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it's official...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i was told today that we are no longer allowed to sing "baa baa black sheep" at my nursery . we have been told it is racist.

can someone please tell me how? growing up in the country sheep were either black , brown or white?

we now have to sing baa baa woolly sheep,
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah we were told that a while ago, its also Post man Pat's happy cat instead of black and white cat.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And we're not allowed to 'brainstorm' at work anymore :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah, we have to 'thought shower' it.
    People got really uncomfortable the other day when I described someone as black.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah we were told that a while ago, its also Post man Pat's happy cat instead of black and white cat.
    But...he's black........with white bits...........

    Therefore....black and white?

    God.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Franki wrote: »
    But...he's black........with white bits...........

    Therefore....black and white?

    God.

    Not, its a cat not michael jackson
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    fucking ridiculous, like the word black is offensive in itself.
    I dont get it.

    I dont mind political correctness, but thats not what this is at all
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah we were told that a while ago, its also Post man Pat's happy cat instead of black and white cat.
    Really? Was this at a nursery, or school?

    And did the order come from the head office, or from the local council?

    I'll I'm saying is that sometimes it's just institutions playing it safe, rather than official government policy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Really? Was this at a nursery, or school?

    And did the order come from the head office, or from the local council?

    I'll I'm saying is that sometimes it's just institutions playing it safe, rather than official government policy.

    well if it was from the local council i'd say that is a government order

    it is really stupid, it is not fear of causing actual offensive to ethnic minorities, it is not wanting to give any ammunition to the dickhead who shouts racism at every conceivable opportunity.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well if it was from the local council i'd say that is a government order

    it is really stupid, it is not fear of causing actual offensive to ethnic minorities, it is not wanting to give any ammunition to the dickhead who shouts racism at every conceivable opportunity.

    I have to agree with you on that one, It is funny how if it was a caucasian person saying that everyone would ignore them. I assume they'd allow "baa baa white sheep" or would that be favortisum towards "white" people. how about "baa baa ethnicly correct sheep"
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whats wrong with brainstorming?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my name wrote: »
    Whats wrong with brainstorming?

    offensive to people who are dumb? or have no brain?

    i am guessing it is against people who have brain or neurological problems
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wow, thats really reaching!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yup
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have a neurological disorder and not once have I been offended by the term "brainstorming." I didn't realise anyone would fine it offensive until I read that someone stopped using the term, not that I think anyone would.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Apparently, people in the classroom are no longer allowed to say blackboard or whiteboard, instead it's a "chalkboard". What is the point of all of this?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The online program at our school is called blackboard :chin: Though the real question in your statement, Mon, what one room schoolhouse still uses a chalkboard :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Monserrat wrote: »
    Apparently, people in the classroom are no longer allowed to say blackboard or whiteboard, instead it's a "chalkboard". What is the point of all of this?

    I heard about that, but I'm not sure how true that one is. Chalkboard is a very American term, and I've never heard it used in this country. But white boards were called white boards when I was in school, and to my knowledge, they still are. No teacher has used black boards for at least a decade now.

    On the main issue, what you'll usually find is that some (white, middle-class) jobsworth sat in an office decides that something might be offensive to a particular group, and goes ahead and changes things. There has never been any government involvement in this sort of thing, it has just been the policy of private nurseries. So blame your nursery if you have a problem with it. Particularly if you are from said "offended" group, and complain of them handing more ammunition to scum like the BNP. The irony of this whole situation is that the person making the decisions has probably read in the newspaper that ethnic minorities find something offensive, and so does so with the best of intentions. The original version of this story is from 1986. It reported a council-funded nursery switching the rhyme to "baa baa white sheep." This was completely, 100% made up, but when the journalists asked the council for a statement, the idiots responded supporting the decision without doing any research into whether it was true or not. The wonderful British press at no point checked the facts of the story, and so an urban myth was born, which causes people who run nurseries to believe that ethnic minorities are offended by a nursery rhyme.

