Professor Bans College Students From Saying ‘Bless You’ In Class

TrackerSam

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Professor Bans College Students From Saying ‘Bless You’ In Class
August 26, 2014 9:39 PM

(CBS Atlanta) – One professor at the College of Coastal Georgia has banned students from saying “bless you” in his class.
Campus Reform reports that Dr. Leon Gardner, assistant professor of chemistry at the College of Coastal Georgia, pointed out his six rules on behavior on his Introductory Physics class syllabus.
According to the #6 under the “Behavioral Deduction” section of the syllabus, students’ grades will be lowered for: “Saying ‘bless you.’ We are taught that it is polite to say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes. However, if you say this while I am talking, it is NOT polite, it is very rude!”

Gardener states that a student may be deducted up to 15 percent of their final grade for any student that disrupts his class. He goes on to say in the syllabus that saying “bless you” may result in an immediate 1 percent grade deduction for each occurrence.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/08...lege-students-from-saying-bless-you-in-class/

This is nuts. Saying Bless You is not a disruption. :gaah:
 
It depends on how many students are in his class. If they all start saying bless you that becomes disruptive.
 
It depends on how many students are in his class. If they all start saying bless you that becomes disruptive.

Depends on how many kids sneeze at the same time. That's disruptive, and a perfect way to protest this policy. One kid sneezes and then another, like a wave.
 
This is ludicrous. A ONE PERCENT GRADE REDUCTION for being polite?

He sounds like a megalomaniac.
 
I think the 1% deduction is a bit much. A student's grade should reflect his/her mastery of the material.

But I don't think ya'll realize how students today feel entitled to behave however they please and how difficult it is to corral their attention long enough to impart knowledge. I haven't been in a classroom for awhile, but we had to ban cell phones, water bottles, food, gum, talking to one's neighbors, trips to the bathroom (except during scheduled breaks) etc. and so forth. And that was a decade ago!

I, too, have dealt with the "bless you" epidemic. Trust me, one student sneezes and you can get a veritable chorus of "bless yous" in response. It is VERY disruptive. Now, personally, I didn't feel a need to write about it in my syllabus; I simply said "That isn't necessary" in my "deadly serious" voice the first time it happened.

Put another way, imagine that one student yawns and 17 students ask if she had trouble sleeping last night. Or a kid says "Ow" and everyone jumps up to ask "What's wrong?" Etc. and so forth. The rule of etiquette in a formal group are not the same as in a one-on-one conversation.

***

The other story about the Tennessee high schooler who was banned for saying "bless you" because it is supposedly short for "God bless you" is just ridiculous.

Especially since, IIRC, the expression "God bless you" originate with the Romans, who were NOT referring to the Judeo-Christian God when they said "bless you" to ward off the evil spirit that causes sneezes.
 
That is ridiculous.

What is "ridiculous"?

If you mean the 1% grade reduction, I tend to agree.

But there is nothing "polite" about 17 kids saying "bless you" when I (or the instructor in question) is speaking to a large group. (For the sake of argument, I assume the actual sneeze was involuntary.)
 
What is "ridiculous"?

If you mean the 1% grade reduction, I tend to agree.

But there is nothing "polite" about 17 kids saying "bless you" when I (or the instructor in question) is speaking to a large group. (For the sake of argument, I assume the actual sneeze was involuntary.)

1% reduction for being polite. I do not think 17 students sneezing at the same time is likely. If that was the case, people would be sick.
 
1% reduction for being polite. I do not think 17 students sneezing at the same time is likely. If that was the case, people would be sick.

I said nothing of 17 students "sneezing simultaneously". I spoke of 17 students saying "Bless you" in response to ONE sneeze.

How is that polite, if they all sing out while I (or any other teacher) is in the middle of a sentence?

If you imagine that one "Bless you" ends the matter, you are mistaken. In fact (and I am speaking from experience, not hypothesis), one "Bless you" invariably leads to another and another, etc. and so forth.
 
I said nothing of 17 students "sneezing simultaneously". I spoke of 17 students saying "Bless you" in response to ONE sneeze.

