Health teacher Steve Cuckovick refuses to let his students say it. He says it has nothing to do with religious beliefs; he claims it becomes a disruption in class and is serious about enforcing it. He deducts 25 points from student’s grades every time someone breaks the ban.
"The blessing doesn't make any sense anymore. When you sneeze, in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So, they are saying god bless you for getting rid of the evil spirits. But today, what I said is what you're doing doesn't make any sense anymore,” said Cuckovick.
YouTube link.
Parents and teachers are furious at the teacher’s actions. After the uproar, the teacher decided not to penalize grades anymore, but he will still discipline any students who say "bless you."
With news video.
3 comments:
If it's polite to respond when someone sneezes, should everyone in the classroom do it or just those immediately next to the person sneezing? What about coughing, should that also be recognized somehow? What about wiping one's nose with a tissue? Or would it actually be more polite to ignore such minor but potentially embarrassing disturbances and let the person doing the sneezing, coughing or wiping do so discreetly and without unnecessary fuss?
Just another viewpoint.
It may be a politeness, but there's no reason we have to be stuck with ancient gestures just because they exist. Language is constantly changing and so are manners. I don't see how it's stupid to question our customs. I think the problem with sneezing is that we feel like we should say something. But we don't feel that way about sniffling, farting, or our stomach rumbling. I'm all for questioning things that are culturally rooted.
There is a very important part missing from the story that hit the net. The issue had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with disruptive students. Once a student would sneeze in class (real or not), and his peers said "bless you", he would then thank each "blesser" individually, disrupting class each time. Apparently this is a known prank at the school.
Personally I feel bad for the teacher. Not only is his class a PITA, he is now badmouthed all over the Internet.
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