Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Profanity in the Classroom?

Follow this link to an article about a recent controversy at St. Charles West HS:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/chas-beat/schools/2009/09/the-st-charles-west-high-schoolnwa-controversy-what-do-you-think/

...after reading the article and public reaction, what do you think? Who do you side with? Does profanity have a place in education? Explain.

22 comments:

  1. ok, the kids who complained are probably goodie goodies who have never said a bad word in their life. Get over it. Its high school. You hear all kinds of stuff every day and theres nothing you can do about it. As for the class and using profanity...i think if it helps them to learn the lesson, its definately fine. its CULTURAL communication, and this is definately a great example of a certain culture and the song was used appropriately

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  2. I would definantly side with the people who say that teacher was NOT at fault. It was a communacations class for college credit, so we should only look into the "nice" communication? No, the class is about how communication influences the culture and the start of "gangsta rap" has an obvious effect on culture. The teacher was NOT at fault, it's the naive parents we need to worry about.

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  3. I think that playing the song in class was completely acceptable. It is a college level course and if the song was played at an university no one would think anything of it. I believe that if the students signed up to take a college level class then they should be able to experience and learn what college students would. This content is in soceity and I am sure they have herd it or will here it at some point. It's part of the real world and I respect the teacher for letting her students discuss and learn about important issues.

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  4. Since it was a college credit class, not a class that is required to graduate either, those students should be prepared to hear things that they may not agree with or even enjoy. The teacher played a song that she felt was a good example of what she was explaining. Sure she may have wanted to warn the administration but those kids were 17 and 18 and as soon as they leave highschool, even in highschool, they'll at one point in their lives hear things like that. They're old enough now to be able to hear something like that and not have to throw a big fit about it later on. If it was a really big deal to them they could've just left the room or spoken up ahead of time that there are certain words they don't appreciate hearing, not run to the principal and make a huge deal about it right away.

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  5. I think that people need to remember that this is a dual credit class that has profanity in it if you can't stand it either leave the classroom or dont take the class at all. I side with the people on that matter and profanity for sure has a place in education that people need to figure out that is there because it is going on from classroom to the halls to the lunch room.

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  6. i think playing the song was fine because the lesson was associated with culture. and that song and many others like it are a part of our culture. so i see nothing wrong with that. maybe the teacher could of send a letter to all the parents telling them what kind of things would be going on in the class through out the year to avoid this situation. but i def think this is acceptable.

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  7. Ithink that it was wrong to play that song in school especially when she didnt even ask the principal for permission first. Then again she was just trying to teach a subject. She prolly didnt think that seniors would be like that and go off and tell on her. But then again some people probably got offended because their parents were a cop and they didnt like what that song was saying about them. I dont think it was that wrong.

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  8. First off, yes, the teacher should have gotten a song of that nature approved, but then again it was a duel enrollment class and i will almost bet in college that song, wether its offencive or not, probaly would be played because of the course title. This song, i think, was rightly played. And it's not like she chose that particular song just to piss someone off. It's a type of communication for that era, genre, and yes it is a controversal song but isn't that the point? ...to learn and understand cultural communication from all aspects. this is almost rediculous.

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  9. i think the lesson plan was fine. ive been through classes the same way where we talk about profanity etc. like adults. i think the teacher couldve at least let them know what she was doing with the kids and maybe explained her point of view. as long as everyone is mature about it, it shouldnt matter. people need to learn to face the facts of todays society.. people use vulgar language and you see and hear things that some people dont approve of.

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  10. I want to be a cop in the future and i could care less. While their sittin there sayin F*@# the police, I'm sittin here laughin cause i'll be the one shovin that dudes head into the ground. If your relatives were cops then i guess i would kind of understand, but who cares if it effects the police and other people then they did what they were tryin to do, gettin under your skin. Grow up and realize the difference between gangstas just talkin Sh@# and something that actually effects you lives.

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  11. I agree with everyone who thinks it wasn't wrong for the teacher to play the song. To teach how music affects a society then you need to play songs like this. It helps students learn and if a student has a problem with it then they should leave the classroom or just not take the class. It was their choice to take the class.

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  12. i think that the teacher was wrong for playing a song with explicit language but what she was trying to teach wasn't. it was a senior class and the kids are old enough and they probably use the language, so i dont understand why they would have a problem with the song. its reality they are going to meet people who uses such language, and it wasn't to teach the kids to use profanity it was to show cultural communication so the kids show of looked at the principle of the lesson.

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  13. In my opinion, its ridiculous thats anyone complained in the first place. Kids are constantly surrounded by the profanity their friends dish out along with television and todays popular culture alone is pretty much made of profanity. Not to mention this was a cc course and it was almost required to get across the massage the teacher was trying to get across about that culture which is all about profanity.These kids should be old and mature enough to handle the situation. Because prafanity and violence is a big part of hip hop culture.

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  14. Using profanity in that class is perfectly acceptable because it was used to teach a lesson about cultural behaviors and stuff and it was a COLLEGE credit class. Plus the class consisted of 17 and 18 year olds who are exposed to this stuff everyday so even if the song wasnt used, its not like it prevented anyone in that class to be exposed to it. Profanity is everywhere nowadays so those few people should stop freakin out.

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  15. I think the song would be acceptable because the lesson was about how offensive speech changed over time and with out showing a clear example a lot of people might be lost. The song did show the point of the speech. I believe that the best way to show something is by using a clear message, if other material was used it might have not given you a great message. What also sets me off is it is a college credit for seniors, so they are adults and should know the meaning or aiming of the speech.

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  16. I think before they enrolled into that college credit class, they need to realize that class should be exactly same as what are they going to see at college. That AP class is more seems like a sepreated part of High School courses. If students werent really for those unusual stuff come to their front. Then quit it,and that is not too late to switch their class to a regular course which with all formal stuff.

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  17. The song was profane, but that was what was being studied: the association of the profanitiy within the song. It wasn't being promoted, it was being discussed. The suspension of the teacher is very wrong to me because one parent stated she DID send home a packet explaining what they were to study (the song), and the parents were already 'in the know' of their children being in a college level course. The parents already had been informed of the class's extent. The teacher, in my opinion, did nothing wrong. She picked a subject to study and did just that.

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  18. i felt like it was appropriate because their seniors in a collage credit course so their old enough to know what a curse word is. If they can't handle it they need to grow up and stop being a 1 yr old.

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  19. The kids aretaking it to far they have heard the wordsbeforeeither from parents friends or the media. Those kids should be mature enough to take in what they are listing to and not be upset about the words. The teacher was just trying to teach her students. The teacher should have gone to a princple and asked for permission to play that song or told the students before hand so the students that didnt want to listen to it could have left the room.

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  20. I think that the song was profane and the teacher could have probably taken a differnt rout when teaching the class. Profane music like this should probably not be played in high school classroom, but given the fact that it was a college credit class room my opinion is kind of wavering whether or not the song should have been played, but i agree that high school seniors should be mature enough to listen to this music and not have to run and complain to administration.

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  21. I think that she could have gotten the same point across with out playing the song and everything would have been fine. They could have used something else or just talked about the lyrics and not offended anyone.

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  22. I think this reaction is blown out of proportion. It is a college level class and part of the lesson. If the student has a problem with the material they shouldnt take the class. It's there choice to be in there. At this level of education i think age wise anything can go.

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