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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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It is simple. Ban religion.
Now, now...we are in America where it's supposed to be ok to believe or not to beleive...freedom to beleive or not right? Oh, that's right it's ok to hate on religion, God, and just about everyone who has a moral backbone from what they believe. Atheists such as yourself seem to think standing for nothing provides you a platform to hate on the majority of believing Americans and their religion. Ah well, I guess that's ok cause you probable live by the montra that all there is for us is to: Live...consume...enjoy myself...die....no room for a God when it's all about yourselves.
As an atheist myself, banning is not gonna solve squat but drive it even more underground and feed their persecution complex.
Comparative religious education is what's going to eventually reduce these desert religions to mythology status in a museum.
Perhaps you meant just "persecution" instead of "persecution complex" (seems appropriate since engineers commentary calls for a ban on religion). Wierd how I can walk into my kids school library and see crap on witchcraft, satanism, and just about any other religion except Christianity. It's time Americans with a faith in God stood up to the loudmouths and tell them how faithful Americans have just as much right to believe in their God as an aethist has to ignore Him. Maybe then atheists would get a clue about what our country's freedoms are for.
^ Like I said, persecution complex. Christian fundamentalists are deathly afraid of other non-Abrahamic religions.
Prayer changes things .
Prayer does change things. It changes my opinion of the person saying the prayer.
~~You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
Plus don't forget. The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs.!
Hmmm, I don't think any word needs to be banned. Our school systems need to understand that whether a student believes or doesn't beleive in religion or evolution it's okay...they are all American students and that's the beauty of our country....it's not okay to be an American and hate on people over a word they use. Our schools need to embrace what our country stands for "freedom".
Banning words is a silly thing to do, so of course the liberal State of NY will do so.
Mr. N wrote, " Point me to a Christian that does not believe in science then, you know, all of the following things such as medicine, engineering (applied sciences), AND physics, chemistry, biology, (theoretica sciences), etc."
From the fundiots (fundamentalist ldiots) at Answers In Genesis – " By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the scriptural record. "
Cretins like these claim the universe is less than 10,000 years old. Physics says this is wrong. Chemistry says this is wrong. Biology says this is wrong. Geology says this is wrong. Archeology says this is wrong. Anthroplogy says this is wrong. Paleontology says this is wrong. Cosmology says this is wrong.
Sadly, 45% of all US adults believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old.
Evolutionists believe in a litany of mistakes after mistakes in order for anything to exist...I wonder if the odds of winning that kind of a lottery are possible. Imagine just 10 mistakes being taken on the chain of mistakes that evolution has to have and then each time one mistake happens the next one must follow in order for a slug to become a human! Just 10 mistakes in a row are astronomicall HUGE! I'm not closing the door on God...cause the odds are really in His favor...
So Jay, why not post the citations to the peer-reviewed science that supports your contention? Why not post the link to the source that falsifies the theory of evolution.
Jay...imagine the things that have to happen that created a god complicated enough to create an entire universe?
If it is just a theory its ok. Its when they claim it as FACT that the proof is missing....
How about banning the words budget, balance, bankruptcy, debt, and responsibility, since those words are not in the Dems vocabulary.
i have two words for you... George Bush
I hope they don't ban the phrase 'clown car'. I wouldn't want the 2012 GOP presidential candidates to be offended.
This has got to be the most ignorant idea ever. I'm so sick and tired of the political correctness! How can you band words of actual facts? Biblical Creationist have got to be the dumbest people on earth if they contest that the world is only 6,000 years old. And as far as Jehovah's Witnesses', they don't believe in birthdays and Christmas, but they have no problem accepting gifts....what a racket that branch of religion is. And any Jehovah Witnesses who wants to respond that they don't accept gifts.....you're full of it. I've given gifts to Jehovah Witnesses' in several states and they had no problem with it.
What a racket evolutionist are as well...consume...enjoy me time...die...consume...enjoy me time...die.
