My child's teacher in middle school has rules about what they aren't allowed to say in class

[Anonymous]

I'm from New York, and until recently I had never heard that Oh my God was any kind of curse or swearing unless you traveled back in time a few hundred years. Up there it is uttered so often and so constantly by absolutely everyone that even a priest wouldn't raise an eyebrow - and might actually use the phrase himself. So it is completely bizarre to me that people down here say it's swearing - to me that is a uber religious and old-fashioned idea. So when teachers here take offense to it, I get angry - I am an atheist and feel strongly that this is Christian imposition on everyone else (of the Jesus freak variety, not even the normal kind of Christian). I don't know if this is common down here in the south, but it really irks me, to the point of hoping someone brings a lawsuit or something.

[Anonymous]

Ok..once more, listen carefully: This is NOT an issue with religion or cursing. It's tween-age disrespect...that's all. It has nothing to do with GOD.

This entire thread could be held up as an example as to why decisions made about education by people who ARE NOT educators never work. People are clueless as to what children are like today.
OH MY GOD!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:not worth critiquing. and "OMG" often comes with attitude from middle schoolers.

THIS


Now end this stupid, irrational duscusion.

[Anonymous]

I think he really means OMG.
Schools have a whole list of words they cant use: the h word, the s word, the m word, the I word and on and on. just another word on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from New York, and until recently I had never heard that Oh my God was any kind of curse or swearing unless you traveled back in time a few hundred years. Up there it is uttered so often and so constantly by absolutely everyone that even a priest wouldn't raise an eyebrow - and might actually use the phrase himself. So it is completely bizarre to me that people down here say it's swearing - to me that is a uber religious and old-fashioned idea. So when teachers here take offense to it, I get angry - I am an atheist and feel strongly that this is Christian imposition on everyone else (of the Jesus freak variety, not even the normal kind of Christian). I don't know if this is common down here in the south, but it really irks me, to the point of hoping someone brings a lawsuit or something.

Ah, New York. Nice place to visit...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Lumpish codpiece is not appropriate for a child. You know what it means, so why recommend it?

Oh, good grief.

As far as I can tell, there is no "lumpish codpiece" in any of Shakespeare's writings. Lumpish yes, and codpiece yes, but not together.

Who said anything about Shakespeare in particular? I wouldn't want my kid using the term as a substitute for "oh my gosh." If you want your kid to talk about scrotum-covering genital-accentuating accessories, feel free.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codpiece

[Anonymous]

It seems to me that OP's DD (and OP) has a hard time picking up the subtlety of a dry sense of humor. He sounds to me like a great teacher and in addition to learning to communicate appropriately perhaps the DD will learn a bit more about different styles of communicating.

FWIW, I would take what she reports as the teacher joking when it comes to the candy. Serious about the kids speaking appropriately in class and probably not likely to come down super hard on language slip-ups if he can tell the kids are sincerely working on it, apologize quickly after a mistake. I would be very surprised if the teacher is calling parents about it unless it is a repeated disrespect of class rules situation. Sure he's being super hard on them right now -- effective teachers have to be tough at the beginning of the year while setting expectations.

My DS griped all through the start of 6th grade about how "mean" his band teacher was. Then he liked her. Recently he was explaining to DD (who will be in band next year) that Ms. X is mean but great and it's ok because good band teachers have to be kind of mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok..once more, listen carefully: This is NOT an issue with religion or cursing. It's tween-age disrespect...that's all. It has nothing to do with GOD.

This entire thread could be held up as an example as to why decisions made about education by people who ARE NOT educators never work. People are clueless as to what children are like today.
OH MY GOD!

OP here. The teacher said that the restriction against Oh my God and Oh my gosh were specifically because it's insulting to others because of saying "God" or the substitute "Gosh" which is why he told the kids to say, "Oh my goodness gracious" instead. The others like OMG, LOL and Legit was because it's text talk. The others like "I hate" and "Shut up" were because it's rude (which I agree with).

As to some other questions people asked me:

This is my daughter's 3rd year in this middle school. She is in 8th grader. We haven't had this type of policy in any of her 6th or 7th grade classes or from the other 8th grade teachers this year.

This is not a school in the DC area (although we used to live there which is why I am on the board).

I haven't heard that this is a "beloved" teacher or otherwise. There are only two 8th grade math teachers and the other one won "teacher of the year" a couple of years back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok..once more, listen carefully: This is NOT an issue with religion or cursing. It's tween-age disrespect...that's all. It has nothing to do with GOD.

This entire thread could be held up as an example as to why decisions made about education by people who ARE NOT educators never work. People are clueless as to what children are like today.
OH MY GOD!

OP here. The teacher said that the restriction against Oh my God and Oh my gosh were specifically because it's insulting to others because of saying "God" or the substitute "Gosh" which is why he told the kids to say, "Oh my goodness gracious" instead. The others like OMG, LOL and Legit was because it's text talk. The others like "I hate" and "Shut up" were because it's rude (which I agree with).

As to some other questions people asked me:

This is my daughter's 3rd year in this middle school. She is in 8th grader. We haven't had this type of policy in any of her 6th or 7th grade classes or from the other 8th grade teachers this year.

