Student saying that "Bless You" caused her suspension

harleysportster
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Student saying that "Bless You" caused her suspension

While this whole controversy is indeed quite ridiculous, I feel  the fact the local media is reporting on it, is turning it into a bigger issue than it is. 

Now, this is pure conjecture on my part, but I am willing to lay odds that the student mouthing off back to the teacher about "First Amendment Constituitonal Rights like her "pastor" told her" is what probably landed her in the principles office. 

Now, while I personally am not going to be all upset if someone says "BLESS YOU" when I sneeze, I am not totally buying the fact that term alone caused the suspension. 

I find it difficult to believe that a teacher sent someone to the office over saying that. I heard her talking on another news channel this morning (if I find the link I will post it here) where she is playing the part of a damned martyr and talking of religious persecution. 

I mean, why is such nonsense even reported by the local media ? Are they just too bored to do anything else ? 

wreg.com/2014/08/19/dyer-county-high-school-student-claims-her-bless-you-caused-suspension/

 

NEWBERN, Tenn. — Who would have thought a sneeze in school and a “bless you” would capture so much attention.

According to the website momdot.com, a student at Dyer County High School in Newbern  was suspended for saying “bless you” to another student.

The superintendent of Dyer County Schools hasn’t commented on exactly happened, but some of Newbern’s residents are more than eager to share their opinions.

One of them is Thomas Autry.

“I do it all the time, right.  My wife sneezes at home and I say, ‘bless you,'” said Autry.

Autry heard about the alleged  “bless you” incident while he was on vacation in Indiana.

“And they were talking about it in Indiana. About the girl saying, ‘bless you’ when somebody sneezed and they suspended her for it. And that’s ridiculous,” said Autry.

On the website momdot.com, Kendra Turner tells her side of the story in which she said “bless you” to  a student in keyboarding class, after the student sneezed.

According to Turner, who is a senior, she was reprimanded by the teacher, who said, “We will not have Godly speaking in my class.”

Turner said she then told the teacher that her pastor said she had a “Constitutional right…First Amendment Freedom of Speech.”

Turner said she was sent to the office and suspended from the keyboarding class.

While the Dyer County Schools superintendent has not commented on the alleged incident, we were told there is a strict policy in the keyboarding classroom against “outbursts,” including saying “bless you” when someone sneezes.

We’re told the policy is in place to assure students are not distracted, especially during tests.

David Nicholson, who lives in Newbern, said he’s waiting to hear the school’s version of what happened, but for now thinks the student was treated unfairly .

“Oh no.  She should not have been suspended for it at all. If anything, the common courtesy back would be just like, ‘thank you.’  Not, ‘hey you’re suspended,'” said David Nicholson.

 

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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 I think it is stupid too.

 I think it is stupid too. I am all for keeping religion out of school in the context of trying to replace science with creationism, and having teachers lead prayers, which they constantly violate anyway. And they do not teach full founders history like the objections of mixing government and religion. They do leave the pledge up without telling the story about who wrote it or the fact that the original did not have "under God" in it. Nor do they tell the truth that "In God We trust" was not on the currency at the start of the country.

Now having said that. I still think there will be hypocrisy to non Christian students or to students who request you not say it to them. I certainly wont blow a gasket if I over hear it said to other, but I do mind you saying it to me, because it is a superstition, and not just a politeness, pleanty of people DO bless people with the entent of believing they are doing it on the behalf of a god. I do not like others assuming what I believe or what type of "politness" for me without asking first.

And that superstition started at a time when people litterally believed your "soul" was escaping from your head, and having a blessing was a way to prevent it from escaping.

 

I just wouldn't be surprised at the hypocrisy of how Christian teachers or christian students treat non Christian students.

No don't ban it, but still that does not change that far too many Christian teachers and Christian students blow a gasket when someone else tries to express themselves in the same venue.

