High School Teacher Bans Students From saying "Bless You"

the redundant or irrelevant nature of the phrase aside, this is absurd. people i know that are completely non-religious say 'bless you'. it's polite. it's as simple as that. screw this self righteous teacher on his crusade against tradition because he thinks it "doesn't make sense". what an ass. for real. i can't even believe that this clown would try and make an example out of this kid because of his personal feelings about a phrase. if this was truly about class disruption, and not a religious phrase, the teacher wouldnt have gone out of his way to point out the history of the phrase and why it no longer makes sense in modern times. the guy's full of it. it's a personal crusade for him.

Are Many ATHEISTS Offended By Receiving May GOD BLESS You's When They Sneeze?, somewhat relevant topic.

Quite honestly, I don't see any reason to assume he's lying when he says it's not a religion. I'm sure he's banned 'Excuse you' and any other phrase that responds to sneezing.

He must be an uptight teacher to care about the few seconds of loss, but he probably doesn't want to have to stop teaching repeatedly(it is sick season) during he lesson, brief a pause as possible and keep going.

If he's OK with other expressions still, completely different story.

I'm all for freedom of religious expression by students in schools, as long as it's done appropriately. I don't see that freedom being infringed here.

we must ugently replace the words after a sneeze "bless you" with the quick and easy phrase "keep it down stuffy im trying to learn here".

People seriously lighten up, just because im not religous im not going to stop saying "oh my god" when i hit my thumb with a hammer, or remove "sweet lord" or "for gods sake" from my list of things to say when shocked.

Far more annoying to be refused fuel at a peterol station till my bike helmets removed, while i watch a woman (? who knows) with a burqa fill up and go inside and pay - and they dont trust me with a tiny amount of fuel *sigh*

Originally posted by neo96

Bless you.” For uttering those words, a student at William C. Wood High School in Vacaville, Calif. was punished this week by a teacher who claimed that the student disrupted his classroom. “It’s not … got anything to do with religion,” Wood High health teacher Steve Cuckovich told KTXL News in Sacramento. “It’s got to do with an interruption of class time.”

www.hapblog.com...

So what ever happened to freedom of speech in america? Someone sneezes everyone says "Bless You" whats the deal?

disrupting class? yeah right theres more to than a sneeze disrupting class yet another attack on christians in school is my take.

and of all places the peoples republic of california i have said this time and time agian on this website schools have always been about freeing a students mind not keeping them repressed and indoctrinated into whatever "teacher" deems to be a "disruption".

the country has gone stupid and its only getting more stupid by the day.

what say you ats?

edit on 29-9-2011 by neo96 because: (no reason given)

yeah, saw this.

don't want to say anything about the teacher but...........

he should be fired!! j/k

it is stupid unless the kids are jerking this guy around and some kid fakes a sneeze and the whole class says "god bless you" one at a time, brilliant!



not below some stuff we've done in HS. lol!

especially if the kids find a "chink in the armor."

the quotation marks absolve me from being racist.

It's a mannerly custom.

The kids in that teachers class should quit using manners towards that teacher.


Gesundheit is another term used when people sneeze. All it means is wishing them better health. Same with "Bless you". Wishing them better health.

May that teacher get a very nasty cancer in his rectum and suffer horrifically. See, i didn't show him manners as he wished. May that teachers pupils all pee upon his Prius.....

Oh sure! I'm sure saying "bless you" was a real distraction for other students! Puh-lease! It is such a common saying/reaction to a person who just sneezed, that I doubt anyone gave it a second though. Or even really noticed that kid saying it. Although, if the person sneezing was having a sneezing fit, sneeze after sneeze (i hate those), then saying "bless you" after each sneeze would eventually grate on my nerves.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

So what ever happened to freedom of speech in america?

This from someone who believes only "property owners" should have the right to vote? How ironic to get irate about a sneeze, when you support taking the vote from people because they don't own their own home.

Isn't voting a direct act of free speech? Is it less important than a courtesy after a sneeze?

This just in: The teacher who did this is a member of the tea party!

Originally posted by angeldoll

This just in: The teacher who did this is a member of the tea party!

edit on 9/30/2011 by angeldoll because: (no reason given)

Source?
Please, do tell. . . .

some people are so ridiculous, making a caring gesture when some one sneezes is ok, next time when I fart next time I am not going to say excuse me... i am just going to sit their backing and the abiance!!

"god bless you"

as i remember it, is they believed the soul was expelled from the body and you said 'god bless you"

to bring it back.

goesintight is just a... well you can tell what that was about.

I remember a couple of teachers when I was in high school did this in their classrooms.

It wasnt because of some religious nonsense. It was because a sneeze is a sneeze but when a class full of degenerate bastards get an opportunity to "lawfully disrupt" they run with it.

A kid sneezes and there's no interruption. A kid sneezes and 30 other kids all have to look over and say "bless you" it makes for a solid distraction and interruption. And of course there's always the handful of idiots who have to say it in some assinine way they think is funny.

What the hell does it mean anyway? And what am I supposed to say after the fact, Thanks? And why isnt there some standardized statement made for a fart?

reply to post by neo96


Yeah, this happened to me years ago, in the fourth grade.
I don't see it ever going anywhere. They tried to enforce it back then, but it was only a couple of days later and every parent with a child in her class was screaming for blood. It's like trying to stop people from saying 'excuse me' when the bump into someone.

What else is new? A religiously charged thread and blog from people who have never had to deal with a classroom full of spoiled brats (painting with a broad brush...forgive me, but high school kids are the worst).

