California Teacher Docks Points if Students Say “Bless You”
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Are you ready for some of the silliest education news out of California? There apparently isn’t enough to do there, fixing the educational system and budget problems and all. Teacher Steve Cuckovich evidentially docks 25 points from a student’s grade if they say bless you after someone sneezes in his class. REALLY???
Apparently, saying “Bless you” is a disruption of the learning process. He says his prejudice has nothing to do with religion, but instead says that blessing people doesn’t make sense anymore since it was just a superstitious habit anyway. According to Education News, people once believed that sneezing was a way of dispelling evil spirits from the body, so they would reply with “God bless you.” According to Discovery Health, the term “Bless you” was started by Pope Gregory the Great, who blessed people during a 6th century plague outbreak, because sneezing was one of the signs of the plague (eeek!). People in cultures all over the world bless each other when someone sneezes!
Yeah… if my daughter was penalized 25 points for being polite to a classmate, I wouldn’t be very happy about it to say the least. How long does it say bless you? Less than a second. How much can that really interrupt the learning process?
Seriously, people (most people) don’t think about “expelling evil spirits” when they say bless you. It’s simply a polite way to acknowledge someone. It’s a common courtesy and a custom. What’s wrong with that? Kindness and consideration is lacking in too many of America’s youths. I’d think teachers would be encouraging kids to be polite and considerate to their classmates. Aren’t there more pressing matters to worry about in modern classrooms? I think so.
What do you think? Does this teacher have a point penalizing students for saying “bless you,” or is this just plain ridiculous?
SOURCES:
Read about it yourself: “Huge Problem in CA School Solved: ‘Bless You’ After Sneezes: http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/huge-problem-in-ca-school-solved-bless-you-after-sneezes/
Discovery Health: “Why do we say bless you or Gesundheit when people sneeze?” http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/sneezing.htm
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- Today’s news story…Teacher punishes students for saying Bless You. (pastormikesays.wordpress.com)
- Vacaville Teacher Punishes Kids For Saying ‘Bless You’ In Class! (997now.radio.com)
- Teacher Lowers Grades of Students Who Say ‘Bless You’ [Video] (gawker.com)
- Teacher punishes student for ‘bless you’ (abclocal.go.com)
- California Teacher Punishes Students For Saying ‘God Bless You’ (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
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