(2003-12-18) — The commission that governs Philadelphia’s public schools announced today that it would place parental advisory labels on all of its school buildings to protect children from offensive language used by teachers, principals and school commissioners.
The decision solves a problem which came to light after a school principal used an analogy to explain to students why it is offensive to call a visually-impaired student ‘one-eyed jack’. The principal, who is white, told a class of 8th-grade students that the taunt was offensive like calling someone ‘nigger,’ and that neither term was acceptable.
Her explanation to the students sparked a school commissioner to call for the principal’s dismissal.
“Nigger is the most derogatory racial epithet to be used against African-Americans” said Commissioner Sandra Dungee Glenn, who is African-American.
Ms. Glenn’s repetition of the term at the commission meeting resulted in a Philadelphia Daily News story in which ‘nigger’ appeared several times. It was then that the commissioners realized that the use of the offensive word was “spiralling out of control.”
The parental advisory labels will appear on the front doors of all Philadelphia public school buildings and will protect teens from exposure to offensive words the same way the labels on music do, allowing parents to choose whether to avoid the product, or to accompany their children during the time the product is used.
As an example of the effectiveness of the labels, the commissioners cited Billboard’s top-ranked rap song, ‘The Way You Move’ by Outkast, which describes sexual acts and includes the N-word and the F-word. However, it carries the parental advisory “Explicit.” This means that the song shot to the top of the charts solely on the strength of purchases by adult fans and by parents who always listen to the songs with their children.

Post This to Your Facebook