Michigan Teacher Fired for saying 'Vagina' in Class?

[Canadian Visitor]

Article originally from the Guardian, but linked here via the National Post.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/wo...minine-imagery

This is why Americans get a reputation for being prudish.

[lpg]

This is another example of political correctness running amuck. Everyone is offended by everything and everybody. If I don't like something no one else should either and it should be banned. We are being suffocated by this crap.

[ndavies]

I think there is more to this story than the one sided claims from the teacher. The school claims she was a substitute art teacher who was not brought back because she wouldn't follow the schools art curriculum.

The school said they would have not further comment.

I'll wait to see what comes out of the lawsuit.

[Zacha341]

Hah! It must be the one of the few areas remaining so [[prudish that is!).

This is why Americans get a reputation for being prudish.

[Scottathew]

The school district paints a very different picture of the circumstances surrounding her dismissal.

[jackie5275]

This article is mostly lifted from the Detroit Free Press article about this that was online last weekend. I don't think that the topic of O'Keefe's imagery should be avoided. However, I do think that middle school students aren't ready or mature enough to be taught about it. My kid is in middle school right now. His school teaches sex ed over 6 through 8th grades getting more clinical & explicit every year. Every aspect gets covered by the time they're in 8th grade. Some kids aren't at the same maturity level to understand it all as others. I really think this would be more appropriate to be taught at a high school level where more kids are at the same level. There's plenty of other art history that can be taught at the middle school level.

[G-DDT]

The thing about this is that it would've happened back in the 50's in some areas in this country. We are a country that glorifies violence [[hero maims and destroys a villain in a most grotesque manner and then cracks a joke about it). In other countries, they are more comfortable with their biology, so sex doesn't become an obsession, therefor doesn't develop into a tensely curious emphasis for many of us who let it dominate us so compulsively [[like that cookie jar way up on that cupboard you aren't supposed to look at). In England guns are hard to come by, but boobies may appear on their shows with no controversy.

There probably is more to this story.

It is really up to the parents to be teaching sex ed [[and not hide behind a text book the way my folks did). My hormones kicked in around 6th grade [[whether I wanted them to or not, and not all the Bauhaus fantasies of and unnatural and clinically sterile life could protect me from the biological messiness of sex-Autobots come to my rescue!-similar jokes were made by Jan & Stan Berenstain in their books where it shows a kid's pirate fantasy being overtaken by naked women.), and I lost my virginity the summer after i graduated out of 8th grade.

I fear with the internet and the way "sex appeal" is almost foisted up on folks [[where as we in the 90's had such a deeply ingrained skepticism of all things commercially manipulative, that even sex was instinctively and accurately viewed derisively by my generation as just another means to control the masses.) as a value of beauty and worth and basis of humor, kids are going to hone in that there is something to it and snoop it out from all the wrong sources that will put poorly emphasized notions into their head.

[Canadian Visitor]

For those referencing sex-ed.

Proper body parts, including for genitals are Grade 1 instruction in Ontario.

Puberty is taught by Grade 5

Contraception, STIs etc. by Grade 7

****

With respect to general prudishness; I just think 'Janet Jackson Nipplegate'

In Canada its been legal for women to walk down the street topless for more than 20 years.

[[not to say its commonplace)

We're not as open as many Europeans........

But not quite so wired to have a scandal over a someone under 18, maybe seeing a nipple.

LOL

[Jimaz]

... In Canada its been legal for women to walk down the street topless for more than 20 years.

[[not to say its commonplace)...

Canada's too cold. LOL

My first thought was that she successfully educated far more people than just those in her class.

She's SUPERTEACHER!

Another lesson learned here: Don't do your job too well or you'll get fired.

[gvidas]

And anyway contemporary critics agree O'Keefe's work is about the vulva.

[canuck]

Maybe she meant "Angina". That would have been a proper word. Some kids get all worked up over a little word like vagina.

Reminds me of a time I used to live in Dublin, Ireland. I used to work in a set building shop there and at break time the kids from the neighborhood would come and visit us. One morning, a little 8yr old girl named Jackie introduced us to her two-three yr old sister she had just lifted with difficulty and held to her hip.

That's moy sistuh, she's smert, she can say "bollocks".

C'm'on; say bollocks you little c...t!

That was a particularly happy moment in my life... lol

[Bigb23]

I saw this on TV the other day, and got this from Wiki. Only in America circa 1960 - clothe all animals bigger than 6" for public decency.

