. . . By one school in Britain:
Pupils are being allowed to swear at one Northamptonshire secondary school - as long as they limit their use of bad language to five times a lesson.
A tally of how many times the f-word is used will be kept on the board. . .
[H]eadmaster Alan Large said he had received no complaints about the policy.
"The reality is that the f-word is part of these young adults' everyday language," he told the Daily Mail.
Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at two classes of 15 and 16-year-olds that were particularly unruly.
"Within each lesson the teacher will initially tolerate (although not condone) the use of the f-word (or derivatives) five times and these will be tallied on the board so all students can see the running score," he wrote in the letter.
Link.
The idiocy of this policy is layered. We'll just list a few:
* Just because the kids use the f-word, doesn't mean better vocabulary can't be expected of them. (We won't address the intellectual laziness behind all vulgarities.)
* If you fail to expect more of students, you won't get more.
* By allowing it in the schools, the f-word receives legitimacy.
* By tallying the results, you actually encourage its use.
* Students not otherwise disposed to use the f-word might be encouraged, or feel pressure, to do so.
