Equal Opportunity Stupidity
By grandpa_lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
Australia
August 29, 2012 11:37pm CST
I came across this snippet in today's headlines on my home page, and I thought I might share it with you.
[i]A deaf three-year-old boy has been told by school officials in the US to change the way he signs his name because the gesture resembles a shooting gun.
Hunter Spanjer uses hand shapes to communicate — a method known as Signing Exact English, which is meant to mimic spoken words.
Hunter signs his name by crossing his index finger and middle finger and then shaking his hands.
Do you know of a school that has an unusual policy? news.feedback@ninemsn.com.au
His school in Grand Island, Nebraska, claims this gesture violates a policy that forbids children from bringing "any instrument that looks like a weapon" to school.
"His name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy," the boy's father, Brian Spanjer, told local TV news station KOLN-TV.
Mr Spanjer is disputing the school's ruling, saying the name sign is not threatening in any way.
The school has declined to discuss the matter publicly, saying only they were working with the parents on a compromise. [/i]
Now anyone who has seen me in this forum knows that I am what Americans call a "liberal", and I am active in presenting the stupidities I see coming from the Right, but this, I have to say, tops a lot of those idiocies easily. This is taking political correctness to the most stupid of extremes, and it is sad that there is such a strong element of the so-called liberal side of politics who does this sort of thing.
I actually wouldn't call them liberals: to me they are authoritarian wankers, just as dangerous in their own way as the Ghenghis Khan element of the Right. They are the Pol Pots of the "society must be managed for its own good" brigade, which is a universe away from liberal policies which facilitate the individual's chances of keeping his head above water.
Lash
3 people like this
4 responses
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
30 Aug 12
That is probably what is wrong with our education system. For some reason many people who work in education and supposed to be real smart are so dumb in other ways. They definitely lack common sense to say the least.
I also heard another one about this High School girl, who got in trouble because she said "hell" at her graduation ceremony. They denied her diploma for saying "hell." I guess she was class President or something and doing her final class President speech. She was going to say "heck" or something but thought it did not sound natural. So she used "hell," because it sounded natural. Well she paid the price because some adults are like children and can't handle the word "hell."
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
30 Aug 12
Oh OK, I just heard a brief description of what happened. I think we all have said worse. Why do we try to regulate what our kids say, when we can't even regulate ourselves. I guess its that, "do as I say not as I do," mentality." Only if that really worked.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
31 Aug 12
I am aware that I don't understand Puritanical obsessions, but of all the words I have trouble with, hell is probably the one I understand least. What on earth makes that word so sensitive?
Lash
1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
30 Aug 12
I've got 35 people outside in my training room at the moment, so I tried I little experiment. I crossed my index and middle fingers and tried shaking my hands. The instructions weren't too clear, so I tried it with my left hand, my right hand and then both. I tried shaking slow, shaking quick, and even crossing all my fingers at once just in case people needed more clues. Not a single person rushed over and said 'hello Hunter'. But noone ran away screaming or hid under the tables either so I think it's fairly safe to assume that they didn't feel overly threatened.
I haven't got got a three year old handy for experimental purposes, but we have a baby, a two year old and a five year old around today. We just have to hope that my gesturing has not damaged them for life.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
31 Aug 12
Some of the gestures (to say nothing of language) that gets directed at our fur kids doesn't appear to have damaged them at all. They just think it's all a game.
Lash
@purplealabaster (22085)
• United States
30 Aug 12
LOL @ "We just have to hope that my gesturing has not damaged them for life". I am pretty sure that your gesturing has not damaged them for life ... either that or my children were already damaged and I just could not tell ... because I have been teaching them the signs for letters not to mention that the teachers at school (or at least some of them anyway) are signing the alphabet while saying it and not one parent or child has complained so far about feeling threatened or it being inappropriate in any way.
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
30 Aug 12
Not sure why he signs an R for his name when it starts with an H, but the whole thing is silly and having deaf people in my family I can tell you there are a lot more signs that look pretty strange to those who don't know sign.
The choice of signs for names is up to the person. For instance mine is an R on the chin while my daughter's is an M being raised by the other hand. I think the boy should change his (which I imagine was made up by the parents) to something more understandable, not because of the school but because the letter used is confusing.
@rodney850 (2145)
• United States
30 Aug 12
There is no compromise needed! The only thing needed here is for some parents to put their foot down and say enough is enough. By the literal translation of that schools' rules, no one could attend simply because almost any part of the human body can be used as a weapon, hands, fingers, feet, knees, elbows or even your forehead. What needs to be said to the administrators of this school is, quit looking for reasons not to educate these kids and do your job. If they concentrated half as hard looking for the signs of propensity for violence and quit looking for ways to prevent kids from attending school our educational system would be safer and more efficient.
