Now you are "campers" or "purple penguins"

[fireheart17]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/par...-1227085105637

So teachers in a school in Nebraska have been told to avoid using "gendered" language and instead addressing them by things such as "campers" and "purple penguins." The theory behind this is that it's meant to be gender-neutral.

Normally I'm all for progress, but this one is just flat-out stupid. If you have a kid in your class who is transsexual, just address them by the pronoun they want to be known as. Not that hard!

[otakuneko]

That's just crazy. Here's a thought: let the trans-person speak up.

Obligatory: *Happy Campers* are better than *silly cows.* Do not forget to *enjoy the sauce!*

[Panacea]

OH good lord. Political correctness has hit the epitome of crazy.

[Gravekeeper]

You know what's a great non-gendered way to address a group of children?

"Kids"

If that doesn't work, try the old standbys!

"Class" and "Everybody" or "Everyone"

Man, its like the English language was totally prepared for this.

[Ginger Tea]

And lets not forget to add Children to that list.

I saw this last week on tumblr in action, no one seemed to want to use any of the 'classics' available, nope it has to be new fangled PC terms and some higher education systems are finding xer/xim pronoun nonsense cropping up on notice boards.

[fireheart17]

Yeah, like I said, I'm all for progressive stuff in teaching, but this is just an extreme example of being stupid and also creating a problem where one doesn't actually exist.
If there's a kid in the class who is transsexual, why not just settle it for that one class?

On a more personal example, I sometimes use "you guys" for a small group of kids, but otherwise it's getting their attention with something like a hand-clapping pattern or even just like "OK, HANDS ON HEADS AND EYES ON ME." Which then usually gets their attention.
My old boss used to yell out "BOYS AND GIRLS" in a very loud booming voice. It was extremely effective.

[Ginger Tea]

The special snowflakes as TiA likes to call 99% of people linked would not last with one of my old jobs.

"Alright you bunch of C**t's gather round." Granted it was a small side company with just the 6 of us all males.

He was also 'OK' with "morning Scouse twat."

[HYHYBT]

Is Snopes of any use here?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/educa...lepenguins.asp

[fireheart17]

Is Snopes of any use here?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/educa...lepenguins.asp

It wouldn't surprise me if people DID actually take that as gospel though (given the horror stories I've heard on here).

Also the lady who commmented in the snopes page about the deconstruction of family and religious values is an idiot. How on earth is being "gender-neutral" breaking down families? (or religious values for that matter)

[HYHYBT]

if your religious values include, as the more conservatives tend to, separate roles for men and women and the pretense that generalities snd stereotypes are instead absolute truth, anything that blurs or ignores the line they imagine to be so sharp is a hazard.