Posted on 03/07/2006 1:50:58 PM PST by mathprof
TRADITIONAL nursery rhymes are being rewritten at nursery schools to avoid causing offence to children.
Instead of singing “Baa baa, black sheep” as generations of children have learnt to do, toddlers in Oxfordshire are being taught to sing “Baa baa, rainbow sheep”.
The move, which critics will seize on as an example of political correctness, was made after the nurseries decided to re-evaluate their approach to equal opportunities.
Stuart Chamberlain, manager of the Family Centre in Abingdon and the Sure Start centre in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, told the local Courier Journal newspaper: “We have taken the equal opportunities approach to everything we do.
“This is fairly standard across nurseries. We are following stringent equal opportunities rules. No one should feel pointed out because of their race, gender or anything else.”
In keeping with the new approach, teachers at the nurseries have reportedly also changed the ending of Humpty Dumpty so as not to upset the children and dropped the seven dwarfs from the title of Snow White.
A spokesman for Ofsted, the watchdog which inspects Sure Start centres, confirmed that centres are expected to “have regard to anti-discrimination good practice” and that staff should “actively promote equality of opportunity”.
Gervase Duffield, a Conservative district councillor representing Sutton Courtenay and Appleford, denounced the ban as ridiculous.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
In keeping with the new approach, teachers at the nurseries have reportedly also changed the ending of Humpty Dumpty so as not to upset the children and dropped the seven dwarfs from the title of Snow White.
In the new versions, Humpty Dumpty's demise feeds the homeless, and the Snow White story is renamed "Snow White and the 7 Height-Challenged Persons" ;)
Andrew Dice Clay, when he was funny.
"“I’ve spoken to other parents about it and none of us has ever heard of anyone getting offended by the words ‘black sheep’.”
Call them "Diversity Sheep"!
This is political correctness run amok.....
Call a spade a spade.....huh oh..
....never mind
But there really are such things as black sheep, aren't there? I'm no farmer, but am not familiar with the concept of rainbow sheep. Drat that pesky reality - it gets in the way of political correctness.
A you've-gotta-be-joking bump!
Next, they'll tell us "Little Black Sambo" has been banned.
"No one should feel pointed out because of their race, gender or anything else.”
Oh jeez. So ignoring the obvious is a good thing to teach kids? I wonder how dwarves must feel that the PC police are SO ashamed of them that they don't want kids exposed to them in stories. Same for blacks. How must someone feel about you if they refuse to acknowledge you or automatically associate everything negative with you?
Since most kids have never seen a real sheep anyway they won't know the difference....sad but true.
And some schools in the US have banned the game of "tag" because it might hurt children's self-esteem. You can't make this stuff up.
Of course there are rainbow sheep: "Brokeback Sheep"
"the seven dwarfs from the title of Snow White."
So, let me get this straight. "Black Sheep" is bad but "Snow White" is OK?
Am I the only one who sees this glaring hypocricy?
Yes, and they're feeling sheepish about it.
Jack and Jill should be rewritten as "Jack and Bruce."
*hypocrisy.
Beat me too it. It could be these are the sheep from Brokebutt Mountain.
Progenitor A and Progenitor B must be very happy about this....
English teachers should sue - you can't destroy the iambic pentameter and get away with it...
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