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Old August 28, 2012, 09:34 PM   #1
Falcon5NZ
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Nebraska toddler being asked to change his name

So this was brought up on YotaTech (a Toyota 4X4 forum I frequent.)

Long story short a 3 y/o deaf boy is being asked to change his name because of the way it is signed.

Quote:
... because the way he refers to himself in sign language resembles “weapons.” Apparently the Grand Island school district has a policy that prevents students from bringing “any instrument…that looks like a weapon” to school, and now hands can be considered “instruments.”...
Brian Spanjer, the boy’s father, added: “It’s a symbol. It’s an actual sign, a registered sign, through S.E.E. [Signing Exact English]”
Hunter signs his name by crossing his middle and index fingers– leaving his thumbs up– and then wagging his hands.
I mean come on, It's his name! It's not like he'll be running round doing that to other kids yelling "Bang! You're dead"

When I was at school (which wasn't THAT long ago) we had a conservation area that was planted in natives and allowed to grow fairly wild. We turned it into a warzone. Cricket bat/hockey stick rifles, dirt clod and concrete lump hand grenades etc. It was fierce. Divided the school. I mean those concrete grenades drew blood! After having a few too many trips to the first aid room we were told "No more concrete" (obvious in hindsight but I was 9 or 10 at the time) and that was it. Now to see a kid is being asked to change his name because it resembles a gun when signed? There is political correctness and there is ridiculousness!
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Old August 28, 2012, 11:33 PM   #2
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I just saw this on Yahoo news. Ya beat me too it, Falcon!

Over the years, I had thought that I had seen just about everything there was to see, and get highly agitated about, PC Zero Tolerance.

Well, I was wrong.

School asks deaf preschooler to change his sign language name

Quote:
Three-and-a-half year old Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, signs his name by crossing his forefinger and index finger and moving his hand up and down.

To his family, friends and those who know the Signing Exact English (S.E.E.) language that the Grand Island, Neb., boy uses, that gesture uniquely means "Hunter Spanjer."
It seems that the school thinks this is some kind of facsimile of a gun (there is a video attached to the news report) and therefore the 3 1/2 yr. old child must change his sign!

We all knew that Zero Tolerance and PC was running amok... But this just has to take the cake.
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Old August 29, 2012, 12:15 AM   #3
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Old August 29, 2012, 12:23 AM   #4
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What's below asinine?
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Old August 29, 2012, 12:30 AM   #5
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"What's below asinine?"

That school board.
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Old August 29, 2012, 12:46 AM   #6
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"What's below asinine?"

Quote:
That school board.
LOL!! Good one!
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Old August 29, 2012, 05:39 AM   #7
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Um...

It doesn't remotely look like a 'gun'...

What idiot brought this to the school's attention?

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Old August 29, 2012, 05:47 AM   #8
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I saw a follow-up article on this that (to me) typified current educational thought processes. I read it three times, and the best I could get out of it was that the school department spokesman said that the school would never ask a student to change their name, they just don't want him to use his name.

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Old August 29, 2012, 08:44 AM   #9
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They ought to be careful about what they as asking for, eh?
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Old August 29, 2012, 10:11 AM   #10
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Wow so many possible legal ways to attack this in a law suit. The parents should file immediately, against the school and any individual that spoke against the child using their name.

The settlement should include all persons that spoke out against the child from every using/speaking their own name again.
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Old August 29, 2012, 10:20 AM   #11
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Quote:
"What's below asinine?"

That school board.
Dense whale crap falls in there between the two (dad was in the Navy).
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Old August 29, 2012, 10:28 AM   #12
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If it was my son, I would tell the school that I respectfully agree. Then I would tell my son that going forward he should replace the sign for his name with the middle finger sign.....
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Old August 29, 2012, 10:30 AM   #13
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Update.....

http://www.1011now.com/home/headline...167784235.html

School backed down from it's PC stupidity.
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Old August 29, 2012, 10:51 AM   #14
pnac
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From the article:
Quote:
Sheard told NCN the school is working with the family. He said first priority is protecting their student.
It appears their real "first priority" is CYA.
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Old August 29, 2012, 11:39 AM   #15
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Quote:
He said first priority is protecting their student.
Protecting them from what, exactly? The idea that little boys can make their fingers into make-believe guns?

