Nanny State gone too far (again)

Posted by: Mike-B on 26 February 2011

A teacher has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the General Teaching Council

Why -  He was teaching a 16 year old student a very well known rhyme (in the electronics field) to help remember the sequence for the colour coding of resistors.
He did not complete the sequence omitting the “bad” words, but the student guessed them & it seems the teacher confirmed it.   The incident came to light when the boy told another teacher.

The teacher in his defence said that he went into teaching after 30 years in engineering because he wanted to do some good for society, adding I am a professional, I'm caring & I like to teach children.

The GTC accepted he only communicated the words when pressed and was outside the formal classroom environment at the time -  but "Notwithstanding that the mnemonic was not communicated in its entirety, to do so was entirely inappropriate and below the standard of conduct expected of a registered teacher"
The teacher will have a reprimand against his record for 2 years

How freaking stupid can this politically correct nanny state get .....
What kind of people – they are not teachers in my book - are so detached from the real word that they go telling tales on colleagues over real life rhyms that have been around the electronics world since Edison. Probably someone who never went through teenage years & who thinks 16 year olds are innocent creatures who should be protected from bad thoughts for fear they will self abuse.  

Posted on: 26 February 2011 by deadlifter
What was the rhyme then ???
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Chief Chirpa
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

A teacher has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the General Teaching Council

Why -  He was teaching a 16 year old student a very well known rhyme (in the electronics field) to help remember the sequence for the colour coding of resistors.
He did not complete the sequence omitting the “bad” words, but the student guessed them & it seems the teacher confirmed it.   The incident came to light when the boy told another teacher.

The teacher in his defence said that he went into teaching after 30 years in engineering because he wanted to do some good for society, adding I am a professional, I'm caring & I like to teach children.

The GTC accepted he only communicated the words when pressed and was outside the formal classroom environment at the time -  but "Notwithstanding that the mnemonic was not communicated in its entirety, to do so was entirely inappropriate and below the standard of conduct expected of a registered teacher"
The teacher will have a reprimand against his record for 2 years

How freaking stupid can this politically correct nanny state get .....
What kind of people – they are not teachers in my book - are so detached from the real word that they go telling tales on colleagues over real life rhyms that have been around the electronics world since Edison. Probably someone who never went through teenage years & who thinks 16 year olds are innocent creatures who should be protected from bad thoughts for fear they will self abuse.  

Mike, Funny how you haven't repeated what the bloke said, what with it being racist. Any chance you could save this kind of crap for the Daily Mail forum?
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by BigH47
Bad Boys Rape  Our Young  Girls  But  Virgins Go Without. .There are many variations including a more racist one to differentiate between the 2 Bs at the beginning

Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Gold White
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Mike-B
Wondered when a filthy minded irksome small boy would ask

This is what we are attempting to learn
Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Grey, White 
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

There are quite a few mnemonic
Bright Boys Rave Over Young Girls But Veto Getting Wed.
Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well

But he offending line was the more common - at least in my old school
Black Boys Ravish Only Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by deadlifter
From what i have read it seems to be a good way of remembering colour`s so if it helps with remembering the technical aspects of a particular profession so be it
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Mike-B
Chirpa,  you seem to be missing the point.
Its not what the rhyme was,  it was not that it was racist or not,  
The question is how stupid is the politically correctness getting these days,  how much further will the trend go,  how much more bunny fluffy is the nanny state going to be
A secondary proposition is what kind of teachers are so detached from reality that they don't actually understand how kids think & what makes them enquiring worldly wise adults.  And do we really want these teachers taking on the role & assuming they need to "protect" our kids from real life.  
A little too serious for the Daily Mail - don't you think
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Chief Chirpa
Originally Posted by Mike-B:
Chirpa,  you seem to be missing the point.
Its not what the rhyme was,  it was not that it was racist or not,  
The question is how stupid is the politically correctness getting these days,  how much further will the trend go,  how much more bunny fluffy is the nanny state going to be
A secondary proposition is what kind of teachers are so detached from reality that they don't actually understand how kids think & what makes them enquiring worldly wise adults.  And do we really want these teachers taking on the role & assuming they need to "protect" our kids from real life.  
A little too serious for the Daily Mail - don't you think

More Daily Mail-style foaming at the mouth.

Mike, you can dress your argument up any way you want, but the mnemonic 'Black boys rape our young girls, but virgins go without' is racist, offensive, and wholly inappropriate in a classroom context. It's hardly 'Baa baa, black sheep', is it?
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Mike-B
Chirpa,  enough to say you & I are not going to agree

But I must post a not so funny something for the benefit of all real world humans about your reference to that "coloured" sheep nursery rhyme. Thanks for the feed.    

'Baa Baa Black Sheep' is thought to be racially dubious in PC circles. 
Various writings on it exist but it eventually reached the peak of lunacy when nurseries in Oxfordshire (my local area) altered it to "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep"

So what do we get out of this ?? do kids think sheep are rainbow coloured  ???  do we get kids believing rainbow sheep are real & that pink, blue, red sweaters come from sheep of that colour ??
Sorry to say YES THEY DO  -  a young relation came home in floods of tears because she had the mickey taken out her for believing that wool came from sheep of many colours. She was at one of those nurseries & had in mind her own painted pictures of rainbow coloured sheep.

I took her & her mum to a friends farm, were she got to see white brown & black(ish) sheep, the difference between boy & girl sheep,  ride a horse, fall in a pile of dung, see pigs doing what pigs do & jump off a 10 foot straw stack.   Real education.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by David Scott
Having a reprimand on your record for two years doesn't seem like a terribly serious punishment. All he needs to do is avoid applying for any promoted posts in that period and he's fine - as long as he avoids the racist mnemonics. When there are so many options why choose that one? It's very simple stuff really.

