This is a story that has gotten a lot of attention the past several days here in the suburbs of Baltimore, where I live.
From the article:
Today's incident follows the announcement yesterday that school officials were going to recall about 450 yearbooks that were distributed to Perry Hall seniors after it was discovered that the racial epithet had been inserted next to the name of a biracial student.
The slur appears to have been inserted as a prank, county school officials said. Still, officials plan to send the yearbooks back to the publisher, where the offending page will be removed and replaced. Seniors will get their copies back, so autographs and personal notes will not be lost.
IMO, this is political correctness run amouk.
Just as Eva, I find myself agreeing with Slappy. I don't geddit.
But, I did get hit with a thor missle.
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eoe
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:39 pm
I applaud the school officials. That's not something to be brushed off and overlooked. And yes, I'd make the student and/or his parents pay for the reprinting, too.
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Letty
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:43 pm
eoe, please explain how "anarchy" is a racial slur.
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McGentrix
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:45 pm
Is wasn't the anarchy symbol, it was the use of the "n" word below someone's picture. You did read teh whole article, right?
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eoe
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:47 pm
thanks
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Letty
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:49 pm
Probably not, McG. PC's been going on and off all day.
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onyxelle
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:55 pm
they definitely did the right thing.
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Letty
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 02:56 pm
Ok. I didn't play the sound bite, and that clears it up. The first link was confusing because it only talked about the anarchy thing. My sound bite player doesn't work too well.
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eoe
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 03:01 pm
The first link contains the whole story, including the full irony of the whole situation. It really is an 'interesting' read and tells us where our young peoples' heads are at about such things.
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doglover
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:07 pm
Many kids call one another the 'N' word on a regular basis. I'm not saying it's right, just that is what kids do. Ever listen to rap or to today's music in general? The 'N' word is commonly used by singers/bands of all races.
I saw on the news tonight where the kid who did it will be made to pay for the reprinting of the yearbooks minus the offensive word. He also called the other boy and apologized.
I think the Baltimore County school system overreacted. Just my
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eoe
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:12 pm
Agree to disagree, doglover. I think they did the right thing. Many kids called one another nigger when I was coming up too. It wasn't cute or cool then and neither is it now.
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Craven de Kere
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:14 pm
If this is "overreaction" it's a typical one. Schools very frequently recall yearbooks that have a signature prank in them if they are in any way controversial.
Lesser things have caused a greater stir when it comes to yearbooks, you might recall that high schools take them rather seriously.
Here is a similar story, note that the link is to rotten.com which is a very very graphic site (though this article is mild by their standards):
You hear guys call each other dog nowadays, too. Whazzup dawg! Don't get that either, calling each other a dog, but I'd take that over the other any day.
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doglover
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:27 pm
eoe wrote:
You hear guys call each other dog nowadays, too. Whazzup dawg! Don't get that either, calling each other a dog, but I'd take that over the other any day.
As a doglover eoe, I have to agree with you on that one! I, for one, don't want the holy name of Dogs taken in vain. Then again, I don't want people called a word that is hurtful and offensive.
The problem I have with this whole situation is the overreaction of the school. When a kid (or their parents) pay money to receive a yearbook, it becomes their personal property to do with as they see fit.
I think a much more practical solution would have been to ask the students to simply cover up the offensive word with a magic marker.
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Craven de Kere
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:29 pm
So, for examnple if your child had, say, the word "slut" inserted in her name as a prank you'd be ok with just having kids remove the word at their discretion?
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doglover
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:35 pm
Craven de Kere wrote:
So, for examnple if your child had, say, the word "slut" inserted in her name as a prank you'd be ok with just having kids remove the word at their discretion?
Sure. The issue is bigger than one kid and a slur written after their name. You have to look at the bigger picture. First of all, I would teach my teenager that there are ignorant people in this world who will say/write nasty untrue or true stuff ...whichever the case may be about you, so get used to it. Why should the kids give back something they paid for because of something that someone else did that was wrong? Where is the fairness in that?
I think the overreaction of the Baltimore County School system stems from the fact it is afraid of massive lawsuits being filed against the school and the school board if they don't take extreme action.
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Craven de Kere
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:37 pm
Well, if that's fine with you that's cool, just don't expect it to be fine for others.
Quote:
Why should the kids give back something they paid for because of something that someone else did that was wrong? Where is the fairness in that?
Huh? You are acting like they'll lose their yearbooks, that is usually not what happens. Usually, they'll just reprint that one page, rebind and put give em back.
What's so unfair about that?
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doglover
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Thu 3 Jun, 2004 04:40 pm
What's unfair Craven, is that this is Senior Week....when the kids get their yearbooks signed by friends and teachers. It's also unfair because the kids who don't return their yearbooks won't be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.
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