    But having said that, I do enjoy this sort of thing, because deep down, you know you're really annoying Daily Express readers. So happy Winterval everyone. :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If I were you I'd ring up my local newspaper and let them know. The whole thing sounds utterly ridiculous, the more people that are made aware of this, the greater pressure the more likely your LEA will have to admit they're just wasting taxpayers money.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah we had black boards in our old school and they all of a sudden were called chalkboards. And the White ones are smart boards. A lot of schools still use chalk boards it's only recently they have been replaced with whiteboards or smart boards.

    I was told we can't say brainstorming as it's offensive to those with learning difficulties.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    White boards and smart boards are totally different things though. Are they really smart boards or just boards you write on with marker?

    eta, nevermind, I was thinking of something completly different with smartboard, I was thinking beyond question.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You can write on smart boards with board marker, they are the new White board :D or there is a little pad that you can sit down with at a table and it writes on the smart board but that's off topic lol (but fun :p)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was told we can't say brainstorming as it's offensive to those with learning difficulties.

    By who? Tell them to go fuck themselves. It's almost always a lie peddled by our friends at a particular Nazi-supporting newspaper in an attempt to discredit the left.
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    my name wrote: »
    White boards and smart boards are totally different things though. Are they really smart boards or just boards you write on with marker?

    eta, nevermind, I was thinking of something completly different with smartboard, I was thinking beyond question.

    Smartboard is an interactive whiteboard, but they are a certain brand - called smartboards. All smartboards are interactive whiteboards, but not all IAWB are smartboards :p

    It's all political correctness gone maaaaaaad, I tell theeee. :shocking:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On the main issue, what you'll usually find is that some (white, middle-class) jobsworth sat in an office decides that something might be offensive to a particular group, and goes ahead and changes things.

    Come on now......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Monserrat wrote: »
    Apparently, people in the classroom are no longer allowed to say blackboard or whiteboard, instead it's a "chalkboard". What is the point of all of this?

    I should think that of every 100 such incidents one hears, 99 are untrue/urban legends.

    I'm not saying it has never happened somewhere. But I very much doubt it's a nationawide occurrence.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Here's the response from Epilepsy Action about the whole 'brainstorming' thing. Essentially the idea it was offensive never came from Epilepsy groups, or was ever considered offensive by them. It's mainly been a press led reaction to a couple of government departments.

    http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/press/facts/brainstorming
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote: »
    Here's the response from Epilepsy Action about the whole 'brainstorming' thing. Essentially the idea it was offensive never came from Epilepsy groups, or was ever considered offensive by them. It's mainly been a press led reaction to a couple of government departments.

    http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/press/facts/brainstorming

    I thought 'brainstorming' being offensive was a joke. Man, I reckon there's a comedy gold mine of potentially offensive words. 10 points to the first person who can make me genui-lol! :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is there no end to this madness? I was chastised a few years ago by one of my supervisors for asking a customer whether they wanted a black coffee. Apparently, I'm supposed to just ask "would you like milk with your coffee?". The man I was serving was black, and he didn't seem remotely bothered. I just laughed at the daft bint's stupidity.

    These sorts of stories just make me want to be deliberately offensive for the hell of it - namely to the pricks who come up with these ideas. Who seriously decides whether this shit is offensive?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    we were picked up on it by a grandparent of one of the children who works for the EYFS council team. So i guess it does come from the council.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Absolutely ridiculous. I'm so glad they hadn't come up with this nonsense while I was at school. It appears in several professions there are complete idiots without an ounce of common sense between them - God forbid we offend the people-of-non-English-ethnic-origin by calling an inanimate object BLACK. Some of my teachers were about as far from PC as you can get, and I and the rest of my classmates (of varied ethnicity, mental capacity, sex, etc) had a decent, non-offensive education.

    eta: when I said inanimate I was referring to SG's coffee, not the sheep ;)
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