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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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This is really stupid. I'm a conservative and a Christian and have no problem with any of these words. The word "evolution" doesn't worry me in the least.
Soon, we won't be able to say anything. Can I use that word?
Let's just put everything back on the table, relax a little, and talk to each other.
My mother worked in an office with two Jehovah's Witnesses who vocalized their opposition to office birthday parties; they wouldn't sign the birthday card or bring gifts although they were first in line for whatever cake and food were brought by others.
Screw the fundamentalists!
OK NAZI.
Has no one ever read Fahrenheit 451? The book burning started because certain words were offensive to certain groups and eventually all words were offensive to someone. Welcome to the slippery slope. Happy skiing.
Man coexisted with dinosaurs 6000 years ago on a flat earth that just recently rehaped to round. Oh, and global warming is a fantasy of the socialists.
Seriously? Maybe we should ban the word Reality. Oh or maybe we should just all get together and have us a good old fashion book burning 'cause we certainly don't want anything around that might possibly be offensive to someone with no common sense, or no sense of reality; for God's sake let's be sure to protect those people at all cost while raising a generation of thin-skinned, closed-minded imbeciles. Come on everyone, I’ll supply the marshmallows.
Religion by far is the most offensive of all.
you're not even worth responding to. you're far too ignorant.
The most dangerous to humankind.
i suggest you 2 morons read a book called " TORTURED FOR CHRIST " , it tells how the underground church
broke the grip of communism in Romania. The price paid was horrible. But since you love a government
devoid of morals or free thinking take both your sorry asses to a communist country and see what happens
when you oppose the government there. Or go back in time and live in Hitlers regime. Then see
how big your pathetic mouths are.
Gman*
Sereny is correct in her statement, try naming something else that weighs as heavily as religion in society? Remember this is all being done because the religious nut cases do not want to hear their religions talked bad about. They want their specific education implemented that caters to their belief system. If this was a religious country we would be just like the middle east, just less sand.
An insult to human dignity.
Gman*
Hitler was a christian who was blessed by the pope, and those people wouldve fought despite their religion, people will want to be free no matter their beliefs.
chris, first of all it's obvious your not a christian or you would know as i have said repeatedly tonight. christians of
all people believe in freedom of speech. we simply preach the gospel because christ tells us to. also we know we
are sinners and are NO better than anyone else therefor incapable of dictating how another human being should act.
we emphatically stand for a holy god who he himself calls us to act responsibly not any other human being. there
are many religions true and many may be false but we as christians do not seek to control other peoples beliefs. only
to seek the truth and righteousness of our god. without a moral compass or guide to the universe people migrate to
their own values. just as a ship needs a bearing wheather it be the stars or compass to find it's way, so do people
who haven't been on this earth nearly as long as the mountains or rivers that inhabit this planet also. don't confuse
people who are decieved with false religion for those who worship the real creator of this great universe. he's been
here long before us and will guide us if we ask.
chris , one other thing, Hitler was not a christian. no god fearing christian would dare persecute 6 millions jews
as the bible says who ever curses israel i will curse and whoever blesses israel i will bless. no christian in their
right mind would dare do what he did. satan worked through him and the bible says he masquerades as an angel
of light. there in lies hitlers master. an angel of light. not JESUS not GOD.
Gman
History tells of a completely different story of christianity, also i can quote numerable bible quotes that says other than that of a peaceful religion, Jesus himself stating he did not bring peace but a sword. But i will read one more reply, we do not want to hijack the thread with another forum off topic.
that's fine but the sword that JESUS spoke of is the word of god. many parents will be at odds with their sons
and daughters over the truth of christ and vice versa. He who believes Jesus is the christ is the one who
knows god. that what he meant.
will you people get it for the last time. this isn't about religion. the article starts off with a reference to weed,
which we can all assume pretty much that is pot. also it refers intially to acts of nature that might connote fear. the article
then finally makes it's way to assumed faith based issues. the people passing these laws have a much larger agenda
than creationism or evolution. it is the utter control of your childrens education and they are playing 2 sides against
the middle. in the end non faith based groups and faith based groups batteling each other will just assume a compromise
is the best solution and leave control to them. that's the real evil in all this. wake up for the last time and tell them hands
off and recognize the real enemy.
in the movie " the sum of all fears " with ben affleck and morgan freeman. the terrorist made a statement about hitler.
he said hitler wasn't crazy he was stupid. you don't take on the US or RUSSIA. you get them to fight each other. that's
what the whole movie was about and that's what this propaganda garbage is about. the new world order and control
of our children and what they learn because they are the future. when is the last time your kid in school talked about
JFK or VIETNAM ? ask yourself why and then you will understand who the enemy is.