Sounds like "Newspeak" from 1984.
How about banning the word, Republican or Teaparty? This sounds like on of their outlandish ideas.
the term glory-hole shall no longer be used on standardized tests.
What's a glory-hole?
A glory hole (also spelled gloryhole and glory-hole) is a hole in a wall, or other partition, often between public lavatory stalls or adult video arcade booths for people to engage in sexual activity or observe the person in the next cubicle while one or both parties masturbate.
Looks like Merriam Webster is going to have to remove a lot of words from the dictionary...
Was this meant for april fools??? How about spending all this time and energy and $$$$ on educating those who still use "you're" and "your" interchangeably.
We will never get to become a socialist country if we don't censor out these stress causing words.
Just out of curiosity I looked at a copy of Sarah Palin's book the other day while out shopping. Someone penciled in a mustache on her picture ! Can you imagine ? Who would do such a thing ?
Censorship:
Burn the library to make sure we destroy all these "BAD WORDS"
@Mark from Middle River:Good questions except for the emotional comment by stating other peoples feelings be dammed I meant it as a transcendental remark in other words to get over your emotional boundaries but let me explain by being carefree with others opinions (I do not like the terms like I could careless) you acknowledge them and either adopt them into your own personal synthesis or discard them. None of this is permanent one must challenge there own beliefs daily and examine others and be willing to change if it fits into your model. I am agnostic but I find it repulsive that I was once told to not say Merry Christmas to me this has nothing to do with tolerance I accept that others are going to have different believes and if those beliefs give them joy I will gladly say without a hint of sarcasm merry Christmas back to them why because there believes are there’s and theirs alone. If they ask me about mine great if they challenge them even greater but to force or edit anyone’s believes or words due to fear or sensitivity is to me a giant step backwards.
Good questions Mark except for the emotional comment by stating other peoples feelings be dammed I meant it as a transcendental remark in other words to get over your emotional boundaries but let me explain by being carefree with others opinions (I do not like the terms like I could careless) you acknowledge them and either adopt them into your own personal synthesis or discard them. None of this is permanent one must challenge there own beliefs daily and examine others and be willing to change if it fits into your model. I am agnostic but I find it repulsive that I was once told to not say Merry Christmas to me this has nothing to do with tolerance I accept that others are going to have different believes and if those beliefs give them joy I will gladly say without a hint of sarcasm merry Christmas back to them why because there believes are there’s and theirs alone. If they ask me about mine great if they challenge them even greater but to force or edit anyone’s believes or words due to fear or sensitivity is to me a giant step backwards.
Good questions except for the emotional comment by stating other peoples feelings be dammed I meant it as a transcendental remark in other words to get over your emotional boundaries but let me explain by being carefree with others opinions (I do not like the terms like I could careless) you acknowledge them and either adopt them into your own personal synthesis or discard them. None of this is permanent one must challenge there own beliefs daily and examine others and be willing to change if it fits into your model. I am agnostic but I find it repulsive that I was once told to not say Merry Christmas to me this has nothing to do with tolerance I accept that others are going to have different believes and if those beliefs give them joy I will gladly say without a hint of sarcasm merry Christmas back to them why because there believes are there’s and theirs alone. If they ask me about mine great if they challenge them even greater but to force or edit anyone’s believes or words due to fear or sensitivity is to me a giant step backwards.
What on earth are these people ingesting to come up with such a stupid idea. I suggest they ban all the teachers, they are the ones that are causing the most problems.
What a bunch of doofuses!
Did you even read the article? Teachers don't have any say in the matter of what the standardized test has on it, you dingbat. They're not the ones attempting to ban words.
Schools reflect society. The school system is getting complaints from vocal parents and is reacting to them.
Maybe the NYC school admins should consider banning the word IDIOT, because that's probably the word they've heard most lately.
Fire them all.
I propose that the name "New York City" and "NYC" be banned from all U.S. school books and tests. No one wants to see a reference to a city so politically correct that it is incorrect.