NYC Bans Mention of Dinosaurs, Dancing, Birthdays On Student Tests 470
New submitter SchroedingersCat writes "New York educators banned references to 'dinosaurs,' 'birthdays,' 'Halloween' and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests. That is because they fear such topics 'could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.' Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism. Homes with swimming pools and home computers are also unmentionables — because of economic sensitivities. The city asks test companies to exclude 'creatures from outer space' as well — for unspecified reasons."
Why JWs don't celebrate birthdays (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I also propose to ban (Score:4, Informative)
Re:April fools (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Great (Score:5, Informative)
Oh look, if I look at CBS New York, there is a fuller article saying that it is a list of suggested words that may be banned from tests.
And the CBS story has the whole list of words being mulled over.
In other words, the debate over what should on the list is ongoing.
The reason for this is that you want to make tests that are fair to everyone. If you're going to make a math test with word problems, you don't bring up the subject of murder. The obvious drawback is that it makes tests boring. Big fucking deal.
TFS and The Post has taken this to mean they are already banned and that this is just more "educrat nonsense" and it's written in such breathless style (they even use the word bizarre to describe it) merely to be inflammatory. It's journalistic porn.
While I agree the list, as it stands, is sub-optimal, it doesn't mean that the list is final and that it's probably likely that the list is going to get a lot shorter.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/war-on-words-nyc-dept-of-education-wants-50-forbidden-words-removed-from-standardized-tests/ [cbslocal.com]
I told you there was more to this, but hey, let everyone believe the fucking Post. The Post is in the business of selling newspapers, not news.
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BMO
Not pagan, Christian (Score:5, Informative)
They banned mention of Halloween because it suggests paganism.
Hallowe'en is short for "All Hallows Eve" is a Christian feast coming before All Saints Day (see Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]). While it was conveniently timed to coincide with a traditional pagan holiday so was Christmas. Hence Hallowe'en suggests paganism as much as Christmas does.
I suggest a new rule: those put in charge of education should be required to have had one.
Re:never happen in real life (Score:4, Informative)
Not so. Shabbat elevators can be found all over NYC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator [wikipedia.org]
For those buildings where the True Believer nutjobs can't afford such a fancy elevator, they can simply bring in a Shabbat goy - a non-Jew to do the "work" of button pushing for them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbos_goy [wikipedia.org]
The world is not so small as to be comprised of only "urban legends" outside your realm of experience.