acroyear: (this is news)
[personal profile] acroyear
'Oral sex' definition prompts dictionary ban in US schools | Books | guardian.co.uk:
Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for "oral sex".

Merriam Webster's 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the "sexually graphic" entry is "just not age appropriate", according to the area's local paper.

The dictionary's online definition of the term is "oral stimulation of the genitals". "It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature," district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus told the paper.

While some parents have praised the move – "[it's] a prestigious dictionary that's used in the Riverside County spelling bee, but I also imagine there are words in there of concern," said Randy Freeman – others have raised concerns. "It is not such a bad thing for a kid to have the wherewithal to go and look up a word he may have even heard on the playground," father Jason Rogers told local press. "You have to draw the line somewhere. What are they going to do next, pull encyclopaedias because they list parts of the human anatomy like the penis and vagina?"

A panel is now reviewing whether the Menifee ban will be made permanent. The Merriam Webster dictionary joins an illustrious set of books that have been banned or challenged in the US, including Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, which last year was suspended from and then reinstated to the curriculum at a Michigan school after complaints from parents about its coverage of graphic sex and violence, and titles by Khaled Hosseini and Philip Pullman, included in the American Library Association's list of books that inspired most complaints last year.
Why don't parents just have curiosity itself banned and be done with the whole problem?

or is the problem worse: "The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect."

Date: 2010-01-26 02:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silverstah.livejournal.com
*headdesk* That is one of the lamer things I've heard this week. Looking up dirty words in the dictionary was one of the best parts of elementary school! :)

Date: 2010-01-26 02:59 pm (UTC)
dawntreader: (stupidity)
From: [personal profile] dawntreader
I KNOW!! we did the same thing. were these parents not CHILDREN once!?!?

Date: 2010-01-26 03:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] acroyear70.livejournal.com
just like finding out the translations of swear words was the first thing someone does when taking a foreign language class!

Date: 2010-01-26 03:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silmaril.livejournal.com
"It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature,"

"It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature,"

"It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature,"

.... I've ... I've got nothing.

Date: 2010-01-26 05:34 pm (UTC)
ext_298353: (cornholio)
From: [identity profile] thatliardiego.livejournal.com
When I was in high school, I belonged to a group of kids who swore to leave every dictionary we found open to either 'priapism' or "steatopygia.'

Date: 2010-01-26 05:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamaastrid.livejournal.com
Do you ever watch "Phineas and Ferb"? The episode where child creativity is ban is hilarious.

It is a time travel episode and the people of the world decided to suppress all creativity in children, and childproof everything in fear of creative children. Dr. Doofenshmirtz becomes Emperor and drives the planet into dystopia (futuristic vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence and/or terror, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering) and so he would never forget anyone's name, everyone was renamed "Joe". Doofenshmirtz has citizens erect massive statues of him all over and forces everyone to wear labcoats.

So banning the dictionary is just the first step to this evil alternate universe.

Date: 2010-01-26 07:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scaleslea.livejournal.com
Have they banned The Bible yet, because of the Song of Solomon? And then there is ALL of that "begating"! Think of the children!

Doc

Date: 2010-01-26 10:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silvrwillow.livejournal.com
As a teacher, I must say that parents make me crazy!!

Profile

acroyear: (Default)
Joe's Ancient Jottings

January 2025

S M T W T F S
   1234
56789 1011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 3rd, 2025 12:53 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios