Bear Down Wildcats

School Told to Call Kids ‘Purple Penguins’ Because ‘Boys and Girls’ Is Not Inclusive to Transgender

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/3 ... -inclusive

http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com ... ndouts.pdf

A Nebraska school district has instructed its teachers to stop referring to students by “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls,” and use “gender inclusive” ones such as “purple penguins” instead.

“Don’t use phrases such as ‘boys and girls,’ ‘you guys,’ ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ and similarly gendered expressions to get kids’ attention,” instructs a training document given to middle-school teachers at the Lincoln Public Schools.

“Create classroom names and then ask all of the ‘purple penguins’ to meet on the rug,” it advises.

isn't this going just a little far?

Prince of an idea.

azgreg wrote:
isn't this going just a little far?

Yes

Whom does it harm? Who cares?

You purple penguins with penises need to use this bathroom. Purple penguins without penises need to use the other bathroom here.

Never thought "you guys" was gender specific.

^^ That's funny.

One time I called my teacher mom on accident. This never would have happened if I called her Purple Penguin Abbot instead of Ms. Abbot.

Nice try, but we know you were home-schooled.

azgreg wrote:
isn't this going just a little far?

Not if it will help future girls avoid the whole Disney pink princess phenomenon.

I wonder what the restroom situation is at this school

Merkin wrote:Never thought "you guys" was gender specific.

Me neither, until the other day my 4-year-old told me that when I said "you guys" it wouldn't include his mother since she's not a guy. I tried to explain that "guys" refers to men, or it could refer to a group of people, but he wasn't buying it.

Is "Little Snots" inclusive enough?

Bruins01 wrote:Whom does it harm? Who cares?

Same for "boys and girls" they are one or the other. Who does this hurt? They woudl have to fire me because no way would I call them purple penguin or whatever dumb ass thing they thought up.

Bruins01 wrote:Whom does it harm? Who cares?

All of the boys that want to be girls and vice versa. Now they cant be either!!!

Beyond dumb

azcat49 wrote:

Bruins01 wrote:Whom does it harm? Who cares?

Same for "boys and girls" they are one or the other. Who does this hurt? They woudl have to fire me because no way would I call them purple penguin or whatever dumb ass thing they thought up.

Gender dysphoria is exhibited in under 1% of children, but that's still many, many children.

Still don't see the harm here.

azcat49 wrote:

Bruins01 wrote:Whom does it harm? Who cares?

Same for "boys and girls" they are one or the other. Who does this hurt? They woudl have to fire me because no way would I call them purple penguin or whatever dumb ass thing they thought up.

You'd rather get fired than call kids purple penguins?

That doesn't sound more dumbass to you than calling them purple penguins?

....ok then

As for me, regarding the purple penguins thing....I guess I don't see the big deal in having gender identifiers like "boys and girls" used in the classroom. If a little kid identifies as a girl, let her stand with the girls, and vice versa. Seems silly to remove the terms entirely. Though it's not something I'm going to get worked up about either way....really more of a "meh, who cares" type of thing.

Yes POM because we are all Boys and girls. That is stupid and whomever thought of it is stupid. Sure I would rather get fired because IMO boys and girls doesn't offend anyone. We have to stop cowering to the attorneys that clog up the court with stupid lawsuits about things they deem insensitive

azcat49 wrote:Yes POM because we are all Boys and girls. That is stupid and whomever thought of it is stupid. Sure I would rather get fired because IMO boys and girls doesn't offend anyone. We have to stop cowering to the attorneys that clog up the court with stupid lawsuits about things they deem insensitive

Hey, if this is the place where you draw your principled line in the sand and say "no more, enough is enough" then fine, more power to you.

I just don't know any teacher who can afford to make this particular issue the line in the sand. They'd roll their eyes at it (much like I did when I read about it) and then move on and teach the penguins.

azcat49 wrote:Yes POM because we are all Boys and girls.

