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Forums - Politics Discussion - Student was suspended for saying " (Edit) Bless you", to someone who sneezed

thranx on 22 August 2014
Augen said:
kitler53 said:

i had a big rant ready to post and then i saw your post.   if your statements are true then the story sounds like the story was just written to rile people up to push that weird agenda people like my parents have of trying to protray a "war on religion" in america.

...but just in case:

as an atheist i've got to say,.. this is really stupid.

the point of the freedom of religion in the constitution is to protect the citizens of the united states from any religion receiving preferential or detrimental treatment.  the point is equality in law and to know you'll never be discriminated against by the law.

the point is not to try and pretend that religion doesn't exisit and is important to many of our citizens.  for fucks sake,.. if the US president can  say "god bless" during addresses to our citizens then this girl ought to be able to say it too.  

As it stands, we have a "She said, she said" type scenario.

I agree no one should be persecuated due to their beliefs, I also think it is fair for schools to ask for quiet during class time.  This story comes across as sensationalist to divide people of different backgrounds and cement world views of the "other".

On religion, an individual can state they are religious, but the state cannot endorse a religion. Why the president saying "God Bless America" is fine, but "In God We Trust" on currency is not.

No we dont. we have a they said she said scenario. the students have already complained (multiple) to their pastor, and he is the one who educated them on their rights. Its a teacher who seems to target religous belief. That is not right. And someone mentioned the student was not punished, they were they were sent to in school suspenion for the period. And yes it does violate freedom of speech. She was not yelling "fire" in a crowded building when there was no fire. She simply said bless you after a sneeze.

 

"

Local pastor Becky Winegardner said this wasn't the first time Turner's teacher had clashed with students over religion.

“There were several students that were talking about this particular faculty member there that was very demeaning to them in regard to their faith,” Winegardner told WMC. “This was something that had come up previously in the last few weeks just since the beginning of school, and I shared with all of those students what their rights were.”"

 

http://news.yahoo.com/bless-you-suspension-153852989.html

 

seems like its an ongoing issue, not a one time thing. Its horrible that teachers use their authority to dictate their beliefs. Instead of simply teaching what they should. I wonder what the reacton here would be if it was forced upon students to say bless you after every sneeze? would that be wrong?



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ithis on 22 August 2014
spurgeonryan said:

That Teacher would get her tires slashed by me if I were to be suspended for saying something that is part of the English language.


How about hearing the teacher's side of the story first? The article does a good job of quoting the student and the pastor, not so much quoting the teacher directly.

Oh, I'm sure there are many things part of the english language that one can get suspended for saying.

I had a couple of weird teachers along the way, and I can imagine one of them easily having a list of things that are not alowed to be said in his class, without any religious or antireligious reason. So it's possible that this is one of those strict teachers with really weird rules.



Mr Khan on 25 August 2014
Augen said:
In schools a students speech can be restricted on the basis of interfering with the pedagogical process. Simply put, if you say or act in a way that interferes with others ability to learn, you can be punished.

I looked into this case and right now this story portrays one side of it.

1. No recording or verifying of exactly what the exchange between teacher and student was has happened.
2. The student was not suspended or punished in any way
3. The content of the speech was NOT the issue, the class was simply told to be quiet and something was said
4. When told to be quiet the student protested and a disagreement occurred concluded with the student removing them self from the class.

We should always give both sides time to tell their story before rushing to judgment with pre-conceived notions of what happened.

Pretty much what the Supreme Court's take on the matter is (or was, back in the 70s). The problem, given how school disciplinary systems work, is that you either have to sue or, before doing so, prove that your actions WERE NOT materially disruptive to class, rather than the school having to prove that they were before punishing you.

Of course, it's a catch-22, because anything that annoys a teacher becomes materially disruptive almost by definition.



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CDiablo on 25 August 2014

Well saying bless you is a stupid tradition so Im ok with this.



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VanceIX on 25 August 2014



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the2real4mafol on 27 August 2014

What's with these stupid rules and stupid idiots trying to enforce them? As far as i knew, 'bless you' wasn't a religious saying and i'm not even religious so.



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LemonSlice on 30 August 2014

The teacher sounds like a real Kevin Sorbo.



DarkWraith on 30 August 2014
Augen said:
In schools a students speech can be restricted on the basis of interfering with the pedagogical process. Simply put, if you say or act in a way that interferes with others ability to learn, you can be punished.

I looked into this case and right now this story portrays one side of it.

1. No recording or verifying of exactly what the exchange between teacher and student was has happened.
2. The student was not suspended or punished in any way
3. The content of the speech was NOT the issue, the class was simply told to be quiet and something was said
4. When told to be quiet the student protested and a disagreement occurred concluded with the student removing them self from the class.

We should always give both sides time to tell their story before rushing to judgment with pre-conceived notions of what happened.


thank you for posting this, it sheds some clarity on what happened and completely obliterates the conveyed message in the op. not a religious issue at all, the same result would have occurred had any of the other banned words been used. it's all very silly. leave it to the religious persecution complex to blow up a non-story. it's getting almost impossible to deal with these types of people.

Jumpin on 30 August 2014

The US is a very bizarre place.



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whatever on 30 August 2014

Good. We are finally making up for all those years of forced school prayers.