Public school censors "pregnant" out of yearbook

[2xx1xy1JD]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/04 ... rbook.html

Public school vice-principal asks parents producing the school yearbook to remove 4 items from the news roundup:

- no reference to Kate Middleton being pregnant

- no reference to the election of our first gay premier in Ontario

- no reference to the re-election of Barack Obama

- no reference to teachers stopping extra-curricular activities during a protest

These directives came from someone who is supposed to be teaching children - not keeping them ignorant. Kids damn well SHOULD be asking questions, and if they don't know what pregnant means and if the school won't tell them, there is something very, very wrong. That's toddler-level knowledge.

[Jana814]

That nuts!! I couldn't get the article. Where is the school? That very odd about Obama!

[longskirtlotsakids]

For real? Not only hide the re-election of a black president, but also hide the forthcoming prince or princess?

Wow. Agenda much? Here's a hint: if the world doesn't conform to your fundamentalist world, don't

try to force it. It'll explode out of the box. Instead, stay home and mutter things.

[docmom]

For real? Not only hide the re-election of a black president, but also hide the forthcoming prince or princess?

Wow. Agenda much? Here's a hint: if the world doesn't conform to your fundamentalist world, don't

try to force it. It'll explode out of the box. Instead, stay home and mutter things.

Mentioning the "P" word might give kids ideas. Can't do that! The new little prince or princess will be delivered by the stork just like everyone else.

[2xx1xy1JD]

That nuts!! I couldn't get the article. Where is the school? That very odd about Obama!

It's a public school in Whitby, Ontario, just east of Toronto.

Incidentally, that first openly-gay premier who the school officials don't want to mention wants to introduce a revised sex ed curriculum that would have kids learning all about pregnancy in younger grades. Stories like this may prompt her to move on it.

[lilah]

They said the principal and vice-principal at Meadowcrest Public School objected to using the words “pregnant†and “gay,†fearing students would question what they meant.

And this is for a middle schoool! If your middle school aged student doesn't know what those two things are then you have really failed them educationally.

[Sydney Fox]

And this is for a middle schoool! If your middle school aged student doesn't know what those two things are then you have really failed them educationally.

Plus, what's wrong with asking questions? Isn't this a good teaching moment? These are not exactly difficult questions to answer either.

[AnywhereButHere]

Considering the fundy types tend to breed like rabbits, I'm pretty sure "pregnant" is a term and condition they are all familiar with at any age. I'm also sure they have a nice, safe, and completely judgemental way to descirbe "gay" to their snowflakes should they be asked. I'd think they'd look on it a a great segue into further indoctrination. :roll:

The principal and vice-principal are idiots. If they raised this much fuss over a yearbook, what kind of damage did they do to the curriculum during the school year?

[crazyforkate]

What? In Ontario of all places? Does Whitby have a particularly conservative reputation or something? This makes no sense.

[VaSportsMom]

And this is for a middle schoool! If your middle school aged student doesn't know what those two things are then you have really failed them educationally.

My youngest was 2 when my best friend got pregnant and he was terrified of her because he thought if there was a baby in her belly then she must have ate the baby. An age appropriate discussion of pregnancy took place and he understood enough to not run screaming whenever she was over. He is now a middle school student and he has a real understanding of sex & pregnancy. I can't imagine any child age his age needing to be "protected" from the topic of pregnancy. Sadly, that is how we end up with pregnant preteens.

[bananacat]

Wait, what? It's controversial to mention the pregnancy of a married woman now? I mean, even by conservative sex-shaming standards, she did everything "right" by getting married first and then getting pregnant.

It almost seems to me that this vice-principal has an issue with anything even remotely political, rather than having a problem with the pregnancy itself. That's still messed up in all kinds of ways though.

[alba]

I grew up a couple hours from Whitby. I knew what pregnancy was by the time I was 3. In grade 6 (the first year of middle school), we discussed things like pregnancy and sexual orientation in Health class. And this was at a Christian private school.

[Ramona]

Weird that they'd censor this stuff... but also weird that there's "news" in a yearbook. Ours never had anything like that - just stuff relating to the students and school. Y'know, class pictures and sports team pictures and poetry/art by students. There was never any "news" - that wasn't the point of the yearbook.

[bluelady]

Weird that they'd censor this stuff... but also weird that there's "news" in a yearbook. Ours never had anything like that - just stuff relating to the students and school. Y'know, class pictures and sports team pictures and poetry/art by students. There was never any "news" - that wasn't the point of the yearbook.

It sounds to me like more of a What Happened This Year kind of page more than news.

[Marianne]

What is in a yearbook ?

[2xx1xy1JD]

Weird that they'd censor this stuff... but also weird that there's "news" in a yearbook. Ours never had anything like that - just stuff relating to the students and school. Y'know, class pictures and sports team pictures and poetry/art by students. There was never any "news" - that wasn't the point of the yearbook.

Our high school yearbook always had a spread near the end with a rundown of major news events of the year.

[Seal]

This is ridiculous... I could see this happening in a religious school maybe, but definitely not in a public middle school. Makes you wonder how the VP handles other matters that aren't what he deems appropriate.

[VaSportsMom]

What is in a yearbook ?

A collection of photos of all the students, clubs, teams etc for a given school for the year. Many students keep them all through school and usually you have classmates sign them or write messages in them.