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april 1st?? early??

Posted by mercurior 
april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
Primary school drops word school from name as 'too negative'
A new primary school has banned the use of the word "school" in its title because it has "negative connotations".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/4075423/Primary-school-drops-word-school-from-name-as-too-negative.html

Watercliffe Meadow primary in Sheffield is to be known as a "place for learning" after governors decided that the traditional description sounded too "institutional".

The £6 million "learning experience", which opens on Monday, will also encourage pupils to wear soft shoes indoors and has got rid of the traditional school bell at the end of lessons, in order to make the place more welcoming.

"We decided from an early stage we didn't want to use the word 'school', this is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning," said Linda Kingdon, the head teacher.

"One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school.

"Instead we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come.

"We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience.

"There are no whistles or bells or locked doors.

"We wanted to de-institutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."

But the move was described as "ridiculous" and part of a "political correctness agenda" by the Campaign for Plain English, the organisation which opposes the use of gobbledygook in public life.

"Here we are introducing our children to education and instead of giving them something familiar, something that they understand, we go and send them to a 'place for learning'," said Marie Clair, the organisation's spokeswoman.

"Who has spent time and money and effort thinking up this whole new idea? And to what benefit?

"We all know that they are going to be going to a school whatever you call it."

Among examples of confusing terminology the campaign has fought against in recent years was the widespread rebranding of lollipop ladies as "school crossing patrol officers", teachers being known as "knowledge navigators" and the emergence of the "education centre nourishment production assistant" - otherwise known as dinner ladies.

It follows efforts to rebrand libraries as "idea stores", dustmen's trucks being referred to as "provider vehicles" and a recent high-level attempt to ban the use of the word "inmates" for prisoners in case it offends them.

Earlier this week David Lee, the leader of Wokingham borough council in Berkshire, announced a personal mission to banish jargon including terms like "network model" - meaning map - and "predictor of beaconicity" for a good idea.

Cllr Andrew Sangar, who is Sheffield City Council's "Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Lifelong Learning" said the local authority was "relaxed" about the rebranding exercise.

"It's a school, we consider it a school and that's how we refer to it," he said.

"How a school chooses to manage and refer to itself is a matter for the board of governors and the community it serves and we're relaxed about that."

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
What... Just... WHAT?
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
yes, i know.. the word school has a negative connotations??? ,ay hurt the poor ickle ones feelings

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
The adults who dreamt this up need: Mr. T: I pitty tha fools or hitting over the head with a hammer. More pandering to the brats and their idiot moos. A school is a school. Get the fuck over it.
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
Quote
MerlynHerne
The adults who dreamt this up need: Mr. T: I pitty tha fools or hitting over the head with a hammer. More pandering to the brats and their idiot moos. A school is a school. Get the fuck over it.

More like: :gun1
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
Oh for the love of all things holy, this is ABSURD.shrug What do they MEAN it's a place where the "whole famblee" can come for a learning experience? Do whole famblees go to "learning centers" along with the elementary aged kyds now? Why don't they just homeskool if they want such an inoffensive, unstructured, and homelike learning environment? How do they plan on gaining any control if they don't have bells or whistles? I guess that they will gently remind them of the time in a whisper or possibly sign language as not to offend their sensitive hearing. Why would the majority of parents be "offended" by the word "school"? Is it because they were outcasts, unpopular, delinquents, or bullies when they attended "school"? I can't IMAGINE why anyone would be offended by the word "school". That really just blows my mind because it's so ludicrous.


"......Among examples of confusing terminology the campaign has fought against in recent years was the widespread rebranding of lollipop ladies as "school crossing patrol officers", teachers being known as "knowledge navigators" and the emergence of the "education centre nourishment production assistant" - otherwise known as dinner ladies.........."bouncing and laughing




Yeah, like some people call garbage men, "Sanitation engineers", but at the end of the day, they are still pitching garbage into the back of a truck. Why don't we start calling hospitals, "Boo Boo Centers", or why not call funeral homes, "Naptime centers for the non living", or instead of telling a kyd his leg was amputated after an accident that, "You are just leg challenged, no biggie". What these STUPID people do not understand, is that no matter what new name they give to something, it's only a matter of time that the NEW word(or phrase) means the exact same thing as the old one. They don't understand that they can NOT change the meaning of what something is by simply changing the name of it. Case in point: When people say, "The "N" word", EVERYBODY knows what that means and the actual word STILL comes forward into their minds. Kinda like the new meaning of "single moms" which is a replacement for "never married whores", or "Caught a stray bullet" means they were somewhere that they shouldn't have been like selling drugs, and got caught in a crossfire of gang bullets. "Special needs" instead of retarded. "Time challenged", instead of habitually late, "Overweight" instead of fat, etc.....I saw a documentary of people who were so morbidly obese that most of them could no longer walk and were confined to bed. Yet, they referred to themselves as "over weight".

I hate living in this politically correct society because it's just too cozy, familiar, and tolerant, on the surface, when it's anything BUT what it appears to claim to be.
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
I have known a very small handful of truly astounding teachers in my life, people who altered the course of my study or opened my eyes. One in particular.

But the admins at this particular school who went to so much trouble to do a very stupid thing should all be fired pronto.

I was an English-language (ESL) teacher many moons ago, and I enjoyed it a lot. I felt privileged to work at a school and be part of a team dedicated to learning and intellectual growth. Still am; I found an old business card from that school the other day & saved it for my scrapbook. "School" was part of the name of this school. And I was a teacher, not a "knowledge navigator." On my best teaching days, I was a jester; that was my style of teaching, to trick people into learning stuff in a fun way or through silly yet enjoyable and creative games. Miss it sometimes. Designing learning games was my favorite part. Anyhoo, the airs this plain old school is putting on is ridiculous and silly and such blathering would make me steer students away from it were I a school recommender.

These days of course I am a library resource extractor and processor (read papers) and a nutritional consultant and nourishment supply and preparation coordinator (make mac and cheese). Wait!--also an agricultural engineer and biosystems analyst (pot of parsley in kitchen). Oh, one more--a companion animal life support supervisor, a/k/a kibble-flinger.
Anonymous User
Re: april 1st?? early??
January 02, 2009
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