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War on Words
Holy hell, NYC. Way to not educate kids.
Dennis Walcott, Department of Education, Emily Smith, Forbidden Words, Marla Diamond, Words
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) ? George Carlin is rolling over in his grave.
The New York City Department of Education is waging a war on words of sorts, and is seeking to have words they deem upsetting removed from standardized tests.
Fearing that certain words and topics can make students feel unpleasant, officials are requesting 50 or so words be removed from city-issued tests.
The word ?dinosaur? made the hit list because dinosaurs suggest evolution which creationists might not like, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported. ?Halloween? is targeted because it suggests paganism; a ?birthday? might not be happy to all because it isn?t celebrated by Jehovah?s Witnesses.
Julie Lewis? family celebrates Christmas and Kwanzaa, but she told CBS 2's Emily Smith she wants her children to appreciate and learn about other holidays and celebrations.
?They?re going to meet people from all walks of life and they?re going to have to learn to adjust,? Lewis said.
Words that suggest wealth are excluded because they could make kids jealous. ?Poverty? is also on the forbidden list. That?s something Sy Fliegal with the Center for Educational Innovation calls ridiculous.
?The Petersons take a vacation for five days in their Mercedes ? so what? You think our kids are going to be offended because they don?t have a Mercedes? You think our kids are going to say ?I?m offended; how could they ask me a question about a Mercedes? I don?t have a Mercedes!?? Fliegal said.
In a throwback to ?Footloose,? the word ?dancing? is also taboo. However, there is good news for kids that like ?ballet?: The city made an exception for this form of dance.
Also banned are references to ?divorce? and ?disease,? because kids taking the tests may have relatives who split from spouses or are ill.
Some students think banning these words from periodic assessment tests is ridiculous.
?If you don?t celebrate one thing you might have a friend that does it. So I don?t see why people would find it offensive,? Curtis High School Sophomore Jamella Lewis told Diamond.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the DOE is simply giving guidance to the test developers.
?So we?re not an outlier in being politically correct. This is just making sure that test makers are sensitive in the development of their tests,? Walcott said Monday.
To which Fliegal responded: ?It?s all of life! I don?t know how they figure out what not to put on the list. Every aspect of life is on the list.?
There are banned words currently in school districts nationwide. Walcott said New York City?s list is longer because its student body is so diverse.
Here is the complete list of words that could be banned:
Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
Bodily functions
Cancer (and other diseases)
Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
Celebrities
Children dealing with serious issues
Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
Crime
Death and disease
Divorce
Evolution
Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
Gambling involving money
Halloween
Homelessness
Homes with swimming pools
Hunting
Junk food
In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
Loss of employment
Nuclear weapons
Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
Parapsychology
Politics
Pornography
Poverty
Rap Music
Religion
Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
Rock-and-Roll music
Running away
Sex
Slavery
Terrorism
Television and video games (excessive use)
Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
Vermin (rats and roaches)
Violence
War and bloodshed
Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.
Re: War on Words
Rock and Roll Music?
Did I just step back into the 50s? That evil Elvis Presley and his devil music!
oh come on, this is really an article from The Onion,
isn't it?
There's actually good reasoning behind some of the words, but I think they went overboard.
Swimming pool is actually a good example of a good word to remove, not because it traumatizes anyone, but b/c it gives a socioeconomic advantage.
I remember "snow" was used as an example in a lecture I heard about how standardized tests can unintentionally favor one group over another. Sitting next to me was a friend who had never seen snow, and he was 19. Sure, he knew what it was, but figuring that out in the context of a question unrelated to snow knowledge would theoretically disadvantage him over someone from a snowy place.
Oh man, I have a really hard time with all of these.
Regarding the snow example, makes perfect sense. But on the other hand every single person has different sets of experiences right? So if we really are justified in removing something like snow or swimming pool I would think just about everything is game then.
Ocean- Someone living in Oklahama is disadvantaged
Crime- wealthy, upper class people are disadvantaged
Walk- disabled people are disadvantaged.
the list goes on and on and on and...
Perhaps we should also remove all big words, lest they rattle the students' wee brains.
Let's say it's a reading comprehension test. The actual words in the story aren't what's being tested. So, if you have a scenario that's more easily understood to some people (like a day at the beach, or a day on the farm), it's going to separate kids for something completely unrelated to the actual skill being tested.
Slavery shouldn't be used in a math question, but those idiots in Georgia did just that. Granted that was for a homework assignment, but it's not appropriate for a state test, either.
Hopefully, this list limits words only outside of the proper context. I'll be all up in arms if slavery, war, or evolution couldn't be mentioned in the proper subject context.
Here's an example of how trauma should be avoided when it's not relevant.
Sibil's mom died of cancer. What is the object of the preposition in that sentence?
I'd be crying at my test, and another 10 year old would answer cancer and move on.
I agree. When I first read about this, I half expected a link to the onion, but I could see how a student might focus on the unfamiliar peripheral details in a question rather than what the question is actually asking. I'm not entirely sure how the school board decided which words made the list, but I appreciate efforts to reduce bias in testing. It's not unlike studies suggesting that having students provide information about their race influences standardized test results.
Ok how about this then:
The brown dog happily chases a ball. What is the adverb of this sentence?
My dog just died a week ago. Now I am crying and another 10 year old answers happily and moves on.
I get it and it definitely makes sense on some level, but when I really try to apply it, I just feel like nothing is going to be truly fair then.