Support and Anthems

SINA actually acquired ardent supporters, some of whom attempted to contribute a great deal of money.^[2] That aided SINA's [[false) claims of gaining momentum - at one time they claimed tens of thousands of members. They also published a newsletter, in an issue of which is this anthem:


High on the wings of SINA / we fight for the future now;Let's clothe every pet and animal / whether dog, cat, horse or cow!G. Clifford Prout, our President / he works for you and me,So clothe all your pets and join the march / for worldwide Decency!S.I.N.A., that's our call / all for one and one for all.Hoist our flag for all to see / waving for Morality.Onward we strive together / stronger in every way,All mankind and his animal friends / for SINA, S-I-N-A!


This does not surprise me at all, and many of these supporters are still alive today.

[KJ5]

My reply to this thread has been commended for being strongly vaginal.

[Richard]

This is another example of political correctness running amuck. Everyone is offended by everything and everybody. If I don't like something no one else should either and it should be banned. We are being suffocated by this crap.

https://www.facebook.com/yourmajesty...5717717162711/


Sorry,do not know how to post it as a link without the Facebook part.

[Wesley Mouch]

This is another example of political correctness running amuck. Everyone is offended by everything and everybody. If I don't like something no one else should either and it should be banned. We are being suffocated by this crap.

I don't so much see political correctness, but see zero-tolerance running amuck. Why would a school need such a rule? If it existed, and it was properly told to teachers, well then it might have been a minor infraction. But a rule about saying any word resulting in termination? That seems inappropriate. We don't have to decide whether vagina can be said in class to say that firing a teacher for saying vagina is a but too much.

While I have your obsessive-compulsive attention [[with the dash), is it zero-tolerance [[with dash)? And is it amuck or amok. http://grammarist.com/spelling/amok-amuck/ Is there a rule where teachers can't say amok/amuck too?

[lpg]

I don't so much see political correctness, but see zero-tolerance running amuck. Why would a school need such a rule? If it existed, and it was properly told to teachers, well then it might have been a minor infraction. But a rule about saying any word resulting in termination? That seems inappropriate. We don't have to decide whether vagina can be said in class to say that firing a teacher for saying vagina is a but too much.

While I have your obsessive-compulsive attention [[with the dash), is it zero-tolerance [[with dash)? And is it amuck or amok. http://grammarist.com/spelling/amok-amuck/ Is there a rule where teachers can't say amok/amuck too?

I like the old spelling...lol. Why do you think I am obsessive-compulsive [[with the dash) ?

[Jimaz]

My reply to this thread has been commended for being strongly vaginal.

"Bothers" is an understatement. It's the ultimate political weapon.

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[Danny]

Vagina? I thought she meant Virginia! There goes our freedom of Speech.

[beachboy]

From the article: The next day, according to Wint, she was reprimanded by a school official, who noted that she had said the word “vagina … without previous approval.”

The school district paints a very different picture of the circumstances surrounding her dismissal.

Clearly, the dismissed teacher did not obtain Permission To Speak [[PTS). I've heard that, in most Michigan school districts, this activity can be permitted by forming one's political team with colleagues [[after submitting an Internal Review Board [[IRB) request), then obtaining, filling out, and submitting Form 1143[[b) version 243.26 and Form 2224[[c) version 242.35. Similar process elsewhere, but the form numbers differ. Crucial to get the correct forms and versions.

[canuck]

From the article: The next day, according to Wint, she was reprimanded by a school official, who noted that she had said the word “vagina … without previous approval.”



Clearly, the dismissed teacher did not obtain Permission To Speak [[PTS). I've heard that, in most Michigan school districts, this activity can be permitted by forming one's political team with colleagues [[after submitting an Internal Review Board [[IRB) request), then obtaining, filling out, and submitting Form 1143[[b) version 243.26 and Form 2224[[c) version 242.35. Similar process elsewhere, but the form numbers differ. Crucial to get the correct forms and versions.

Prom is, there is a paucity of pornography, not enough emphasis on the lurid side of sexuality, dirty connotations and deceptive angles. When a word like vagina comes out of a teacher's mouth, we tend to shrink down to a sorry state of disapproval. I am allergic to the syllables that make up the "v" word but that is neither here nor there. The point is there are plenty of historical precedents for this and they all point to the same malaise. Archie Bunker had a hard time with "pregnancy", it was almost the masculine version of contractions.

[G-DDT]

^^^^Archie also had trouble with the word "minstrel".

As for SINA: that was one of Buck Henry's earliest gigs. One interviewing journalist caught on as to who he was and what this was about, chided him a bit on the identity of Buck Henry, and then cut the interview short as if he wanted the hoax to carry on [[the media more than willing to allow a fabrication to carry on in it's unbridled momentum without challenging it?-who would've thunk it?!!-heh heh.). It was my understanding that there "HQ" was a rented out empty janitor's closet perpetually locked. If anyone peeped through the keyhole, they'd see it was lit by a bare bulb and a giant cut-out stand-up of the backside of a clothed horse was facing them. Long live Alan Abel and all of his drum lessons!