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From what I grasp from this

From what I grasp from this it seems to me more likely that the student challenging the teachers authority is the main issue, not the "bless you". When a teacher tells you to do something, arguing is not going to get you any rewards, even if the teacher is wrong. The student wasn't suspended or sent to the office after saying "bless you", the student was sent to the office for arguing a directive from the teacher in front of the class. That's simply stupid, and the student deserves the suspension. If it were a job, the student probably would get fired. And rightly so. The student should have either waited until class was over, or complained directly to the administration. School isn't a democracy.

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Vastet wrote:From what I

Vastet wrote:
From what I grasp from this it seems to me more likely that the student challenging the teachers authority is the main issue, not the "bless you". When a teacher tells you to do something, arguing is not going to get you any rewards, even if the teacher is wrong. The student wasn't suspended or sent to the office after saying "bless you", the student was sent to the office for arguing a directive from the teacher in front of the class. That's simply stupid, and the student deserves the suspension. If it were a job, the student probably would get fired. And rightly so. The student should have either waited until class was over, or complained directly to the administration. School isn't a democracy.

Um no, this wasn't merely disruption. This teacher made a list of things you could not say, that was one of them. "My bad" was part of that list.

You have more of a case with "my bad" than "bless you". The only thing about "bless you" I would put on it is if others ask you not to say it to them, don't, there are other things you can say that are a form of politeness when someone sneazes. But mearly overhearing it when when others say it, no. 

If you want to argue that was a form of protest, no while school is not a democracy it is also where we should teach kids to think for themselves instead of blindly worship authority. 

So spit for me, no the kid should not have disrupted the class, but the teacher was stupid for putting that on her list.

 

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Brian37 wrote:Um no, this

Brian37 wrote:
Um no, this wasn't merely disruption.

Yes it was moron.

Brian37 wrote:
This teacher made a list of things you could not say, that was one of them. "My bad" was part of that list.

Irrelevant.

Brian37 wrote:
You have more of a case with "my bad" than "bless you".

No I don't. ANYTHING the teacher told the class is equal. The teacher is the authority. Challenging the authority IN CLASS is a DISRUPTION of class BY DEFINITION, you brainless amoeba. Fuck off.

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Quote:On the website

article wrote:
On the website momdot.com, Kendra Turner tells her side of the story...

Quote:
The superintendent of Dyer County Schools hasn’t commented on exactly happened...

In other words, Kendra's side of the story is the only side of the story that has been given. Great journalism, channel 3 news. /s

Quote:
The superintendent of Dyer County Schools hasn’t commented on exactly happened, but some of Newbern’s residents are more than eager to share their opinions.

One of them is Thomas Autry.

Quote:
David Nicholson, who lives in Newbern, said he’s waiting to hear the school’s version of what happened, but for now thinks the student was treated unfairly .

So basically, I'm being spoonfed the personal opinions of random people that neither observed the incident nor have any expertise when it comes to school policy or first amendment rights. 

Quote:
On the website momdot.com, Kendra Turner tells her side of the story in which she said “bless you” to  a student in keyboarding class, after the student sneezed.

According to Turner, who is a senior, she was reprimanded by the teacher, who said, “We will not have Godly speaking in my class.”

Turner said she then told the teacher that her pastor said she had a “Constitutional right…First Amendment Freedom of Speech.”

Sigh...

With further retellings, this story could probably morph into something like the movie 'God's Not Dead' or that old crap article about Einstein defeating his atheist professor in the problem of evil argument. 

Quote:
While the Dyer County Schools superintendent has not commented on the alleged incident, we were told there is a strict policy in the keyboarding classroom against “outbursts,” including saying “bless you” when someone sneezes.

"we were told?"

If the superintendent hasn't commented, then who told "we?" This is just blatantly disingenuous. 

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare


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 If a teacher reprimanded

 If a teacher reprimanded me for saying "bless you", I would have told them to go fuck themselves. And if I had a theoretical kid who came home suspended for telling said teacher to fuck off, I would be one proud dad. I don't know much about schools, but I get the impression that the public school system is ridiculously authoritarian and it is good when kids rebel. It shows that there is some hope for our country. Fortunately, what happens in school is completely irrelevant to the rest of your life. 

