect them as much, which falls under a larger umbrella of overprotective parents, something that has always pissed me off.
Thoughts?
