Muad'dib

Headline:  "School asks deaf preschooler to change his sign language name."

Why?  Because weapons are forbidden at school.

23 comments:

MikeD said...

Yeah, I saw that yesterday. The boy's name is "Hunter". So I am sure the sign for his name is a rifle. The school says it will "compromise", but I'm certain that "compromise" will be to have him change the sign for his name. Which, by the way, is the exact same thing for the deaf as if I asked you to change your first name. "Oooh, sorry, we don't allow the name George here. Even saying it will get you suspended. You'll need to change your name."

Gringo said...

One reason there are so many doofus reactions on the part of the enforcers and creators of school rules is that Ed School majors have SAT scores lower than other majors.

The best many of them can do is parrot the script they were given. Thinking about why there are rules, and what constitutes a just interpretation of rules would be beyond the capabilities of many educators.

This is one unintended consequence of college educated women no longer being confined to the teaching and nursing professions.

Miss Ladybug said...

Education is dominated by people with left-leaning/liberal ideologies. I think that is a big part of the problem.

One radio report I heard last night said they want him to spell out his name instead of using the single sign. He's *3*! These people are idiots...

Cass said...

I'm not sure that's the real problem. I suspect living in a litigious society has more impact on policies set by school administrators.

The whole zero tolerance phenomenon (which is making significant inroads into the military as well) is a risk mitigation technique aimed at avoiding nuisance lawsuits.

Sadly, the risk is real. A few weeks ago I attended my #1 grandson's pre-K orientation.

I was flabbergasted when the school principle informed the parents that if their child's class has a party for any reason, NO HOMECOOKED BAKED GOODS WILL BE ALLOWED.

[thud]

IOW, parents *must* send in store-bought baked goods. Think about that for a moment. Is the risk any lower for store-bought goods? I doubt it.

But stores can be sued if they sell food that makes a child sick. So can the manufacturer.

I often wonder how mankind survived before we had bureaucrats to protect us from the risk of home cooked cupcakes? But on the otter heiny, can you imagine having to deal with this stupidity every day at work?

Cass said...

My prior comment was in reply to Gringo - Miss LB posted while I was still typing :)

Cass said...

"Oooh, sorry, we don't allow the name George here. Even saying it will get you suspended. You'll need to change your name."

I can only imagine the reaction if his name was Peter Gunn.

Anonymous said...

Cass, I shudder to imagine what the response would be, especially if a teacher had been a wymyn's studies minor! [wicked grin]

LittleRed1

E Hines said...

IOW, parents *must* send in store-bought baked goods.

Cool. I get to get rich off the criminal charge against the school officials of child abuse--forcing me to feed my kid carcinogenic preservatives.

...zero tolerance phenomenon...is a risk mitigation technique aimed at avoiding nuisance lawsuits.

Idiocy--I mean "zero tolerance"--is the wrong answer. The best way to eliminate nuisance suits is to destroy the nuisances. This is expensive in the initial battles, but it gets a whole lot cheaper over the long run.

And to answer the nuisances with ridicule--sort of why we're all Yankees, now. I'll name my deaf grandson (should I have one) Defiance. He can sign that.

Eric Hines

Anonymous said...

"zero tolerance" is a way to avoid responsibility while retaining authority-

MikeD said...

"Gunnar" was the name I thought would make their heads explode.

Cass said...

"zero tolerance" is a way to avoid responsibility while retaining authority-

Bingo :)

I shudder to think what it would be like to raise kids, now. When we got Sausage (mini-weiner dog), we had a family contest to name him.

Some of the names would probably have resulting in a visit from Child Protective Services. My favorites:

BeoWolf (misspelling intended)
Lars
Fang (trigger warning for canine violence!!!!11!)

I don't think my sense of humor would pass muster these days.

*sigh*

Cass said...

ARGGGHHHH!!! "resulted"

This job is crushing my soul...

E Hines said...

Some of the names would probably have resulting in a visit from Child Protective Services.

When my brother was fresh out of college he had a huge cat named, formally, "You Stupid Cat," "Stupid" for short, on the theory that that's what he'd be calling it, anyway. The cat repeatedly fought with skunks. Never learned. Or never could smell.

The SPCA today would have a conniption fit over that. Never mind that the cat was a thoroughly loved and well treated member of my brother's family.

Eric Hines

Cass said...

Speciests! :p

bthun said...

""zero tolerance" is a way to avoid responsibility while retaining authority- "

That covered the matter from soup to <EXPLETIVE DELETED> nuts.

Mr. Hines, for some reason I've had that image of defiance stuck in my head for the past several years.

Gringo said...

Cass:
When we got Sausage (mini-weiner dog), we had a family contest to name him.Some of the names would probably have resulting in a visit from Child Protective Services.

Perhaps the most risky dog naming I know of came from Paraguay, during the 35 years that Alfredo Stroessner was the dictator of that country. One year some American friends in Paraguay got a Christmas present of a German Shepherd pup from their children. The pup's complete name was "El Gran Macho Colorado." [Stroessner was the head of the Colorado Party, in addition to being the dictator.] Strict instructions were given that when in the presence of Paraguayans, to never call the dog by his full name, but only by Macho.

Cass, your point about fear of litigation is well taken, as is the comment about zero tolerance.

Grim said...

"Defiance" is a great name for a boy.

My favorite dog name is "Cardiac."

Cass said...

The pup's complete name was "El Gran Macho Colorado."

I love it!

Cass said...

*sigh*

How embarrassing. Reading your own past comments is not good for the ego:

school principle should be school principal.

Please forgive the many mistakes and brain farts of late. I miss commenting (and posting!), but only have a few moments in between tasks and obviously my brain isn't multi-tasking well.

Cass said...

My favorite name for a boy ever is "LAW". I have absolutely no idea what I think that's so funny, but it never fails to make me laugh.

Sig said...

Our mandatory fun annual holiday party for my National Guard unit also forbid home-baked goods; we were required to produce store-bought food (type according to last name, of course) in addition to paying in to the party fund (amount varying by pay grade and full-time-or-not status with the Guard) and contributing gift baskets for the raffle.

Several E7s compared notes; they were all down around 80 to 100 bucks.

Sig said...

Also, I absolutely adore the title of this post. "Even my name is a killing word."

Grim said...

I hate mandatory fun. Glad you liked the post title, though. I most recently read Dune in 2007, the week before my first deployment to Iraq while doing CRC at FT Benning.