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 "Dinosaur" is among the words New York CIty is looking to ban from tests, apparently over concerns it could bother creationists.
March 28th, 2012
07:19 PM ET
New York city schools want to ban 'loaded words' from testsBy Brian Vitagliano, CNN New York (CNN) - Divorce. Dinosaurs, Birthdays. Religion. Halloween. Christmas. Television. These are a few of the 50-plus words and references the New York City Department of Education is hoping to ban from the city’s standardized tests. The banned word list was made public – and attracted considerable criticism – when the city’s education department recently released this year’s "request for proposal" The request for proposal is sent to test publishers around the country trying to get the job of revamping math and English tests for the City of New York. The Department of Education's says that avoiding sensitive words on tests is nothing new, and that New York City is not the only locale to do so. California avoids the use of the word "weed" on tests and Florida avoids the phrases that use "Hurricane" or "Wildfires," according to a statement by the New York City Department of Education. In its request for proposal, the NYC Department of Education explained it wanted to avoid certain words if the "the topic is controversial among the adult population and might not be acceptable in a state-mandated testing situation; the topic has been overused in standardized tests or textbooks and is thus overly familiar and/or boring to students; the topic appears biased against (or toward) some group of people." CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories Matthew Mittenthal, a spokesman for the NYC Department of Education, said this is the fifth year they have created such a list. He said such topics "could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students." "Dinosaurs" evoking unpleasant emotions? The New York Post speculated that the "dinosaurs" could "call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists.” But what the tabloid failed to realize is that those "fundamentalists" who oppose evolution on religious grounds, believe wholeheartedly in dinosaurs. Young Earth creationists, or Biblical creationists as they prefer to be called, often point to dinosaurs in making their arguments. They say dinosaurs and humans roamed Earth together, citing legends of dragons and say the fossil record shows the earth is 6,000 years old, though few paleontologists and geologists share this theory. At the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, the heart of the Young Earth Creationism movement, dinosaur models and exhibits fill the museum displays and gift shop. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Apparently many of the words on New York’s list were avoided because of faith-based concerns. For instance, the use of the word "birthday" or the phrase "birthday celebrations" may offend Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not celebrate birthdays. A spokesperson for the Jehovah's Witnesses declined to comment on the use of the word "birthday." The Department of Education would not go on the record to explain the specific reasons for each word, which has left many to speculate and draw their own conclusions. Halloween may suggest paganism; divorce may conjure up uneasy feelings for children in the midst of a divorce within their family. One phrase that may surprise many, the term "Rock 'n' Roll" was on the "avoid" list. Piers Morgan's "Only in America": 50 banned words And not good news for Italians: the Department of Education also advised avoiding references to types of food, such as pepperoni, products they said "persons of some religions or cultures may not indulge in." The Department of Education said, "This is standard language that has been used by test publishers for many years and allows our students to complete practice exams without distraction." Stanford University Professor Sam Wineburg is an expert in the field of education and director of the Stanford History Education Group. When reached by phone said Wineburg, after a brief pause on the line, "the purpose of education is to create unpleasant experiences in us. ... The Latin meaning if education is 'to go out.' Education is not about making us feel warm and fuzzy inside." Wineburg questioned the idea that the New York City Department of Education would want to "shield kids from these types of encounters." He said the goal of education is to "prepare them," adding "this is how we dumb down public schools." CNN's Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report. soundoff (3,780 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Here's the new test.
Question 1- True or false, we live on Earth?
Congratulations! you passed! Here's your diploma and scholarship to any college of your choice.
This is the dumbest thing to do; shield children from the truth. And ban the word 'dinosaur'?? They lived once, they exsisted, there's proof. What's next, ban the world 'round' because someone still believes it's flat?
WRONG, the SUN revolves around the earth, remember religion told us so......hence it's gotta be true
"Young Earth creationists, or Biblical creationists as they prefer to be called, often point to dinosaurs in making their arguments. They say dinosaurs and humans roamed the earth together, citing legends of dragons and say the fossil record shows the earth is 6000 years old, though few paleontologists or geologists share this theory."
Umm, how about NO paleontologists or geologists share this theory?
"Young Earth creationists, or Biblical creationists as they prefer to be called, often point to dinosaurs in making their arguments. They say dinosaurs and humans roamed the earth together, citing legends of dragons and say the fossil record shows the earth is 6000 years old, though few paleontologists or geologists share this theory."
Parasaurolophus, I concur: NO paleontologists or geologists share this theory?