Recipe for flags and stars:

-A few knee jerk reactions
-A dash of "I don't care about context and details"
-A whole lot of biased interpretations/opinions from the regulars
-Misplaced Anger
-Unnecessary Outrage
-Throw in a splash of "freedom of speech" and "constitutional rights"
-And at least 50 percent of the posts being from ATSers who only read thread titles.

Follow these steps and you will have a hit thread on ATS these days.

reply to post by yadda333
You forgot annoying post criticizing the OP and the main story without countering with anything constructive.

I'm not religious.. and I made a point years ago of no longer saying 'bless you' when someone sneezes. However it is a harmless automatic response for when people sneeze and there really is no harm in it. None! On the odd occasion I still catch myself saying it.

Also, in one of my jobs, I am a teacher/educator. I would never feel it's my right inside the classroom (or out) to tell a student what they can and cannot say (within reason of course) and what rituals they can and cannot observe. This teacher has a personal agenda, and if she needs to exercise that much control to keep her students engaged in her classes, then she's simply a lousy teacher and would probably be more suited cleaning toilets or mopping floors. Some type of job that requires no interaction with other human beings.

My 2c!

IRM

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
I'm not religious.. and I made a point years ago of no longer saying 'bless you' when someone sneezes. However it is a harmless automatic response for when people sneeze and there really is no harm in it. None! On the odd occasion I still catch myself saying it.

Also, in one of my jobs, I am a teacher/educator. I would never feel it's my right inside the classroom (or out) to tell a student what they can and cannot say (within reason of course) and what rituals they can and cannot observe. This teacher has a personal agenda, and if she needs to exercise that much control to keep her students engaged in her classes, then she's simply a lousy teacher and would probably be more suited cleaning toilets or mopping floors. Some type of job that requires no interaction with other human beings.

My 2c!

IRM

wow..all these unqualified teachers..?? amazing.. would love to have a camera on full time on the teachers who are so above reproach..and know how to handle every "human interaction" appropriately.

I have seen some good teachers have bad days..as well as students who push the limits ..

Just as I have seen many parents have bad days, when their children push the limits and boundaries.

This is not saying there aren't some teachers who should absolutely find another profession... but to say this guy had no merit whatsoever.. as a teacher, because of this..is going a little far.

I hope some of you are happy when the day comes, where education will no longer be able to be publicly funded....

There may be many of you.. who will be paying out of your own pockets to have this guy teach what he is very qualified to teach...despite his issues..with classroom disruption of .."bless you"

Originally posted by buster2010
The students never said god bless you they just said bless you the god part was added on by the tv station and the parent. So seeing how god wasn't mentioned how was this an attack on religion? Also when it boils down to religion and public schools.

“The blessing really doesn’t make sense anymore,” Cuckovich explained. “When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So they were saying, ‘God bless you,’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, what you’re doing really doesn’t make sense.”

The teacher is the one that linked it to religion, and brought up the word "God" when he said the above. He probably should've kept his big mouth shut if he wanted to claim it was only about keeping order.

Saying "bless you" is a social grace. It's in the same vein as "excuse me". Is it outdated? Maybe, but I was brought up in the world of social graces so I'm biased towards it. But it seems like every time the word "God" is said, someone gets their panties in a wad.

God, God, God.

Does that burn or something? Do people blister, or get a rash when that word is mentioned? It really boggles me.

/TOA

reply to post by neo96


Oh, neo. Looks like you took what FOX reported as gospel, without a bit of critical thought first.

It all started when high school health teacher Steve Cuckovich disciplined his freshman students at Will C. Wood High School last week for repeatedly disrupting class by responding to sneezes with a overenthusiastic chorus of "Bless You."

The sneezer would then thank each giver of the blessing individually. Cuckovich, as teachers have done since time immemorial, decided to nip that behavior in the bud by docking student grades for the offense. A parent saw the deduction and made a phone call - not to the teacher or the principal or even an elected official, said district Superintendent John Niederkorn.

And that's about when Cuckovich found a local Fox TV news reporter in his classroom asking why he was banning "Bless you." Read more: www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2011/09/30/BAB11LBSGI.DTL#ixzz1ZVD0kl41

.... for repeatedly disrupting class by responding to sneezes with a overenthusiastic chorus of "Bless You."

The sneezer would then thank each giver of the blessing individually.

OK, that's hilarious. "Thank you Tommy, and thank you Mary, and thanks Steve...oh thanks Frank,"
Wish I had thought of that when I was a youngster

Back on topic, knowing the actual situation puts things in to perspective. Who knows, maybe he did explain the proper use of the word, and why misusing it is disruptive, but at the end of the day he probably just had to draw the line somewhere.

reply to post by dyllels

Apart from that, deducting a child's grade for saying 'bless you', leads me to think the teacher has some sort of religious stigma

spot on. if it were one child disrupting class with "bless you", then that student would be punished. the word wouldn't be banned.

the college i go to now has alot of higher ups that are very hostile to christians, so i can easily envision this happening in california.

as for "bless you" not making sense these days, neither does saluting, hand shaking, suits and ties (really, who thought ties were a good idea?), or giving someone the finger.

saluting was done to hold up the visor of your helmet back when suits of armor were battle attire, hand shaking was done to make sure the person you were talking to didn't have a knife hidden up their sleeve that they were going to kill you with, the suit and neck tie are descendents of the cravat which was worn by croatian mercinaries beginning in 1630, and flicking someone off started with the greeks serving as an aggressive phallic gesture to serve as a sexual put-down.

those things are widely used today, yet they have no real purpose in society, they're just leftovers from culture. exactly like saying "god bless you".