California school district bans dictionary from classroom

by Walter Olson on January 26, 2010

It’s a Merriam-Webster Collegiate and contains naughty bits that kids might stumble across or even look up on purpose. [Southwest Riverside News Network via Popehat]

{ 1 trackback }

School District Bans MW Collegiate Dictionary
01.26.10 at 3:37 pm

{ 9 comments }

1 ps 01.26.10 at 1:43 am

Better ban all dictionaries since they contain the exact words you will find in many undesirable publications like Huckleberry Finn and Mein Kampf (English translation, of course). Maybe we should stop talking altogether since language itself can be offensive if you put the words in the right order and speak them to certain people.

2 Bob Lipton 01.26.10 at 8:08 am

Better get that Bible out of there too.

Bob

3 GregS 01.26.10 at 11:16 am

The real problem is with reading itself. If the schools didn’t teach kids how to read, they wouldn’t be able to read naughty words in the dictionary or anywhere else. So really, the solution is to stop teaching the kids this nasty skill altogether.

4 Yogi 01.26.10 at 11:36 am

@GregS

Your assumption that public schools are teaching reading (or, really anything much) is false-to-fact.

Possibly you have not interviewed any high school graduates lately.

/end snark

5 Todd Rogers 01.26.10 at 12:28 pm

What’s this lady going to do when her kid goes to web-dictionaries and discovers that you can make your PC audibly pronounce such terms?

6 A.W. 01.26.10 at 12:40 pm

mmm, not as heinous as the berkeley high school banning the science labs, but yeah, pretty bad.

7 nevins 01.26.10 at 1:50 pm

Time for some turn-about. The visiting parent was looking up lewd words in the presence of children? Charge her with intent to corrupt a minor and forbid her to enter the school building and remain 100 yards away from the property.

8 Frank C ostanza 01.26.10 at 2:51 pm

No, the worst aspect is that the word “supposedly” found, according to an update, was NOT in the dictionary the parent cited. Seems she had her own agenda here.

9 bill p 01.26.10 at 7:17 pm

This is a ridiculous case and it certainly will find its way eventually to the courts. Not sure why it is being cited here, no lawyers involved here that I can see.

Comments on this entry are closed.