If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X


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That's not true these days

That's not true these days with social media lasting forever. Most of the stuff I've said online can still be found online. Lots of people have to deal with offline stuff getting put online too.

Also, public school authority is necessary to provide a useful education. Don't get me wrong, I'd be proud too. But I'd also use the opportunity to teach my kid when and where the challenging of authority is advisable. If you make a habit of it, you're liable to get shot by some asshole cop.

A solution would be reducing class sizes so teachers aren't so put upon, and don't need to use authority to supress class disruption as much. But right now when a kid challenges a teacher, it puts a halt on education for the other 40 odd students. That's not acceptable.

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This is a fucking joke

This is a fucking joke right? What tight assed teacher is going to make rules like this? It would be like saying, "You can't say thank you".

I say it once or twice a year myself but prefer using Salud instead which in Spanish means Good Health.

A teacher doesn't have the right to suspend a person from a school. The suspension comes from the Principal who must have supported this for another reason. It can't be two people saying "you can't say bless you". I'm betting there is another side to this story.

The girl most likely got sent to the office for being disruptive. Then she got cocky with the Principal and was suspended.

Honestly, even being a person who dislikes religion I don't give a shit if a person says Bless You to me when I sneeze.

 


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Ostensibly, public school

Ostensibly, public school rules read kind of like military policy and laws (e.g. UCMJ obviously), where if the school administrators really wanted to, they could punish anyone for almost anything: 'disruption' of class, being 'disrespectful' of the teacher, not doing what you were told to do, etc.

It's really sad when I read a news article that makes me feel like the students in question are a lot smarter than the teachers and admin.

However, I don't think this is one of those cases. It's got too much of a, "Omg, I'm a Christian, and I'm being persecuted," feel to it.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare


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butterbattle wrote:

butterbattle wrote:

Ostensibly, public school rules read kind of like military policy and laws (e.g. UCMJ obviously), where if the school administrators really wanted to, they could punish anyone for almost anything: 'disruption' of class, being 'disrespectful' of the teacher, not doing what you were told to do, etc.

It's really sad when I read a news article that makes me feel like the students in question are a lot smarter than the teachers and admin.

However, I don't think this is one of those cases. It's got too much of a, "Omg, I'm a Christian, and I'm being persecuted," feel to it.

In almost every location of the world, when you sneeze, people say something. In the USA it is most likely to be "bless you" which apparently was used by the Jews but it goes further back than even the Jews or Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responses_to_sneezing

Trying to stop that custom is really stupid. You'd be better off trying to stop kids from being a bully.


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Personally I think it's

Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

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butterbattle

butterbattle wrote:

Ostensibly, public school rules read kind of like military policy and laws (e.g. UCMJ obviously), where if the school administrators really wanted to, they could punish anyone for almost anything: 'disruption' of class, being 'disrespectful' of the teacher, not doing what you were told to do, etc.

It's really sad when I read a news article that makes me feel like the students in question are a lot smarter than the teachers and admin.

However, I don't think this is one of those cases. It's got too much of a, "Omg, I'm a Christian, and I'm being persecuted," feel to it.

My thoughts exactly. I live in a "at will" state when it comes to employment. Truth be known, they could legally fire you for anything and everything that they wanted to. I have seen people be five minutes late to work before that employers have terminated. Were they terminated for their tardiness ? No. They were terminated because they were terrible goof offs (and in some highly unfair cases, because employers did not like them). But you get the idea. These companies can pretty much do what they want. The same I would guess for the schools. I agree, it was her telling the teacher that it was her "First Amendment Rights" as explained by the pastor that probably caused it. Maybe she is a problem child and the teacher took the opportunity to nail her with something. Maybe the teacher did not like her from the beginning, maybe something else, maybe the teacher had a bad hangover. Who knows ? 