The Greeks found fossil bones of large creatures and thought they came from the GOD’s or giants. The word Dinosauria is derived from the Greek words δεινός (deinos, meaning "terrible," "potent," or "fearfully great") and σαῦρος (sauros, meaning "lizard" or "reptile"). Remember there are people who still believe we did not land on the moon, nor do we really fly in machines.
As a New Yorker, I find this whole thing really disheartening. NY is supposed to be the great "melting pot" of the world, and now we're going to cater to each group specifically? Eventually, they'll have to ban every word there is! In fact, I don't like tests in general, and I know many people feel the same, so maybe we should just ban tests altogether! Yeah, it makes about that much sense. Come on, people, there are IMPORTANT things to worry about, and the words in question are not them. They are not hate speech, or inflammatory to the average person. Let's concentrate on making the world a better place, lowering unemployment, and getting our kids educated.
"Divorce. Dinosaurs, Birthdays. Religion. Halloween. Christmas. Television. These are a few of the 50-plus words and references the New York City Department of Education is hoping to ban from the city’s standardized tests."
Don't forget "thought" and "reasoning."
Oh is dinosaur not Politically Correct enough for the right wing? I suppose they'll ban witches on Halloween next.
Should the word 'dead' or 'death' be eliminated from the tests as well? Please kill me if it has already been. Ooops... did I use another word from the avoid list?
What is going on in America? It used to be a beacon of intellect, hard work, talent and anything positive. While a society has to be accommodating and embracing all kinds of people, it just cannot aim to satisfy everyone's emotions.
If a student is going to be so traumatized by seeing the word 'hurricane' in the test, because of a past experience, then that student is just not ready to enter the real world. If that's the case, we have a bigger problem than a standardized test which offends people.
If America continues on this path of weakness, it should stop complaining that Indians and Chinese are trying to overtake or taking US jobs. That's what is bound to happen.
WELL SAID!
Honestly, what is wrong with this country anymore.....
That was the first thing I thought at the first paragraph!!
Why do we feel the overwhelming need to insulate everyone form everything?
Political Correctness running rampant! This is simply insane. We're all supposed to be equal, yet we can't expose certain words to our kids since they might be offensive to someone and/or cause confusion or misunderstandings. (Evidently) our kids are too stupid to rationally grasp the context or a statement, or use reason to determine what's right or wrong. And, of course we can't possibly expect Mom and Dad to discuss any of this with their kids. It's no wonder the US is falling behind in so many areas.
My Holy Bible clearly states: Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46
My Holy Bible clearly states:
Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life...
I am offended by people who say I can't buy Mexicans and Canadians!
You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life
Please tell-me the Religious wackjobs are not winning...next we will be foreced to believe in Unicorns.....
Stephen F Roberts: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
Sigh
Please tell-me the Religious wackjobs are not winning...next we will be foreced to believe in Unicorns.....
Stephen F Roberts: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
Seems like the only solution is to ban everything. Or.....join P.O.O.P. (People Offended by Offended People)
Love it! Where do I sign up!!!
me too!
Milk gives me gas. Can we ban that word, too, so I don't read it and remember the times I've been gassy. It might upset me.
If they're so worried about offending creationists, they should ban: "MORON", "IDIOT", "DIMWIT", "LAMEBRAIN", "MEDIEVAL", "THROWBACK" and so forth.
But those terms serve as punctuation for atheists.
The era of political correctness is upon us! Let's avoid words used in every day society to avoid the risk of offending someone that is overly sensitive and naive. Absolutely riduculous! Do we have nothing better to do with our time? Our tax dollars are paying for this insanity instead of rebuilding crumbling infrastructure or rehiring teachers and public service employees that have been layed off over the last several years. It's more of a concern to avoid making someone feel uncomfortable with a reference to pork products than to keep our streets safer?
II 100% disagree with banning these words. Although children may have experienced hardships which may be triggered by hearing certain words we need to build up their tolerance to them instead of avoiding them. If certain words are avoided it can bring serious problems once they are exposed to them instead of having dealt with them already.
The words fundamentalist, christian, religion, biblical, and creationist upset me, let's ban those words too along with war, unpleasant, disturbing, blood, race, daisy, insects and cabbage!
Evolution is the only thing that Children need to be tested in schools.
It is proven because a) you get flu shots and b) you move from grade up sequentially(for most part) every single year of your life. 😉
My point of view is that we, as a nation, need to quit being so worried about being politically correct, because not everything in life is pleasant and if we pretend that it is then all we are doing is avoiding the truth.
Wow! I hope your writing is not an indication of what our schools provide.