don't tell me political correctness is sane

ok people, to make sure we don't hurt the feelings of those who fail, we're going to stop using that word. Instead, we'll use a lighter, more pleasent term.

news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=AtqafYiDi6iqSXHMJOzcF2IuQE4F;_ylu=X3o'___'A4cmUwbnA1BHNlYwMxNzAy

excuse me, i think i have to go puke.

I read that in the paper earlier today.

I think that if the word 'fail' demoralizes the student, than good, it will strike fear in them and they will work harder to succeed.
Every child is afraid of failing in school, alot has to do with fear of their parents disaproval, or just the embarassment of being in a class with kids younger than they are.

The word fail wouldn't even demoralize the student if the teachers and their peers didn't make it out as being a total life-shattering experience.

Does this mean that the people who came up with this idea had 'deferred intelligence?'

Probably 99% of political correctness is complete garbage. The only part of it that I agree with totally is that there are certain offensive racial and other epithets that should not be used, period.

Even this can be overdone though. Probably many of you computer types will have heard of master/slave devices. Well, somebody thought that this was offensive, and, well, I'll let you read the story here

Any black people care to comment on that one? It seems completely overboard to me, but then, my ancestors weren't inhumanely forced into slavery for generations.

I guess everybody draws the line between 'political correctness' and 'ridiculousness' at different places.

Oh, and one other thing, where I live (Alberta, Canada) students are no longer able to fail (oops, I mean, defer success) unless their parents permit their child to be held back. This started at least a decade ago, I think in the early 90s; I was in grade school when it happened, anyway. Dunno what you think of that, but I think it's disgusting. I knew a girl in junior high who skipped at least 3 days a week, and another guy who drew snide comments from classmates if he actually attended two days in a row. They advanced from grade to grade like this, until both ended up dropping out.

"Affirmative actions only produce negative results"--Me


I've actually tried to converse with someone who was so "PC" that I couldn't understand anything he tried to say...He was a bureaucrat...

[edit on 22-7-2005 by MidnightDStroyer]

I think you need to gauge who you are talking to in order to determine how politically correct you need to be. For example, if I am talking with one of my coworkers who is black, I would have no problem refering to the devices as Master/Slave, since he would be aware of that particular jargon when working on computers. But if I was having a casual conversation at a bar after work, and was talking to a black person who did not work with computers, I probably would not refer to the devices using those terms.

So I think you would need to do the same when working with a student as to whether or not you use the term 'failure'. If the child is being verbally abused at home, constantly being told he is a failure, is worthless etc, you may want to try to use a term other than failure.

Ehh, just my 2 cents...

I've never been one that cares about poliltical correctness. If you are that sensitive that you are going to be offended then so be it. There is no constitutional right againsts NOT being offended. Besides, if you replace the words such as "failure" with "intellectualy challenged" isn't that going to mean the same thing. All we are doing is substituting one word for another. Seems like non sense if you ask me. If you failed you failed, whether do to laziness, stupidity or whatever....you are still a failure, and no mixing of other terms is going to negate that. People should get over this already

Did you hear in california they tried to get computer parts manufacturers to change the labeling of drive setting designations from slave/master to something else? I mean that doesnt even make sense, since you can manually SET the slave/master settings on any given drive, so whos it going to offend? the techs that open the computers up? the computer itself? I think the case was thrown out, but the sheer "Deferrence of common sense" is plain for everyone to see.

This stuff is way out of control, and it is hypocritical. Until i see a black lesbian woman as president of the united states, I wont believe in the sincerity of the politcal correctness they spew.