Last edited by jimbob86; August 29, 2012 at 11:46 AM.
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Old August 29, 2012, 01:53 PM   #16
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Mark Twain Would Have Loved This

We might as well elevate this thread to a higher level by including a timeless observation of one of America's greatest sons.

"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards." Mark Twain, Following the Equator; Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar
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Old August 30, 2012, 06:36 PM   #17
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Zero tolerance leads to no common sense.Glad they retracted but this should have never happened.
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Old August 30, 2012, 06:53 PM   #18
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A short, well thought out 1 or 2 sentence email to the superintendent and district communications guy (email addresses on their website) would likely have a more positive effect of helping the youngster out.

Having been on the receiving end in a different situation, (where all involved are ever mindful that all of those emails do become public record), 5-10 well written emails could change the tide for Hunter.

Simple themes (such as their district really looks silly in your local paper, or what are their districts priorities) are more likely to drive the point home to management level decision makers than calling them "Jane, you ....... ...." from an old Saturday Night Live Akroyd / Curtin skit.

Just a thought...
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Old August 30, 2012, 07:14 PM   #19
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I can only shake my head at this but I suppose I'm not really shocked.

What a bunch of simple minded fools.....
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Old August 30, 2012, 09:08 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbob86
http://www.1011now.com/home/headline...167784235.html

School backed down from it's PC stupidity.
That's the follow-up article I referred to several posts above yours, and I don't interpret it as the school board backing down. What they're really saying is "We aren't asking him to change his name, we're just requiring him to use a different [sign] language to say his name in."

In other words, they're trying to say one thing while doing another.
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Old September 1, 2012, 06:58 AM   #21
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Quote:
Protecting them from what, exactly? The idea that little boys can make their fingers into make-believe guns?
And students have been suspended for this.
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Old September 1, 2012, 07:25 AM   #22
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Two years ago my then 12 yr old daughter's previous school called me in to have a talk with the principal because she was overheard at lunch discussing her hunting rifle with another student.

The principal stated that a complaint had been made against my daughter by a teacher who was walking by and overheard the conversation. The complaint stated that she had said that while something like a .243 would be better suited for deer hunting a .223 is more than capable of making kill shots at the ranges she'd be hunting at.

The teacher decided that this violated the school's zero tolerance policy regarding weapons that she felt compelled to report my daughter's behavior to the principal. The principal stated that while she understood that a lot of people hunt talk of firearms has no place in her school and that as such she was going to give my daughter 3 days of detention for it.

I had some choice words for that woman and contacted the school board stating that if my daughter were punished for this I'd file suit against the district. I received an apology from a secretary for the school board and was told that while they would work to ensure my daughter was not punished I should teach my daughter what is appropriate to discuss at school.

I moved out of that school district before school ended and am now much happier about the school district I chose for my kids.

Anyway the point of this story - I can believe the school would have wanted that boy to change how he signs his name. The problem with this is that for a deaf person how they sign their name is as important as what their name is. Ask them to change how they sign their name and you might as well ask them to change their name. I can also believe that now they're (the school) following a CYA policy. Its rather depressing that our society has dropped so low that they'd take offense at a deaf child's name. He might as well have been cussing or something (which I'd bet they'd take less offense at).
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Old September 1, 2012, 02:00 PM   #23
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I saw this on CNN and the school unequivocally denies that they ever said anything like what the family says. There was no wishy-washy "Weeeell ... we said ... um ..." They said that the claim was simply false.

I don't know which side is telling the truth on this.
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Old September 1, 2012, 02:03 PM   #24
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There was the case in, I believe Florida, in which some first graders were shooting "invisible aliens" with their finger guns. They were suspended under zero tolerance. Apparently one of the teachers said one of them even had a Bazooka which he was firing.

I think this case was covered in the now defunct politically incorrect L&P forum.
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Old September 1, 2012, 02:10 PM   #25
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The PC people claim they don't want to see anyone 'be offended' .REALLY ??
By asking that child to change his name they are offending everyone in the world who uses 'sign' for communicating !
That shows how irrational the PC are just like PETA.
When a PC calls me out for using 'improper 'terms I tell them too bad ,get over it because I'm not going to change and join the crazies.
One of the most irrational was the demand to change the name of the baseball team 'Cleveland Indians' .Originally it had another name and one of it's members was an American Indian.He died unexpectedly and to honor him ,a highly respected member , they changed the teams name to Cleveland Indians.
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