Posted: 2/2/2004 6:48:53 PM EDT
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Dubious Honors Public schools in Nashville, Tenn., have stopped posting honor rolls because to do so might make underachievers feel bad, reports The Associated Press. After a couple of parents complained that their children might be ridiculed for not making the list, lawyers for the school district said releasing the honor rolls might violate privacy laws. In an apparent snowball effect, some schools have since put a stop to academic pep rallies and decided not to hang exemplary work in the hallways for fear of embarrassing even more underachievers. There’s even talk of canceling spelling bees. 'Esteemed Guests' Maybe? The head of an Atlanta-based political action committee says the term "illegal immigrant" is as offensive a slur to Latinos as the n-word is to African-Americans, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I can't speak for other immigrant groups," says Jerry Gonzalez, head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (search ), "but on behalf of the Latino community, many people I speak to on a day-to-day basis think it serves to dehumanize the person, makes them less than human. Similar to the way the n-word was used to dehumanize African-Americans." Gonzalez says he plans to lobby state lawmakers to use the term "undocumented workers" when talking about Mexicans and other foreigners here illegally. The Centers for Immigration Studies in Washington traces the preferred term to the Carter-era Immigration and Naturalization Service (search). "People wanted a P.C. word that downplayed the illegality of illegal immigration," says Mark Krikorian, the center's executive director. |
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Read it and weep: The County of Los Angeles has requested that computer equipment vendors avoid using the industry term "Master/Slave" in product descriptions and labelling. Snopes-checked ([url]http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp[/url] A Santa Monica elementary school has banned the game of tag, once synonymous with youth and innocence, because they say it creates self-esteem issues among weaker and slower children. [url]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,55836,00.html[/url] A group of sociology students at the University of California in Santa Barbara say that a Chevy’s restaurant promotion in which sombreros were handed out to fans attending a basketball game is demeaning to Chicanos and perpetuates cultural stereotypes, according to the Daily Nexus. [url]http://www.dailynexus.com/opinion/2003/4708.html[/url] Albino activists are irked because the bad guys in the new Matrix Reloaded movie are fair-skinned and unfairly stereotype pigment-challenged folks, reports MSNBC.com. “Filmmakers have used albino characters as villains, and they’re almost always vicious, inhuman characters, depicted as freaks,” complained dermatologist Vail Reese, keeper of the [url]www.skinema.com[/url] Web site. et cetera et cetera, ad nauseam |
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if the kids can't handle that crap what are they going to do with a real problem? i never made the honor roll. i just didn't care. hell, i didn't even have a grade pt average in high school. in my post high school classes i had a 3.0 or better gpa. life's not fair, suck it up. |