There are some people who are boy AND girl to varying degrees.

Go with purple penguins or rusty wranglers or whatever the mascot is. The kids can choose their own genders or be Pat whenever they're ready. It's already bad enough with all the parents assigning gender in the home. Might as well make school a safe place.

I believe that someday we'll be horrified by childhood rights in the early 2000s.

True Dat Chi. Its kind of like POM saying any girl that smokes is not hot and I get that, to each his own and he drew the line there. Its just stupid IMO. The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

For some reasons, conservatives believe that the key to getting better public school teachers is by making the job WORSE.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

When I was in 7th grade my school had to change the name of our mascot from Patriots to Panthers because Patriots was too sexist and offensive to women. I thought my school was really dumb at the time, now I just see they were forward thinking and ahead of the game.

Probably a bunch of Cougars behind that one.

Machina still trying to sell the story that he went to an actual school that wasn't his mother's living room.

Merkin wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

That echoes a lot of what I've heard as well

Machina wrote:When I was in 7th grade my school had to change the name of our mascot from Patriots to Panthers because Patriots was too sexist and offensive to women. I thought my school was really dumb at the time, now I just see they were forward thinking and ahead of the game.

Actually that one really is just stupid. That's willfully ignorant etymology. Just as bad as that anthro. prof. At U of A who got in trouble for offending students when he said "niggardly".

Machina wrote:I wonder what the restroom situation is at this school

you should spend less time worrying about school bathrooms

Merkin wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

My wife is a public school teacher, and I'm back at school for a teaching-related degree. what the hell decision did I make? I see what she goes through yet I still chose this degree. I'm a moron and she's a saint.

Mr.Zebra wrote:

Merkin wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

My wife is a public school teacher, and I'm back at school for a teaching-related degree. what the hell decision did I make? I see what she goes through yet I still chose this degree. I'm a moron and she's a saint.

welcome to the board

PieceOfMeat wrote:

Mr.Zebra wrote:

Merkin wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

My wife is a public school teacher, and I'm back at school for a teaching-related degree. what the hell decision did I make? I see what she goes through yet I still chose this degree. I'm a moron and she's a saint.

welcome to the board

took me a while but finally gave in. am I a super nerd now? don't answer that.

Now that's something we can all get behind. Teaching our young minds is an honorable career and should be rewarded monetarily much better then it currently is.

my gf is just a preschool teacher but she does amazing work with her little kids and really does a great job. but she gets no benefits and is paid barely above minimum wage for it. she loves her kids and loves education but she is considering giving it up because she can barely support herself with it while she's finishing her degree.

Find me candidate promising higher taxes, and I'll vote for him. Or her. Or Pat.

Mr.Zebra wrote:

Merkin wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The unfortunate part of this is that most teachers could work at in and out burger and make as much money. Now that is really offensive IMO

That truly is offensive, especially when you combine it with the amount of crap they take for being teachers (from kids, parents, politicians, etc).

My wife is teacher's aide, and says kids have just got awful over the past 10 years or so. Very disrespectful and they get no help from parents any more.

My wife is a public school teacher, and I'm back at school for a teaching-related degree. what the hell decision did I make? I see what she goes through yet I still chose this degree. I'm a moron and she's a saint.

And the beat goes on.

My wife made the decision today to leave her Head Start job. She says she doesn't want to even work in the field anymore.

She was moved to a different center at the beginning of the year, moved back to her original center with younger kids in a more subordinate position, then was passed over for the job SHE HAD BEEN TRAINING TO DO FOR THE LAST WEEK.

The alternative? Go back to the original center (hellhole) she worked so hard to get out of for fewer hours and less pay. All for doing her job and being more qualified at it than anyone else for 11 years.

If you don't think school politics can be just as bad, if not worse, than anywhere else, you should join my wife in the unemployment line on Veterans Day.

It isn't the culture, or the economy...it's just stupid.

catgrad97 wrote:She says she doesn't want to even work in the field anymore.

