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War On Words: NYC Dept. Of Education Wants 50 ‘Forbidden’ Words Banned From Standardized Tests

'Dinosaur,' 'Birthday,' 'Halloween,' 'Poverty,' 'Divorce' Among Those Suggested

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Dennis Walcott (credit: Marla Diamond/WCBS 880, FILE)

Dennis Walcott (credit: Marla Diamond/WCBS 880, FILE)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — George Carlin is rolling over in his grave.

The New York City Department of Education is waging a war on words of sorts, and is seeking to have words they deem upsetting removed from standardized tests.

Marla Diamond Talks To Walcott, Student About Banned Words


Fearing that certain words and topics can make students feel unpleasant, officials are requesting 50 or so words be removed from city-issued tests.

The word “dinosaur” made the hit list because dinosaurs suggest evolution which creationists might not like, WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond reported. “Halloween” is targeted because it suggests paganism; a “birthday” might not be happy to all because it isn’t celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Julie Lewis’ family celebrates Christmas and Kwanzaa, but she told CBS 2′s Emily Smith she wants her children to appreciate and learn about other holidays and celebrations.

“They’re going to meet people from all walks of life and they’re going to have to learn to adjust,” Lewis said.

Words that suggest wealth are excluded because they could make kids jealous. “Poverty” is also on the forbidden list. That’s something Sy Fliegal with the Center for Educational Innovation calls ridiculous.

“The Petersons take a vacation for five days in their Mercedes … so what? You think our kids are going to be offended because they don’t have a Mercedes? You think our kids are going to say ‘I’m offended; how could they ask me a question about a Mercedes? I don’t have a Mercedes!’” Fliegal said.

In a throwback to “Footloose,” the word “dancing” is also taboo. However, there is good news for kids that like “ballet”: The city made an exception for this form of dance.

Also banned are references to “divorce” and “disease,” because kids taking the tests may have relatives who split from spouses or are ill.

Some students think banning these words from periodic assessment tests is ridiculous.

“If you don’t celebrate one thing you might have a friend that does it. So I don’t see why people would find it offensive,” Curtis High School Sophomore Jamella Lewis told Diamond.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the DOE is simply giving guidance to the test developers.

“So we’re not an outlier in being politically correct. This is just making sure that test makers are sensitive in the development of their tests,” Walcott said Monday.

To which Fliegal responded: “It’s all of life! I don’t know how they figure out what not to put on the list. Every aspect of life is on the list.”

There are banned words currently in school districts nationwide. Walcott said New York City’s list is longer because its student body is so diverse.

Here is the complete list of words that could be banned:

Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)

Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs

Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)

Bodily functions

Cancer (and other diseases)

Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)

Celebrities

Children dealing with serious issues

Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)

Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)

Crime

Death and disease

Divorce

Evolution

Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes

Gambling involving money

Halloween

Homelessness

Homes with swimming pools

Hunting

Junk food

In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge

Loss of employment

Nuclear weapons

Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)

Parapsychology

Politics

Pornography

Poverty

Rap Music

Religion

Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)

Rock-and-Roll music

Running away

Sex

Slavery

Terrorism

Television and video games (excessive use)

Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)

Vermin (rats and roaches)

Violence

War and bloodshed

Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)

Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

What do you think about the banned words list? Let us know below

View Comments
  • all american

    Don’t forget HOODIE!

  • The Good Priest

    Loser, Corruption, Fraud, Joke, Pathetic, Bought & Paid-For; are all words that shouldn’t be on the list because they suggest locally elected politicians.

    • IAmGladIDidNotTeachForDOE

      Agreed!!

  • all american

    Stupid
    Dumb
    Idiot
    Absurd
    Twisted
    Deranged
    Delusional
    B. S.

  • all american

    Fire them all.
    This is idiotic.
    This is why budgets won’t stretch. Hundreds of salaries removing words like dinosaurs from school!!! Are you people NUTS! Every museum and university on the planet has dinosaur skeletons out the hoo-ha! They were REAL. They preceded us. We can PROVE it…unlike the bible.

  • IAmGladIDidNotTeachForDOE

    The word “dinosaur” suggests evolution!! LOL!!! Dinosaurs lived on earth for 160 million years! Compared to the 2.5 million years man has been on earth. This is beyond stupid.

  • Dot CT

    It’s Bad enough some school systems are coaching srudents before taking
    “Standardized Tests” now they want to customize the test. Where did the
    “Standard” part of the test go? I’m not a fan of the Standardized Test but if the state requires them at least keep the testing standard & not customized. Such foolishness! To everyone Have A Very Merry UnBirthday or is that too Politically Incorrect? Oh Well!

