CA Student Punished for Saying 'Bless You'

Kimberlyd125

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I agree with the teacher for teaching the students about the origin and absurdity of the saying. I feel the same way about it, but I don't take the time to educate others about it, I just ignore the absurdity. The only thing I do is say "excuse me" when I sneeze. I feel that is enough for any politeness on an involuntary bodily reaction and no one need acknowledge it unless I sneeze on them, which I never do.

However, I do not agree with taking any points or lowered grades for that. He is there to teach, he can pass the information along, and let them think about it for themselves.
 
If I hear someone sneeze, I HAVE to say God bless you.
It would drive me nuts not to.

As a matter of fact, if my DD does not say it when she hears a sneeze, I remind her.

Maybe it's just my upbringing.

I don't know why it would offend anyone. If you don't believe in God, just ignore the blessing.

And, I have NO CLUE how this would disrupt a classroom. I'm sure the student was just being polite.

IMO we could use a whole lot more polite kids.


O/T:
I also would never answer an elder without saying "yes ma'am" or "no sir".
It's a respect thing.

I realize that its a southern thing. When I hear a kid say "yes" or "no" to an adult it drives me crazy. Sounds so rude.
 
If I hear someone sneeze, I HAVE to say God bless you.
It would drive me nuts not to.

As a matter of fact, if my DD does not say it when she hears a sneeze, I remind her.

Maybe it's just my upbringing.

I don't know why it would offend anyone. If you don't believe in God, just ignore the blessing.

And, I have NO CLUE how this would disrupt a classroom. I'm sure the student was just being polite.

IMO we could use a whole lot more polite kids.


O/T:
I also would never answer an elder without saying "yes ma'am" or "no sir".
It's a respect thing.

I realize that its a southern thing. When I hear a kid say "yes" or "no" to an adult it drives me crazy. Sounds so rude.


I'm an atheist and always say "bless you" and sometimes I even say "God Bless you" after someone sneezes. It's the way I was raised but I raised mine to do the same. IMO It's rude not to.

I think the teacher is a jackass
 
On a similar note-
Channing Seideman was in the middle of an emergency medical technician class when she had an epileptic seizure. She said faculty members asked her to drop the class, saying the episode was too distracting to other students and there could be more.
Seideman said it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and she’s filed a complaint against the school.

You're not allowed to have an emergency medical condition in an emergency medical class. How very liberal.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/09/29/college-says-student-with-epilepsy-disruptive/
 
I'm an atheist and always say "bless you" and sometimes I even say "God Bless you" after someone sneezes. It's the way I was raised but I raised mine to do the same. IMO It's rude not to.

I think the teacher is a jackass

I totally agree!
 
If I hear someone sneeze, I HAVE to say God bless you.
It would drive me nuts not to.

As a matter of fact, if my DD does not say it when she hears a sneeze, I remind her.

Maybe it's just my upbringing.

I don't know why it would offend anyone. If you don't believe in God, just ignore the blessing.

And, I have NO CLUE how this would disrupt a classroom. I'm sure the student was just being polite.

IMO we could use a whole lot more polite kids.


O/T:
I also would never answer an elder without saying "yes ma'am" or "no sir".
It's a respect thing.

I realize that its a southern thing. When I hear a kid say "yes" or "no" to an adult it drives me crazy. Sounds so rude.

We agree !!!:woohoo:

Every little bit of what makes our country wonderful is being taken away ,little by little. This is not the same country with the same values and freedoms that we had when I was growing up.

In protest I wish the students would sneeze and say "bless you" all day on Monday ,with their parents permission,of course.
 
On a similar note-
Channing Seideman was in the middle of an emergency medical technician class when she had an epileptic seizure. She said faculty members asked her to drop the class, saying the episode was too distracting to other students and there could be more.
Seideman said it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and she’s filed a complaint against the school.

You're not allowed to have an emergency medical condition in an emergency medical class. How very liberal.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/09/29/college-says-student-with-epilepsy-disruptive/

:thud: :waitasec:
 
This was not at all how it was reported on our local news! It was said by the teacher in an interview that it had become a big game in the classroom. One student would say 'Bless you' then the sneezer would say 'thank you' then the other student would respond ' You are welcome' and so on, and this would go on and on. It could be a real sneeze or pretend.

Dropping points off the grade was a bad decision and has been reversed.
 
Interesting, fhc. I can see how that would definitely be disrupting the class and I can see how a bunch of kids would do it over and over and over just to be annoying. Perhaps the teacher was just at his wit's end. However, the taking points off of the grade was ridiculous. Glad that's been reversed.