This happens a ton with teaching, at least in AZ, I don't know about other states. TUSD is a joke, and from what I've heard, other districts really aren't much, if any, better. If we had options my wife would quit as well. This school year has been especially awful and it's not even half over yet, and she just comes home sick to her stomach damn near every day because of how bad it is. As you mention, there's the school politics b.s., then there's the parental b.s., and of course the student b.s. She teaches high school, and she has kids who can barely read (never mind write coherently) and they just don't give a damn or try. I find myself wishing everyday that I had chosen a better bachelor's degree so that I could have gotten a job instead of going back to school for a master's which will probably land me in a teaching position.

Mr.Zebra wrote:

catgrad97 wrote:She says she doesn't want to even work in the field anymore.

This happens a ton with teaching, at least in AZ, I don't know about other states. TUSD is a joke, and from what I've heard, other districts really aren't much, if any, better. If we had options my wife would quit as well. This school year has been especially awful and it's not even half over yet, and she just comes home sick to her stomach damn near every day because of how bad it is. As you mention, there's the school politics b.s., then there's the parental b.s., and of course the student b.s. She teaches high school, and she has kids who can barely read (never mind write coherently) and they just don't give a damn or try. I find myself wishing everyday that I had chosen a better bachelor's degree so that I could have gotten a job instead of going back to school for a master's which will probably land me in a teaching position.

This board knows too well my rants and vents from teaching high school English in five districts and a charter school for 14 years in this state--including a year in TUSD at Mary Naylor Middle School.

Don't get me started.

catgrad97 wrote:

Mr.Zebra wrote:

catgrad97 wrote:She says she doesn't want to even work in the field anymore.

This happens a ton with teaching, at least in AZ, I don't know about other states. TUSD is a joke, and from what I've heard, other districts really aren't much, if any, better. If we had options my wife would quit as well. This school year has been especially awful and it's not even half over yet, and she just comes home sick to her stomach damn near every day because of how bad it is. As you mention, there's the school politics b.s., then there's the parental b.s., and of course the student b.s. She teaches high school, and she has kids who can barely read (never mind write coherently) and they just don't give a damn or try. I find myself wishing everyday that I had chosen a better bachelor's degree so that I could have gotten a job instead of going back to school for a master's which will probably land me in a teaching position.

This board knows too well my rants and vents from teaching high school English in five districts and a charter school for 14 years in this state--including a year in TUSD at Mary Naylor Middle School.

Don't get me started.

Feel free to get started.

Let me ask you a question, how many teachers do you know of that work full (actually more than full, but that's another topic) time and yet still have to get some type of state assistance, whether it be medical coverage or SNAP or whatever? I've met a lot of teachers who fall into this boat. Hell, TUSD even advises teachers with families to go and apply for state medical coverage. They just freely admit it sucks being a teacher. Ack, what the hell am I doing with my degree decision. FML.

Even with my current job (full-time sportswriter covering the entire Verde Valley), my wife's and my income wouldn't cover all expenses. We need the state check every month for our two adopted kids to pay for day care and even chip in on the mortgage sometimes.

I know there's probably something illegal in what I just told you. Can't be helped. Get started and I won't be able to stop.

I have to get in azcat49's ear about making seed money out of my final Roth IRA until wife can find new job and start figuring out how to access my ASRS money this year.

Find a good private school, man. Not an "alternative" one--one not run by a crazy person. Get one that has a group insurance plan, sub there a little first to make sure the kids like you, then get in and don't look back.

I look back on some of the teachers I worked with even five years ago and I haven't got a clue how they'd be able to survive if they weren't on their group insurance. They just didn't have the health or the ability to make ends meet with a second job or other career. It was sad.

Thank God the Star agreed I knew how to write in college.

And Arizona is one of the few red states that expanded Medicaid. Imagine what the situation would be if the legislature and Brewer hadn't had that rare moment of non-stupidity.