This is not a school in the DC area (although we used to live there which is why I am on the board).

I haven't heard that this is a "beloved" teacher or otherwise. There are only two 8th grade math teachers and the other one won "teacher of the year" a couple of years back.

So it is a micro aggression for some people...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that OP's DD (and OP) has a hard time picking up the subtlety of a dry sense of humor. He sounds to me like a great teacher and in addition to learning to communicate appropriately perhaps the DD will learn a bit more about different styles of communicating.

FWIW, I would take what she reports as the teacher joking when it comes to the candy. Serious about the kids speaking appropriately in class and probably not likely to come down super hard on language slip-ups if he can tell the kids are sincerely working on it, apologize quickly after a mistake. I would be very surprised if the teacher is calling parents about it unless it is a repeated disrespect of class rules situation. Sure he's being super hard on them right now -- effective teachers have to be tough at the beginning of the year while setting expectations.

My DS griped all through the start of 6th grade about how "mean" his band teacher was. Then he liked her. Recently he was explaining to DD (who will be in band next year) that Ms. X is mean but great and it's ok because good band teachers have to be kind of mean.

This.

I had teachers who did similar "quizzes" when I was in school 20 years ago--come to think of it, they were math teachers too! Maybe it's a trick they learn in school to let the students know they aren't totally serious people. No one actually brought them any candy though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. I really do not think the teacher is trying to be humorous. He told the class that last year he received 300 candy bars from his students as if he expected the same this year. I just asked my daughter what the banished words/phrases are:

OMG
Oh my gosh
oh my God
literally
I hate
like
any text talk: LOL, legit, etc.

Someone got spoken to harshly for saying "LOL" yesterday.

He spoke harshly to a kid who said "LOL" He said "Why would you say LOL when you didn't laugh out loud?"

This man is my hero. He is doing your daughter a huge favor by teaching her not to sound like an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that OP's DD (and OP) has a hard time picking up the subtlety of a dry sense of humor. He sounds to me like a great teacher and in addition to learning to communicate appropriately perhaps the DD will learn a bit more about different styles of communicating.

FWIW, I would take what she reports as the teacher joking when it comes to the candy. Serious about the kids speaking appropriately in class and probably not likely to come down super hard on language slip-ups if he can tell the kids are sincerely working on it, apologize quickly after a mistake. I would be very surprised if the teacher is calling parents about it unless it is a repeated disrespect of class rules situation. Sure he's being super hard on them right now -- effective teachers have to be tough at the beginning of the year while setting expectations.

My DS griped all through the start of 6th grade about how "mean" his band teacher was. Then he liked her. Recently he was explaining to DD (who will be in band next year) that Ms. X is mean but great and it's ok because good band teachers have to be kind of mean.

I would have thought that too. But it does not appear that this is a dry sense of humor which I actually appreciate. He just seems very strict. He sent home a sheet with the classroom grading policy for parents to sign to be brought in the next day. A few kids did not bring it in the following day but the day later. This sheet counted as a grade and the ones who brought it in the second day received a 75% because it was a day late. This was the first week of school! I'd like to be proven wrong and hope that he is being so strict in the beginning to set the tone for the year. I will meet him next week at the Back-to-School night.

[Anonymous]

Strict is good. It's sad that strictness is so rare these days as to be worthy of comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that OP's DD (and OP) has a hard time picking up the subtlety of a dry sense of humor. He sounds to me like a great teacher and in addition to learning to communicate appropriately perhaps the DD will learn a bit more about different styles of communicating.

FWIW, I would take what she reports as the teacher joking when it comes to the candy. Serious about the kids speaking appropriately in class and probably not likely to come down super hard on language slip-ups if he can tell the kids are sincerely working on it, apologize quickly after a mistake. I would be very surprised if the teacher is calling parents about it unless it is a repeated disrespect of class rules situation. Sure he's being super hard on them right now -- effective teachers have to be tough at the beginning of the year while setting expectations.

My DS griped all through the start of 6th grade about how "mean" his band teacher was. Then he liked her. Recently he was explaining to DD (who will be in band next year) that Ms. X is mean but great and it's ok because good band teachers have to be kind of mean.

I would have thought that too. But it does not appear that this is a dry sense of humor which I actually appreciate. He just seems very strict. He sent home a sheet with the classroom grading policy for parents to sign to be brought in the next day. A few kids did not bring it in the following day but the day later. This sheet counted as a grade and the ones who brought it in the second day received a 75% because it was a day late. This was the first week of school! I'd like to be proven wrong and hope that he is being so strict in the beginning to set the tone for the year. I will meet him next week at the Back-to-School night.

You should be penalized for late assignments, especially when it's as easy as a signature! Math has homework almost every night, it will even out. You have to be strict at the beginning of the year or you never gain control over the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strict is good. It's sad that strictness is so rare these days as to be worthy of comment.

+1

The teacher may also feel added need to be especially strict as he is preparing these 8th graders for the even more challenging load of HS. I know my kids' 5th grade teacher definitely challenged them more and were explicit about the fact that they were doing it to get them ready for middle school.