A Student Punished For Saying 'bless you'

Sutremaine wrote:

So you don't know why it's polite, and it's one of those things that's done because people do it?

Yes. Which would make it exactly like every other thing that society has deemed polite or impolite. Though I have not been a Christian for many, many years, I still say 'bless you' when someone sneezes. It's been drilled into my head that this is what polite society does, just as in other cultures, one does not point one's toes at someone else, or never directly speaks to one's mother-in-law.

Though that last one may be a simple survival technique. <_<

...I always thought saying 'bless you' had turned into some way of excusing someone for the disruption they just made, as bizarrely awkward as that is. But then, it's kinda like someone saying 'pardon you' to another person who just burped or yawned. I've gotten into a weird habit now of excusing myself after I sneeze (I tend to make a bit of a disruption since I sneeze multiple times in a row), but I still say 'bless you' when someone else does it.

Why are bodily functions in society so damn complicated?

It's a Thing. From way back. People say it without thinking. Just like some people say "Oh my god!" when shocked about something, whether they believe in God or not. Lots of people do polite things without knowing WHY they are polite, just that they are polite. Like shaking hands with a business partner. Why is it polite to shake? Why, it goes back to war, to show there are no weapons.

Sure, it was a test. Somebody just spoke without thinking. They said 'Bless you' as a knee-jerk response to somebody sneezing. And then got 25 points knocked off their score.

If everybody HAD joined in, sure, that would have been disruptive. But it sure doesn't sound like they did.

Goddammit, why the hell don't they just FAIL the kid already? 25 points is a lot of points.

It's Political Correctness gone totally mad again and I can't believe anybody is on the side of the teacher.

OH FUCK YOU HARLEY

JUST FUCK YOU

It isn't "politeness" or "a reflex" or "political HOCK HURP DURP SNACK ON A FUCKING SEWER PIPE SHITFUCKS". Jesus Christ, half this board can't let go of high school, the other half don't remember what fucking school was like. YOU DON'T FUCKING TALK DURING CLASS UNLESS THE TEACHER ASKS YOU A QUESTION. I don't even know why this is even being discussed, since the principal told the teacher that the punishment was inappropriate. The degree of punishment, not the fact that there was one. Oh wait, I do know why. It's right there in the first post.

Some hysteric wrote:

Next thing you know, students are going to start getting suspended for saying thank you and hello.

And all the rest of you clowns piled on to diarrhea yourselves about POLITICAL HURRRRRR GON DURRRRRRRRRRR.

So, it was just my school where the teacher was the one who said bless you when a pupil sneezed?

Howithurts wrote:

@Sutre: You mean like shaking hands? Or saying thank you?

There's no real reason to say thank you, but it's polite and you do it anyways.

Shaking hands or saying 'thank you' are both forms of acknowledgement. So is saying 'bless you', but I'd rather my presence or my thankable deeds be acknowledged than my bodily functions.

After reading the article, I'd be inclined to side with the teacher (newspapers reporting such stuff are more inclined to give it the "teacher being stupid" spin rather than the "kids find new ways to disrupt classes" spin), were it not for the fact that the teacher's reasons do not have a leg to stand on. If it was a DISRUPTIVE verbal exchange, not a MEANINGLESS verbal exchange, just insist on that and maybe you'll get you point across. Mentioning old superstitions veered the subjects right where it should not go...
I hate people replying on my sneezes, especially the old adages "Salute e bori" (=health and money) or "salute che xé vero" (=health indeed).
Since I tend to have four or five in a row and these well-meaning dumbos are like, ATCHHOO! "Salute!", ATCHHOO! "Salute!", ATCHHOO! "Salute!", ATCHHOO! "Salute!", ATCHHOO! "Salute!"...
So instead of "thank you," they get a "You call this health?" That silences most of them.

Cyberwulf wrote:

OH FUCK YOU HARLEY

JUST FUCK YOU

It isn't "politeness" or "a reflex" or "political HOCK HURP DURP SNACK ON A FUCKING SEWER PIPE SHITFUCKS". Jesus Christ, half this board can't let go of high school, the other half don't remember what fucking school was like. YOU DON'T FUCKING TALK DURING CLASS UNLESS THE TEACHER ASKS YOU A QUESTION.

You went to a much stricter school than I did. For the most part we could talk among ourselves, just so long as the teacher wasn't talking at the time.

Also, as mentioned by The Unoriginal, if this is just about a pupil being disruptive, then why did the teacher bother going on about the blessing not making sense any more? Factor in the overly harsh nature of the punishment and the OP could well be correct. The kid may actually have been punished for saying "Bless you" along with being disruptive.

Cyberwulf wrote:

OH FUCK YOU HARLEY

JUST FUCK YOU

It isn't "politeness" or "a reflex" or "political HOCK HURP DURP SNACK ON A FUCKING SEWER PIPE SHITFUCKS". Jesus Christ, half this board can't let go of high school, the other half don't remember what fucking school was like. YOU DON'T FUCKING TALK DURING CLASS UNLESS THE TEACHER ASKS YOU A QUESTION. I don't even know why this is even being discussed, since the principal told the teacher that the punishment was inappropriate. The degree of punishment, not the fact that there was one. Oh wait, I do know why. It's right there in the first post.

Some hysteric wrote:

Next thing you know, students are going to start getting suspended for saying thank you and hello.

And all the rest of you clowns piled on to diarrhea yourselves about POLITICAL HURRRRRR GON DURRRRRRRRRRR.

How can you call someone else 'some hysteric' without being maced in the face by your own Irony?

ETA: Seriously, it's like, truck-size.

ETAAlso: Like, a sixteen wheeler one. One of them big ones that goes AWOOGA and runs the Winchester boys off the road in the season 1 Supernatural finale, back when the show was still good.

Was the kid swapping notes? Answers? Ideas? No.

The way the teacher admonishes it, it's like they think the kids believe there really believe that all that 'evil spirits' crap is applicable, rather than a knee-jerk thing. Sounds like they're trying to show off to me.

All they had to do was say, "Quiet in the class" or something, and all would be well. No more unnecessery, 'disruptive' "bless you"s. No ridiculous lecture on PR. Any more noise after that of course, and okay, it's time to knock off some points. True, it was an exam and silence is required, but this is just way overboard.

"You must maintain silence in exams."
"Oh... sorry-"
"2 million points off!"

How the fuck is this newsworthy?

I_Lam_Edhellen wrote:

How the fuck is this newsworthy?

It exists and we can wank about it.

BF and I have had long talks about why I think it's polite and why he doesn't give a fuck. And guess what we concluded? He doesn't care that I say it because it's a reflex, and I don't care when he doesn't say it because it doesn't actually mean anything.

As for the article, teacher is a bit of a fuckwad. Getting pissed at kids for mumbling "bless you" after someone sneezes is about as ludicrous as getting pissed at kids for leg-jiggling.

My high school math teacher was a former wrestler and told us he's rip off our legs if we jiggled them. No one did.

Wimps.