An English high school has decided to cope with the problem of student profanity by tolerating it. Beginning this fall, students will be allowed to curse at their teachers, just so long as they don't say "f--k" more than five times during a lesson. Part of the new policy involves keeping a running tally on the blackboard of how many times the word "f--k" has been uttered during a given lesson--a practice that promises to distract students. If the word is used more than five times during a class--and my guess is that some classes will turn into competitions to see just how many times the word can be uttered--students will be "spoken to" afterward by the teacher. The school's idea is that this policy will improve student behavior by acknowledging their habitual language patterns while making a reasonable request for modification of those patterns. "The reality is that the f-word is part of these young adults' everyday language," the headmaster said. "As a temporary policy we are giving them a bit of leeway, but want them to think about the way they talk and how they might do better." The school, which was labelled "not effective" by inspectors last year, will also be sending "praise postcards" to parents of students who avoid cursing and who show up on time for class.

Oh what I'd give to return to the days of the cane.

Holy sh*t! Ooops.

Hey, do I get a praise postcard for leaving the "i" out above?

What a stupid idea.

I attended school regularly, and even had perfect attendance a few years. I never once cursed at one of my teachers.

Funny how my parents managed to teach me to do that without the enticement of a praise postcard.

I for one would hate to teach in an environment that lets students say what I so clearly see in their eyes sometimes. Does the word "authority" mean anything anymore?

What about when these kids are in a different situation that requires respect for authority? For example, what's going to happen if any of them ever has to appear in court, for even a traffic violation? Is the judge going to be so permissive?

This is an asinine idea. If I worked in that school system, I would be looking to move.

Oh, and I wonder -- do the teachers get to curse back?

The school ought to be saying, "Talk however the f--k you want in class--just be aware that if you talk that way in certain other places, you will not get the job, the girl, or will get a punch, but that's up to you. We're not interested in deportment so long as class proceeds smoothly. What you must do is read and write the assignments, think about your work, and come prepared. That's not negotiable."

But the school's proposed plan is ridiculous: as much time will go into counting f--ks as ever went into repressing them. They've turned the classroon agenda over to the students.

I don't want to harrumph about discipline and authority and respect and all that malarkey. How about harrumphing about a complete abdication of teacherly tactics for managing students?

It makes me sick to think they're sending out "praise postcards" for people doing what they're SUPPOSED to be doing any way.

And it makes me even sicker to think that the people who receive these postcards will probably be called "wankers" and worse by the more feral part of the community....

(And what this does is it basically reduces the class hour to an accounting of swears. The teacher is probably going to be so busy making tally marks on the board that there will be no point in trying to teach.

If I were a teacher in this district, or a parent of a student, I'd be moving out of there so fast that it would be months before my junk mail caught up to me...)

I love it, it just gives me another opertunity to beat these ignorant kids ass when they say it to me. Perhaps it might even rub off on the teachers and supervisors at this school so that I can enjoy the laying on of hands with them also>

This is a perfect example of what is being preached the next generation through pop culture. We should not worry about this for the reason being that we will always need people to flip burgers at micky D's, and as long as there are people cussing in class and not showing up on time, I am sure that I am going to continue to get my burgers Cheap!!! Big Mac anyone? I hope they don't sh@# on my burger for this, ooops.

From the article:

Within each lesson the teacher will initially tolerate (although not condone) the use of the f-word

Wow, now there's a loophole you can drive a bus through: I hope that this particular English class does not include a lesson on the Use-mention distinction.