And you can't pretend that either ' Black Boys Ravish Only Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly' or 'Black boys rape our young girls, but virgins go without' aren't offensive, can you? Different standards apply in different situations. If you're a professional you have to accept that and act accordingly.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by David Scott
Mike, The black sheep thing was an idosyncratic decision taken by management at two private nurseries in Oxfordshire. Hardly the nanny state in action. Try again.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by mrflange
Originally Posted by Chief Chirpa:
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

A teacher has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the General Teaching Council

Why -  He was teaching a 16 year old student a very well known rhyme (in the electronics field) to help remember the sequence for the colour coding of resistors.
He did not complete the sequence omitting the “bad” words, but the student guessed them & it seems the teacher confirmed it.   The incident came to light when the boy told another teacher.

The teacher in his defence said that he went into teaching after 30 years in engineering because he wanted to do some good for society, adding I am a professional, I'm caring & I like to teach children.

The GTC accepted he only communicated the words when pressed and was outside the formal classroom environment at the time -  but "Notwithstanding that the mnemonic was not communicated in its entirety, to do so was entirely inappropriate and below the standard of conduct expected of a registered teacher"
The teacher will have a reprimand against his record for 2 years

How freaking stupid can this politically correct nanny state get .....
What kind of people – they are not teachers in my book - are so detached from the real word that they go telling tales on colleagues over real life rhyms that have been around the electronics world since Edison. Probably someone who never went through teenage years & who thinks 16 year olds are innocent creatures who should be protected from bad thoughts for fear they will self abuse.  

Mike, Funny how you haven't repeated what the bloke said, what with it being racist. Any chance you could save this kind of crap for the Daily Mail forum?
What's wrong with the Daily Mail ? dont tell me your a another Morning star reader.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by TomK
I would have hoped that a teacher would have been aware of the PC climate we live in and chosen a rhyme that was a bit less controversial. He must have known that one wouldn't have been acceptable.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Mike-B
David,  the private nurseries were the ones that made the press
Many others around the county & some around the country also did something to address the black word. My relation got her coloured sheep thing from the local state junior school
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Razor
I didn't vote for political correctness. Did you?
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Adam Meredith
Originally Posted by Mike-B:
Its not what the rhyme was,  it was not that it was racist or not,  
The question is how stupid is the politically correctness getting these days, ...
I think the questions ARE 'what the rhyme was' and whether 'it was racist'.

If it is racist then it seems reasonable to censure it.

If it is not - all a lot of fuss about nothing.

It is racist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...color_code_mnemonics
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Stephen Tate
So...it can be racist but not sexist...that is offensive...

People only seem to be offended by the word black, nothing to do with young girls then?

I agree, a better way of putting it would of been more acceptable.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by Adam Meredith
Violet sounds as if she can look after herself.
Posted on: 26 February 2011 by David Scott
Stephen,

The bit about raping young girls is just as offensive - and way out of place in the context of working with young people. I assumed that went without saying.

Mike,

It still seems a fairly low level local matter, so perhaps a nanny state isn't really what we're faced with - just a daft decision made by people who're anxious not to give offense and aren't thinking very clearly.
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by droodzilla
Political correctness (oh, how I tire of hearing that phrase!) has nothing to do with it. The nanny state has nothing to do with it. It's an unpleasant rhyme with no place in the classroom. Are we so far gone that this is even a matter of debate?
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by Don Atkinson
People the world over take the piss out of other people. Its a universal human trait. It's not unique to middle-aged white men who live in Oxfordshire.

It used to be called humour because, the world over, it made us laugh. Sometimes even when we were on the butt end.

We don't seem to laugh so much these days.

Cheers

Don
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by David Scott
Don,

Do you think asserting that black boys rape young girls is 'taking the piss out of each other'? Was there ever a time when that would have struck you as humorous? 

Or to put it another way, back in those halcyon days before we all forgot how to enjoy ourselves, were there no limits on what it was and was not OK for a teacher to say in a classroom?
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by Derry
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

The teacher in his defence said that he went into teaching after 30 years in engineering...

To be fair most people who have worked in engineering for that length of time probably are (unconsciously, perhaps) racist and sexist.

However, if he used the Black boys etc. then that was a serious lapse of judgement. Similarly, if he spoke of raping girls, that too was poor judgement.

I assume the student was Caucasian? Would it have been appropriate to use the mnemonic with a black student; or an adolescent girl?

Posted on: 27 February 2011 by Black_Man
This government (and the last one) has done a really good job on the population.  People under 50 now believe that every second word they utter could be deemed as offensive or racist.  So technically speaking if I said "this black bloke came up to me"  a dozen people will immediately jump on me and call me racist, even though the chap in question  is black.

While most people are spending their time worrying about how others perceive them, the government is having a good laugh at how successful their brainwashing has been.
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by David Scott
Ron,

" if I said "this black bloke came up to me"  a dozen people will immediately jump on me and call me racist"

I have worked in some very right on voluntary sector organisations, but I have never met anyone who would do this.

 "the government is having a good laugh at how successful their brainwashing has been."

What a bizarre fantasy. Have you actually persuaded yourself this might be true?
Posted on: 27 February 2011 by Don Atkinson
Originally Posted by David Scott:
Don,

Do you think asserting that black boys rape young girls is 'taking the piss out of each other'? Was there ever a time when that would have struck you as humorous? 

Or to put it another way, back in those halcyon days before we all forgot how to enjoy ourselves, were there no limits on what it was and was not OK for a teacher to say in a classroom?
If i've read the thread correctly, I don't think the teacher actually said it in the classromm..........but we are now nitpicking.

Cheers

Don