Kind of hard when its the "Belief Blog" than goes into detail of creationists and other religious sects.
so be it. but NYDOE does start out with other things being censored or up for censorship. and in the end
division is the fallout. Doesn't lesson DOE'S stupidity or that of those controling the childrens agenda.
The future is great. Our kids might learn that aliens can be teleported if you juggle balls enough if an adequate amount of people lobby for it. I'm sure our nation's overall critical thinking abilities will soar!
Hmm? Banning words? This is a step, a small, step but a step, just the same, to banning books isn't it? There has been discontent expressed by some folks about "words" used by Mark Twain. Let's change the words, some say; same as let's change what made the man a universally appreciated philosopher, lecturer, author, critic, essayest. Reading words, reading books is about expanding the mind, about intellectual growth, about agreeing and disagreeing, about being entertained. We really can't allow this to happen!
I, for one, refuse to walk on eggshells just to pacify the overly sensitive.
This has to be one of the most upsetting things i have read in a long time. The very fact that schools are now banning words because it may offend some religious people. It may disturb students train of thought!? The school system is to prepare kids for the future! This system is creating overly sensitive and meek people. There will be no one to hold the hands of these children when they become adults. We are witnessing an absurd standard because of POLITICS, where the school board has zero protection from the higher ups and has to try to please everybody to keep their jobs. Congratulations to another epic failure of America's education system.
Have we learned _nothing_ from "Footloose"!??!?!?!?
The Christian Taliban is going to be the death of the United States. The whole reason why there's a Separation of Church and State, is because the founders saw the religious nuts screaming on the street corners of Philadelphia, and rushed back to write to ensure that there was a separation from religion in government. The far Rightists still don't understand the concept of the Separation of Church and State. YES, its main goal to keep religion OUT of government. I know they can't stand hearing that.
Dinosaurs? Are you kidding me? I hate the religious right in this country.
Did you actually read the article or are you simply aproduct of the NYC Public school sytem?
People often blame this kind of thing on "liberalism". I consider myself to be fairly liberal and I find this to be ridiculous to the nth degree. Even if there is an argument to be made that some of these words represent things that might be offensive to particular religions or cultures, the fact is they still have specific meanings which are part of the social fabric of our society.
I can maybe see an argument for keeping topics like "divorce" or "death" from really young kids – say younger than 8-9, because they are not mature enough to fully grasp the concepts. But to "ban" the words outright is indefensible.
This ban reeks of religious right-wing creationists.
I'm a firm believer in the bible, but to be honest.. even with your reason which I understand.. I still believe this is a pointless move. Just because you ban words from tests, doesn't mean the words suddenly no longer exist.
Bible = Big book of ancient Jewish myths AKA telephone game for delusional minds.
I agree. Just because you remove the words logic and reason from tests, doesn't mean that people will stop thinking and start believing the Bible.
ANON
BIBLE = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth!
creationist believe in dinos BUT
they also think our forefathers domesticated the dinos and ended up killing all of them for delicious meat. so dinos were extinct
😀 😀
now can we stop spending resource on dino research 😀
Wrong. We believe the few the survived after the pressure lifted, (small lungs and lack of air don't mix), were not just hunted for food, but for sport or protection. Which is why all over the world you hear stories of dragons, I mean, unless you wanna chill with a dino for a neighborhood pet. Please, don't mock our beliefs without some understanding first.
One more note here, domesticated? No. Before the flood we didn't need meat, after we did. So prior to the flood, we just found no reason to kill each other, after that we needed food. (before the flood being the garden)
If we collect and publish a book of all the comments here, we will have a great satire crowd sourced.
By the way, creationist is a joke and i don't know what religion has to do with serious people other than it is the breeding ground for these clowns. Really, those dumb who believe world is 6000 years old, should leave the earth and be with god.( hope they are smart enuf to fig out HOW to be with GOD :)))
And if these jokers are offended, i am glad that i am able to offend you. Can we export these clowns to other part of world ( where we wedge war , so that people can have some fun watching them)
First off, you should really learn to express your feelings a little clearer because this is just a mess here.
I find it comical that you're mocking our beliefs, when I highly doubt you don't even understand your own. Your belief has ZERO proof, just as mine. We have things that we believe to back it up, as do you. Just because we believe in a creator, doesn't make us unintelligent, it just means we see the world differently. Also, we know how to be with God, it's very easy. Was this offensive? Not at all, my beliefs stay strong, nice attempt though buddy.
Also, your last part is disgusting, to throw people with a belief in a higher power into a war zone (learn to spell too, it's "wage"), just to have fun and "watch" us? Sick dude, you've got some things you clearly need so sort out. I would NEVER wish the death of someone who didn't share my beliefs, I wish for only peace.. and you call me crazy.
Your imaginary desert god Yahweh/Jesus/Allah is a psychotic piece of $#it.
Why take the time to ban words? It's not like kids are taught to read, much less think, in school anymore...