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Dictionary Dispute
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MENIFEE -- A school district in Riverside county that had taken dictionaries out of its classrooms because of a sex term some parents find offensive will allow it back on the shelves.
A committee of parents, teachers and administrators decided on Tuesday to permit fourth- and fifth-graders at Oak Meadows Elementary School to use Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
However, parents can opt to have their kids use an alternative dictionary.
The district pulled the reference book last week after a parent complained when a child came across the term "oral sex."
This is the definition: "Main Entry: oral sex Function: noun Date: 1973 : oral stimulation of the genital."
A memo from Assistant Superintendent Karen Valdes acknowledged the dictionary is a respected resource, but said district officials found that "a number of referenced words are age-inappropriate."
Some parents and advocates of free speech fought back, saying the district is overreacted.
Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition says "common sense seems to be lacking in this school."
Menifee is a city of about 67,000 people 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Meinfee Union School District serves about 9,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
A committee of parents, teachers and administrators decided on Tuesday to permit fourth- and fifth-graders at Oak Meadows Elementary School to use Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
However, parents can opt to have their kids use an alternative dictionary.
The district pulled the reference book last week after a parent complained when a child came across the term "oral sex."
This is the definition: "Main Entry: oral sex Function: noun Date: 1973 : oral stimulation of the genital."
A memo from Assistant Superintendent Karen Valdes acknowledged the dictionary is a respected resource, but said district officials found that "a number of referenced words are age-inappropriate."
Some parents and advocates of free speech fought back, saying the district is overreacted.
Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition says "common sense seems to be lacking in this school."
Menifee is a city of about 67,000 people 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Meinfee Union School District serves about 9,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
The Republican component to Obama's jobs plan: censors who blacken "inappropriate" words out of school dictionaries. These McCarthy descendants can narrow our trade gap with China by helping with its ongoing efforts to eliminate "inappropriate" words and news from a wide range of on-line materials.
sheryl Jedlinski @ 9:00 PM PST, Jan 27, 2010
Do they really think that their children can't handle learning the actual definitions of words they've probably already heard? Looking a the "oral sex" entry referenced in the article, I would hardly describe it as "racy" or "inappropriate"-. Are they trying to protect their kids from vocabulary?
Sarah @ 10:12 AM PST, Jan 27, 2010
Is our country not based on free speech & religion? So what is the problem?
Rosemarie Nogales @ 9:52 AM PST, Jan 27, 2010
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