Don’t Use the S-Word!
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When’s a school not a school? When the local ‘school’ bans it if you to ask the residents of Sheffield, UK. The headmistress of the new Watercliffe Meadow primary school banned the word “school”, suggesting that parents have negative associations with the word.
“Honey, you’re late for your place for learning!”
Sound familiar? It better if you’re a student at the Watercliffe Meadow academy in Sheffield, South Yorks, UK. The staff insists it be called a “Place for Learning” because “school” has a negative impact on some moms and dads.
The new £4.7 million 2,000 sq. m. academy was built after three local old schools closed down for the merger.
Linda Kingdon, headmistress of the academy explained that they had decided at a very early stage to not use the word ‘school’ as it was to be a place of learning, also because many parents had very negative connotations of school.
“Instead we want this to be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors”, she said.
“We wanted to de-institutionalize the place and bring the school closer to real life.”
Though the city council and the academy staff are very excited with the new approach towards learning, parents and campaigners have ridiculed the move.
Local mum Kimberley Dunne, 26, said: “A school is a school. Seriously. The word ‘school’ doesn’t have negative connotations; it’s just where you go.”
Andrew Sangar, Sheffield Council cabinet member for children’s services, said: “It’s a school. We consider it a school and that’s how we refer to it.”
Although the author restrains himself from questioning the competency of the ‘academy’ staff, he does wonder if the ‘academy’ is going to ban “exam”, “sports day” and “teacher” from the local vocabulary.
46 Comments
This is typical of schools in what I assume is a working class area, concentrate on anything rather than actually dealing with why the word school has negative connotations. Which is usually down to the hiring of bad teachers.
It semms far away the time Aother brick in the world”Pink Floyd
I agree a school is a school regardless of what you call it. But what the heck as long as the children learn.
censorship is quite an issue… cool headsup with this article.
That is startling in it’s ridiculousness. Is that a word? Maybe my “place of learning” scratch that, school didn’t do such a great job.
Interesting… should we then begin calling jails “places of criminal rehabilitation?”
This ranks right up there with “holding students back” instead of failing them. The kids know what it means.
A rose by any name is still?????
My grandchildren can’t wait to get to school…preschool and 2nd grade, that is. Too bad we can’t keep that love for learning after the primary grades are done.
This is pure stupidity. And a molehill that someone decided to portray as a mountain. It’s school. Banning the word school and insisting profusely that it’s not school, but just a ‘place of learning’ doesn’t do diddly. It’s still school. Like when retarded was changed to mentally disabled, then mentally handicapped, because bad connatations about that. Well guess what, people still have bad connations about retarded, but now mentally handicapped and mentally disabled as well. So now, instead of just having bad ideas when the word school is said, when someone brings up the words “place”, “learning”, and “of” the parents will have bad thoughts as well. Pffft. Waste of time.
Interesting but it’s ridiculous.
Also here in the UK they are banning teachers from correcting home work with red ink, as they feel it is too negative.What bollocks.
Im 23, but no wonder the youngsters are getting stupider, when they can’t be criticised.
I meant the shhh ’school’ is ridiculous not the article by the way
I hope this is tongue in cheek!
Good Grief!
Thanks,
Clay
I am sure that the what’s in a name may have resulted in the strong desire of this group to prefer a call their school a place of learning.However, what is important is that they impart knowledge and impact the lives of all who come in contact with this place of learning.
My children used to hate school. Their rooms used to be filled with posters that decried the authoritarian teachers. One example was that of a student cooped up in a dungeon making criss-cross marks on the dreary interior counting the number of years left. But then, where is the alternative so long as we rely on traditional ways to measure learning and provide future opportunities based on this measurement alone.
That is pretty funny article! You have to love it when they figure that by demanding that we pretend that it is not school, kids will somehow learn better! How do they expect the families to take them seriously? As has been said before, “a rose by any other name…”, or perhaps “BS by any other name” would be more appropriate.
Good article, informative – just as well they called in a Place FOR Learning, rather that a Place OF Learning because the latter would have the same initials as P.O.L. — but then, I’m sure that P.F.L. will be something somewhere too. It just goes on and on, doesn’t it!? thanks for sharing.
Clearly the Principal thinks that the psycho-BS will baffle the collective parental brain.
They never learn!
Wow, whomever thought they could actually have this much power to do something so stupid.
Way to go. Something weird when words we feel comfortable with start getting banned in society. Makes you wonder what the deal is. I dont want to get paranoid and say, “OOh Conspiracy!” watch out.
If I were a student I would still slip up and call it a School or Academy. I probably would get detention, huh? Or do they call that Student Rehabilitation Center? Say is the word Tradition taboo to?
Holly
Education-ese: gotta love it.
Nice Post
Interesting! is it really make a different by calling school another name?
I’m just glad to see that the parents aren’t buying this silly name game.
Totally ridiculous to ban the word “school”! Anyway, interesting post!
It reminds me of my school days, where I had big allergy for the word “School”
Another piece of liberal political correctness, nothing more. Crap, pure crap.
It is a change for the better. Congratualtions for haveing the courage to bring about change. I can see that there is a lot of opposition to this from the consevatives. They will understand the reasoning behind this slowly, Yes, very slowly they will undersand the complex reasoning for this.
Thinking and reasoning are complex processes. It take knowledge, courage and ability to bring about change.
Another attempt at politial correction gone mad?
Apparently semantics are well and still rampant. I hope that children do not get the wrong message about deception in synonyms, as political correctness can give a false sense of expression. One must be very careful, as some may interpret this as being fake and petty.
Sabbay
AdventistWheat
the word school sure has negative connotations for me thats for damn sure
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
From the posts, clearly I’m not the only one to conclude it’s a classic case of curing the symptom, rather than the disease. I LOVED school…I still do. It isn’t a function of the name, it’s the quality of the experience. Just one broken-down, baggy-eyed, gray-haired old fool’s opinion…
Oh…BTW. Look for “Teachers” to be referred to as “Learning Facilitators”…that’s what my erstwhile company began calling me, toward the end of my tenure as a Corporate Trainer…
That is funny…
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
Enlightening. It seems to me the more it is not called “school” the more it brings to mind how much it really is one…
Where is school? Everywhere you learn something, not necessary to have a building. I like it.
NIce job like always!
I have just known that school has negative name????$%%^&*
BTW, this article enough makes me curious
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Schools are made by teachers and students, that will make good or bad, but not a word.
I liked your article very much
I found your article very interesting. I hear more and more of these things happening now. It is also banned to say, ho ho ho Merry Christmas. They say that the word ‘ho’ has also negative connotations. What will be next???
excellent article,so true to society these days
Hi, Amit! I’m back to your article again.
Idiots, plain and simple.
Schools (oh no) come up with the most odd ideas. This is definaly near the top of the list.
Everyone has a history of trying to ban certain words. Freedom of Speech was never so hard to keep.
Nice one…
I think it is a bit weard…. hehehe…