It was all a wonderful hoax to take an extreme and tweak people's reactions-which was harmless. However, as it applies to the present, it is also why I trust very little of what passes for extremist "factual" stories or gaff from "real" pundits. I feel a lot of what we learn from our information sources are fabrications designed to sway and motivate us in one direction or another. This could be applied to anything [[Want to sell more of a product?-pull it off the shelves and try a "new" formula that tested poorly, watch people grimace, then bring back the "classic" formula with heightened sales to follow. I even often wonder to what real motive the self-sabotaging Edison Alternating Current dog-frying demonstrations were actually aiming for?). If I wanted to, I can send guys in who are "homeless", "Muslim", or "Christian" to act up to the extreme in plain sight of all and eventually sway public opinion against the more humble genuine articles.

I think we are dealing with zero-tolerance taken much too far, as stated above.

Regarding art education, I highly doubt Sister Wendy Beckett would've been unable to draw the parallel with O'Keeffe and all things vaginal. She seemed rather unprovoked when it comes to things like Venus or "canoodling peasants".

[Bigb23]

^^^^ Good take on it.

But to watch the euro commercials on YouTube, leaves so much to be desired on this side of the pond.

Living on Lake St. Clair growing up, I had access to CKCO over the air in the late 60's and early 70's.

They showed art films back then that would be considered hard "R" nowadays. Yeeeaaah - Canucks.

Probably the first "Pizza Boys" in North America.

Although more French than I would like.

[canuck]

^^^^Archie also had trouble with the word "minstrel".

As for SINA: that was one of Buck Henry's earliest gigs. One interviewing journalist caught on as to who he was and what this was about, chided him a bit on the identity of Buck Henry, and then cut the interview short as if he wanted the hoax to carry on [[the media more than willing to allow a fabrication to carry on in it's unbridled momentum without challenging it?-who would've thunk it?!!-heh heh.). It was my understanding that there "HQ" was a rented out empty janitor's closet perpetually locked. If anyone peeped through the keyhole, they'd see it was lit by a bare bulb and a giant cut-out stand-up of the backside of a clothed horse was facing them. Long live Alan Abel and all of his drum lessons!

It was all a wonderful hoax to take an extreme and tweak people's reactions-which was harmless. However, as it applies to the present, it is also why I trust very little of what passes for extremist "factual" stories or gaff from "real" pundits. I feel a lot of what we learn from our information sources are fabrications designed to sway and motivate us in one direction or another. This could be applied to anything [[Want to sell more of a product?-pull it off the shelves and try a "new" formula that tested poorly, watch people grimace, then bring back the "classic" formula with heightened sales to follow. I even often wonder to what real motive the self-sabotaging Edison Alternating Current dog-frying demonstrations were actually aiming for?). If I wanted to, I can send guys in who are "homeless", "Muslim", or "Christian" to act up to the extreme in plain sight of all and eventually sway public opinion against the more humble genuine articles.

I think we are dealing with zero-tolerance taken much too far, as stated above.

Regarding art education, I highly doubt Sister Wendy Beckett would've been unable to draw the parallel with O'Keeffe and all things vaginal. She seemed rather unprovoked when it comes to things like Venus or "canoodling peasants".

Yes but, what happens to poor Volkswagen when a lone engineer [[megachuckles) takes it on himself to design tricky software that Adolf would have patted Dr Porsche's shoulder for?

Damned media hitting on poor VW till it hurts?

[jcole]

How about this ridiculous commercial? I can only guess it was written by men who think euphemisms for body parts are more acceptable than the correct anatomical names.
I remember my mother using the term used in the commercial back in the '60's for God sake; haven't we grown AT ALL since then?

[Wesley Mouch]

From the article: The next day, according to Wint, she was reprimanded by a school official, who noted that she had said the word “vagina … without previous approval.”

Clearly, the dismissed teacher did not obtain Permission To Speak [[PTS). I've heard that, in most Michigan school districts, this activity can be permitted by forming one's political team with colleagues [[after submitting an Internal Review Board [[IRB) request), then obtaining, filling out, and submitting Form 1143[[b) version 243.26 and Form 2224[[c) version 242.35. Similar process elsewhere, but the form numbers differ. Crucial to get the correct forms and versions.

Do not forget that PTS only applies to the intended use of a phrase, not incidental uses.

But seriously folks, I trust that this teacher will be far happier in the future, after she's hired by non-Bunkers.

And thank G0d that parents have some choice of schools these days. Let's hope there's a progressive charter school in Battle Creek.