How is that polite, if they all sing out while I (or any other teacher) is in the middle of a sentence?

If you imagine that one "Bless you" ends the matter, you are mistaken. In fact (and I am speaking from experience, not hypothesis), one "Bless you" invariably leads to another and another, etc. and so forth.

When I say sneezing 17 times simultaneously, I meant close to each other. I do not see how it is impolite, when someone says that.
 
I live where this college is; one son has taken a class, and many of my friends are professors there.

DH is a veteran HS teacher, as well as a college professor ( at 2 other local colleges). He says "Bless You" when a student sneezes, and so does the rest of the faculty I know. Someone should have made the non local professor aware of local traditions, customs, and manners when he submitted his syllabus for review.
 
I said nothing of 17 students "sneezing simultaneously". I spoke of 17 students saying "Bless you" in response to ONE sneeze.

How is that polite, if they all sing out while I (or any other teacher) is in the middle of a sentence?

If you imagine that one "Bless you" ends the matter, you are mistaken. In fact (and I am speaking from experience, not hypothesis), one "Bless you" invariably leads to another and another, etc. and so forth.

So what? It's over in 5 seconds. His admonishment will take longer and be more disruptive. And disruptive to who? The students? I don't think so. You're never disrupted doing your job, if you have one? No one is allowed to disrupt anyone at any time for any reason? Or just teachers with over inflated egos? Someone says "bless you" and I doubt the rest of the class even notices (and I am speaking from experience, not hypothesis) .
 
How in the world does he maintain his balance, while walking about with that giant head on his shoulders?

A pox on him.
 
I've never in my life been in a classroom in which one sneeze and a dozen "bless you"s ruined the entire day, or disrupted anything.
 
I live where this college is; one son has taken a class, and many of my friends are professors there.

DH is a veteran HS teacher, as well as a college professor ( at 2 other local colleges). He says "Bless You" when a student sneezes, and so does the rest of the faculty I know. Someone should have made the non local professor aware of local traditions, customs, and manners when he submitted his syllabus for review.

I've taught at four colleges (all in California). I have never been asked to submit a syllabus for review, not even at Pepperdine, a very conservative, evangelical school. Most places ask for a copy at some point during the semester; but that's for future reference, in case a students gets an incomplete, for example, and has to make up equivalent work.
 
So what? It's over in 5 seconds. His admonishment will take longer and be more disruptive. And disruptive to who? The students? I don't think so. You're never disrupted doing your job, if you have one? No one is allowed to disrupt anyone at any time for any reason? Or just teachers with over inflated egos? Someone says "bless you" and I doubt the rest of the class even notices (and I am speaking from experience, not hypothesis) .

Your logic escapes me, Sam. (I've already said the 1% grade reduction is an overreaction.)

But how does a sneeze make 17 people interrupting a public speaker "polite" rather than "rude"? Why is an archaic custom more important than college course material?

My students (even in lecture halls of 100-150 students) were allowed to interrupt me with questions at any time by raising their hands. I wanted to know what they were thinking so I could better adapt my remarks to their needs. But in almost every hour there came a point where I had to limit questions so as to cover all the material they needed for comprehension and the exam. Students understood this and were happy to reserve additional questions until after class ended.

Those who are defending mass interruptions in a large group have never--I don't think--attended lectures where difficult ideas or information were being conveyed. I promise you college isn't like high school and one doesn't have 5 full hours per week to cover a 5-page chapter in a history book. Rather, one is often covering hundreds of pages in a single lecture. 17 people saying "bless you" and then giggling about it was simply not necessary, as I gently made clear to my students (without docking grades).
 
When I say sneezing 17 times simultaneously, I meant close to each other. I do not see how it is impolite, when someone says that.

ONE sneeze. SEVENTEEN "I bless yous" (which are not uttered simultaneously; one person gives his neighbor the idea and so forth). Followed, in my experience, by giggling when everyone realizes how silly this all is. All of this in a large room where students have to raise their voices to be heard over someone who is speaking. Is this clear now?
 

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