  • Jenny

    Education is suppose to prepare children for the real world. These words exist, have existed and will continue to exist. Will they remove Dinosaurs from the animal world next? Will children no longer be allowed to study dinosaurs? We are a diverse community. It is important that the children learn as much as they can about our world, each other, and other people. These educators need to stop being so narrow minded!

  • miss kriss

    Can’t we teach acceptance and understanding of all different religions and social practices and without advocating one position over another? This censorship seems a little 1955 to me? How will our children know how to cope in the real world when someone has a different perspective?

    • Sharron

      Thank you Miss Kriss. In my view we are teaching intolerance, lack of acceptance of others . Maybe we’ll have to learn to learn to communicate in some “non’threatening, non-understanding” fashion–may be could just grunt at each other.

  • Keith

    Wow… considering there are about 1,000,000 words in the English language, this seems like a stupid precedent to make. Every single word in the language could be seen as offensive depending on time, place, person, situation and circumstances. I could have just gotten dumped and be upset and then the innocuous word ‘love’ is now offensive to me. These idiots should all be fired – yet they head our education system.

  • Natalie

    UGH! Give me a break! I wish the government would stop trying to tell everyone we’re the same. We’re NOT! We’re ALL DIFFERENT! The more kids are sheltered from things from other cultures, the more ignorant they will become of those other cultures, and when those kids are all grown up, subtle propaganda will create negative connotations with these other cultures. The kids won’t know that what they’re being told is complete bullshit, so they’ll go along with it, and BOOM! Another World War. Lots of lovely profit for the Federal Reserve families.

    Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the Dark Side. What comes before Fear? Ignorance.

  • Pat

    The word Halloween upsets me because I didn’t get enough candy as a child……

  • http://daksden.wordpress.com dakotahgeo

    ROFLMBO!!! This country gets funnier and funnier by the minute! First it is a ban on hugging, now words like lke dinosaur and Halloween! The USA is imploding, bit by bit, every second. We may not even make it to November 6th. LOLOL.

    • Dumbfounded

      And by imploding, we’ll make the Mayan prophesy for 2012 come true. :)

  • Jut

    The word Dinosaur does not suggest evolution. That’s like saying the word Mammals suggest evolution or the words Avian, Aquatic invertebrates, or cell membrane. Give me a minute and I’ll have another 50 words you can add to that list.

  • jag

    Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • bobbyshades

    Are Walcott and Idiot two of the banned words?

  • Bobo

    These incompetent fools are teaching our kids. But the parents don’t care enough to make a stand.

    • Karimack

      These imcompetent fools, as you so eloquently put it, are NOT the ones in the classrooms.

  • bobbyshades

    Is Idiot one of the banned words?

    • petmusings

      yeah, exactly!! and “hate” and “Love” and “Stupid” and ANY sentence that ends with a ?

      That’s IT!! Now it’s going to be Occupy freaking NYDOE!!!

  • lisa

    The idiocy of this offends me

  • how about a list of the 50 words

    DUH!!!!!

  • Dan Te

    If it offends some people then they should remove it.

  • alex

    This is really sad. The more we try to “shelter” kids from every little thing that could possibly be upsetting or controversial, the less prepared for the real world they’ll be. I have happy childhood memories of learning about dinosaurs and collecting Halloween candy. I feel sorry for kids growing up in our brave new sanitized world.

  • The Facts

    This is a dumb decision by politician/bureaucrats afraid of their own shadows. Disgraceful.

  • jack

    Walcott needs to add one word to his job….”resign”…. obviously an overpaid school positon with way too much time on his hands. Four words come to mind when I listen to people like him….”get a life pal!”

  • susan

    oh my word!! (no pun intended)..children eventually have to grow up and cannot live in a total bubble of protection all their lives..this is the most ridiculous thing i have heard in a while..whats next,, burning books because they are historically correct? why not educate (which is what these people are supposed to be doing)children on life,diversitty,history,and tradtions or days such as halloween ,or more importantly, where and why these things originated..i guess none of these so called “educators” have visited a museum with intact dinosaur bones either….

  • Ant928

    What do I think? Give me a f*cking BREAK!! It’s a WORD!!! Who care what it’s “connotation” is…we’re just trying to see if the student can identify it!

    Sheesh! And I thought the cast of “Jersey Shore” were stupid…they obviously benefited frmo an NYC education!

    • boba

      no bodily function words? how is a kid taking a test supposed to ask to go to the john? i wouldn’t want to be sitting behind him trying to take a test.

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