The school said 700 students had taken part in the class and there had been no complaints from parents or students.Apart from the one in the 'Mail', that is?
But why would a school think this was ever a good idea?
A school spokesman said work on language and respect had been delivered to all Year Seven to Nine students over the last two months and it helps students recognise what is and is not acceptable and when to use it.
In a statement, the school said: 'As part of our social responsibility we are educating our students to understand what kind of language is appropriate at what times and in what contexts.'You couldn't (censored) make it up, could you?
And as the commenters to the 'Mail' article point out, a bit more attention to handwriting skills might be in order...
I notice the place is an "Advanced Learning Centre".
ReplyDeleteSigh. Makes a change from "community school" I suppose. It's a bit like when a country has "Democratic" in its title you know it will be nothing of the sort.
Yeah, well like I said before, let's wipe out council estate scum.
ReplyDeleteJulia, you're first.
I'm sure that's where you want to be.
I don't really have a problem with it- are there many 11 year olds who don't know these swear words? Are there many people who consider them to be unacceptable in any circumstances (and hence probably write to the mail to express their disgust when their 18 year old is exposed to the repeated use of the word cunt in their A level class on Chaucer)?
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems facing older children is that they have not learned that there are different registers of speech and writing for different situations so they end up writing job applications in the same way they'd do a Facebook post and don't realise that swearing at a copper might lead to them behaving differently compared to swearing at their mates in the pub.
Even 25 years ago at the public school I attended we had an assembly where (shockingly) an Aussie master talked about the Australian interspersed expletive (absofuckinglutely etc) to introduce a discussion of when swearing might be acceptable and when we could expect it to be disapproved of.
I don't imagine the teacher responsible is the sharpest tool in the draw, else they may have noticed that the 'sometimes OK' and 'it depends' categories are necessarily identical.
ReplyDeleteIs it any wonder teachers get less respect now than they used to, when even relatively basic use of the English language seems too much of a stretch.
Shame.
"I notice the place is an "Advanced Learning Centre"."
ReplyDeleteAt least it's not an 'academy'...
"I don't really have a problem with it- are there many 11 year olds who don't know these swear words? Are there many people who consider them to be unacceptable in any circumstances..."
Is this really a topic for school, though? Shouldn't they concentrate on the basics of teaching them to read, add up and write legibly?
"Is it any wonder teachers get less respect now than they used to..."
No. It really, really isn't.