I am one of those people who say bless you when someone sneezes. I do it with my family, friends, even strangers. Anytime I say it to a stranger, I wonder if they're going to make a snide comment to me....but so far nothing like that has happened. I used to teach and always said bless you to a student if he/she sneezed. Again, I always waited for the day that a parent would complain but it never happened either. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when we have to think about offending someone by using what I think is common courtesy.
 
Interesting, fhc. I can see how that would definitely be disrupting the class and I can see how a bunch of kids would do it over and over and over just to be annoying. Perhaps the teacher was just at his wit's end. However, the taking points off of the grade was ridiculous. Glad that's been reversed.

I am one of those people who say bless you when someone sneezes. I do it with my family, friends, even strangers. Anytime I say it to a stranger, I wonder if they're going to make a snide comment to me....but so far nothing like that has happened. I used to teach and always said bless you to a student if he/she sneezed. Again, I always waited for the day that a parent would complain but it never happened either. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when we have to think about offending someone by using what I think is common courtesy.

I feel the same way when I say Merry Christmas.

I'm sure I will get chewed out one day for it. But oh well.

I dont say happy holidays and make sure the word Christmas is on the cards I send.
 
again,,,,life goes overboard and falls off the edge
 
This was not at all how it was reported on our local news! It was said by the teacher in an interview that it had become a big game in the classroom. One student would say 'Bless you' then the sneezer would say 'thank you' then the other student would respond ' You are welcome' and so on, and this would go on and on. It could be a real sneeze or pretend.

Dropping points off the grade was a bad decision and has been reversed.

That is how it was reported, and then it was updated to include the teacher explained how there is no God and that it was superstition to say Bless you.
If it was really the bless you, thank you, you're welcome, Then the sneezer would have been scored lower as well.
Goodness sakes, they are high schoolers....really??? this is the biggest disruption? And he's complaining about it?
 
This was not at all how it was reported on our local news! It was said by the teacher in an interview that it had become a big game in the classroom. One student would say 'Bless you' then the sneezer would say 'thank you' then the other student would respond ' You are welcome' and so on, and this would go on and on. It could be a real sneeze or pretend.

Dropping points off the grade was a bad decision and has been reversed.
Maybe he's changing his story. Before he claimed the saying didn't make any sense anymore because it started back when they believed a sneeze released evil spirits .

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines...oses-you-grade-points-20110927,0,917363.story



“The blessing really doesn’t make sense anymore,” Cuckovich explained. “When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So they were saying, ‘God bless you,’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, what you’re doing really doesn’t make sense.”
Sounds to me like he has an issue with the saying ,not the interruptions. That's an excuse ,IMO .
It would be interesting to hear his political views,but that probably won't happen.
 
I feel the same way when I say Merry Christmas.

I'm sure I will get chewed out one day for it. But oh well.

I dont say happy holidays and make sure the word Christmas is on the cards I send.

Me too . Cussing is tolerated more than anything vaguely associated with certain religions these days.
 
I'm not religious at all and I consciously say bless you all the time. For me, it's not about religion ... it's about spreading goodwill and positive vibes. The history of the phrase means nothing to me because the meaning of language is constantly evolving, not only in society at large but in my own mind. :D
 
I'm not religious at all and I consciously say bless you all the time. For me, it's not about religion ... it's about spreading goodwill and positive vibes. The history of the phrase means nothing to me because the meaning of language is constantly evolving, not only in society at large but in my own mind. :D

I agree with you totally. But I don't think it should be offensive for someone to say bless you in a religious sense. All that should matter is that kindness and politeness is shown.

That being said, knowing teenage students pretty well, I can guess what happened in this classroom. Kids that age will do whatever they can to get a rise or be silly. A id probably said "bless you" each time a student sneezed, which could have been multiple times in a row (that's how I sneeze), the teacher probably got annoyed and said, "You know, the origin of that phrase is based on superstition." The students probably realized it annoyed him and decided to do it as often as possible. So, he began deducting points.
 
I always heard that people say God bless you cause your heart skips a beat when you sneeze.

I've never heard the evil spirit story.

Learn something new everyday.
 
I always heard that people say God bless you cause your heart skips a beat when you sneeze.

I've never heard the evil spirit story.

Learn something new everyday.

I like your explanation better.
 
So you can attend EMS Class-as long as you dont have a emergency EMS happen in class to YOU??:waitasec::truce::bump:
 

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