Yeah, I’ve never understood people who think we’re going full Harrison Bergeron every time we try to make day-to-day life a bit more accessible for those who could use it.
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Sorry, I lost track of what you were trying to say when my radio kicked in…
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Several work boot companies still manufacture in the U.S.A. I know Red Wing and Carolina do, maybe Frye, definitely at least a handful of others.
The funny thing about the phrase is that the point is supposed to be that it’s impossible to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps, but it’s usually used as some sort of rugged aspirational phrase.
ETA: And cowboy boots of course.
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Just before we all get hot under the collar about the nanny-state, bear in mind that this is part of a conservative media campaign about “political correctness going too far”, and the journalistic thrust and integrity of the article should be seen in a wider context.
In particular there are some really excellent anti-bullying measures being introduced in state schools aimed in part at making them safer for students who identify as part of the LGBT community, and this is getting the local conservatives all worked up into a lather.
From the same article, further down:
The measure followed the introduction of the Safe Schools anti-bullying program and teachers were told at a meeting if they did not comply they could be deemed homophobic and breaking the law.
The school also has a “Queer-Straight alliance” club and holds gender equality events such as Wear it Purple Day
Last month, it lowered the Aboriginal flag to raise the rainbow flag at half-mast following the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Local MP Damien Tudehope told the Daily Telegraph that parents feared their daughters might be ostracised if they didn’t comply with Rainbow Day and Purple Day.
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INSENSITIVE CLODS!
My precious child is sensitive to motion and light. And to the fear that the other children are keeping quiet to hide something from her.
What are you going to do to accommodate her? Hmmm?
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“Greetings, Econauts. I’m Free Waterfall Sr., founder of Penguins Unlimited.”
The crowd applauds.
“Whoa! No, no! No applause. Every time you clap your hands you kill thousands of spores that’ll some day form a nutritious fungus. Just show your approval with a mould-friendly thumbs up.”
The crowd thumbs-ups.
“Please hold your thumbs until the end. Now, folks, it’s time to stop that tanker with a non-violent human circle.”
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That also seems like a more robust solution. The fact that they have a rule doesn’t mean that the other kids always are in 100% compliance with that rule. (Plus kids will be loud in other ways.)
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Student A: Yeah we can’t clap anymore because it bothers some of the kids.
Student B: Which kids?
Student A: They won’t say who. There must be something wrong with those kids.
Student B: Let’s find out who they are and torment them.
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It pains me how youth institutions are either totally hardass or totally wishy-washy with their kids. The school needs to accommodate the sensitive kids by letting them retreat to a quiet, supervised room once they’ve had their fill. But with incentives to stay at the noisy rally, or whatever, as long as they can. A little exposure over time will help them resist it longer.
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And what about – and I say this as someone who much prefers quiet, and as someone who was a quiet kid who spent most recesses reading – the kids who need to be loud? Even the biggest introverts need to yell sometimes.
The kids who need quiet are getting accommodated right now because they don’t fit the current norm. Wait a few years, quiet assemblies become the norm, and some parents will be protesting how their kids were punished for getting too enthusiastic at a pep rally.
All the years I was a teacher, all we ever heard about was how the loud kids weren’t being supported by a school system which demanded students sit still and work quietly for hours on end. This school says the quiet ones aren’t being served either. Well no shit – schools are all about enforcing norms, which is one of the reasons I quit teaching. I just don’t see how giving extra support to one end of the spectrum at the expense of the other end helps anything.
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There is more info in a follow-up article to the article that BoingBoing/Mark linked to.
School imposed clapping ban because ‘teacher has hearing aid’, minister says
A SYDNEY primary school imposed a clapping ban on its students in favour of “silent cheers” because one of its teachers wears hearing aids and found the noise of applause too loud, the NSW Government has said.
…
Mr [Education Minister Adrian] Piccoli took to radio on Wednesday evening to defend the ban, saying “the school is supporting a teacher with a disability. The teacher has asked for instances where there is cause for applause, for this not to be done loudly”.
…
Since news.com.au sought a response from the school on Wednesday, Mr Piccoli said “this is about accommodating a teacher with a disability”.
“I believe we should be respectful to people with disabilities and if we can slightly change what we do to accommodate them, then we should,” he said.
“I am advised that there is no ban on clapping.”
It seems to me that there’s even more to the story. I wonder what the whole process was that brought this change about. For instance, is it possible that the students themselves came up with the idea, in order to help out their teacher?
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That is straight up bullshit. My uncle wears a hearing aid in both ears. When noise is bothering him (like my mother talking) he just presses the mute button on the remote control for his ear devices. If the students want to support this teacher, buy her some aids that aren’t from thirty years ago.
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Well, who knows… Maybe if there’s spontaneous clapping, the teacher isn’t able to turn the aids down quickly enough? And if he/she kept them down all the time she/he wouldn’t hear the rest of the event? And/or I think I’ve read that different types of hearing issues require different types of aids, and that some can’t be helped by newer technologies…possibly the teacher can only be helped by the older-type aids? I really don’t have expertise in that area, but I do imagine that there’s possibly more involved than has been reported.
I student taught at a school for the deaf, where most people wore hearing aids. Quickest way one hard of hearing person would get another one’s attention? A short, sharp, and very loud shout, which would probably looked a lot like a clap on a graph. It never ceased to make me jump, even when not directed at me, which of course some students used for their own amusement.
Schools for the deaf are loud if you’re a hearie.
So it might be for the hearing aids, but unless a subject matter expert chimes in and corrects, I’m not buying it.
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Absolutely. I had such a horrible time that it’s wonder I’m still here. I’m glad I am.
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Also, making public spaces accessibly is also the LAW… Public buildings are for all citizens, not just some.
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Me too!
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Thanks! It’s been one thing I’ve been over sensitive about for my kid…
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I don’t expect people to care but I do and I know some people do.
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