I am not saying it is right or wrong, but indeed, this case has a smacking of "I am a christian and being picked on" to suit me. If I got in trouble at work for saying : "May the blessings of Thor and Odin be upon you" would anyone in the local Tennessee news even give a shit ? As someone who lives here currently, I would say that they would not. 

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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Vastet wrote:Personally I

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Yeah, I have never been one for the social norms and customs anyway. When someone sneezes, I never really notice. Unless they are close to me and have not covered their mouth Smiling 

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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Vastet wrote:Personally I

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Not all of them come from religion.


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harleysportster wrote:Vastet

harleysportster wrote:

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Yeah, I have never been one for the social norms and customs anyway. When someone sneezes, I never really notice. Unless they are close to me and have not covered their mouth Smiling 

That's when you say, "WTF dude?"

 


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digitalbeachbum wrote:Vastet

digitalbeachbum wrote:

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Not all of them come from religion.

A lot of them do. And those that don't aren't less dumb because they aren't religiously based. A sneeze is no different from a cough or a fart. That it gets some special treatment is absolutely illogical and irrational.

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Vastet wrote:But I'd also

Vastet wrote:
But I'd also use the opportunity to teach my kid when and where the challenging of authority is advisable. If you make a habit of it, you're liable to get shot by some asshole cop.

Well fortunately, I am white as white can be (nordic descent- blond hair, blue eyes, lilly ass white skin) so I could draw my .40 cal and wave it around and the cop wouldn't shoot me. Brian told me so. 

If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X


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lol lucky bastard. My hair

lol lucky bastard. My hair and eyes went dark, though I had blonde hair and blue eyes as a little kid. Guess I missed my opportunity.

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Vastet wrote:digitalbeachbum

Vastet wrote:
digitalbeachbum wrote:

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Not all of them come from religion.

A lot of them do. And those that don't aren't less dumb because they aren't religiously based. A sneeze is no different from a cough or a fart. That it gets some special treatment is absolutely illogical and irrational.

I agree.


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Beyond Saving wrote:Vastet

Beyond Saving wrote:

Vastet wrote:
But I'd also use the opportunity to teach my kid when and where the challenging of authority is advisable. If you make a habit of it, you're liable to get shot by some asshole cop.

Well fortunately, I am white as white can be (nordic descent- blond hair, blue eyes, lilly ass white skin) so I could draw my .40 cal and wave it around and the cop wouldn't shoot me. Brian told me so. 

Be careful with the information Brian gives you.


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digitalbeachbum

digitalbeachbum wrote:

harleysportster wrote:

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Yeah, I have never been one for the social norms and customs anyway. When someone sneezes, I never really notice. Unless they are close to me and have not covered their mouth Smiling 

That's when you say, "WTF dude?"

 

LOL Digital. Or what my mother used to say to us when we were kids : "COVER YOUR MOUTH ! " Smiling

 

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


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Vastet wrote:lol lucky

Vastet wrote:
lol lucky bastard. My hair and eyes went dark, though I had blonde hair and blue eyes as a little kid. Guess I missed my opportunity.



EVOLUTION doesn't want you to get off for shooting anyone.

"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson


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harleysportster

harleysportster wrote:

digitalbeachbum wrote:

harleysportster wrote:

Vastet wrote:
Personally I think it's beyond stupid. I don't say anything and if anyone else does I ignore them. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean I have to accept it as a custom worth propogating. Every response I've ever heard to sneezing stems from ignorant religion. I won't support it anymore than anything else that came from religion and serves no purpose

Yeah, I have never been one for the social norms and customs anyway. When someone sneezes, I never really notice. Unless they are close to me and have not covered their mouth Smiling 

That's when you say, "WTF dude?"

 

LOL Digital. Or what my mother used to say to us when we were kids : "COVER YOUR MOUTH ! " Smiling

I'd get smacked some times. I went to catholic school. those nuns were usually bitches.