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Nun Fights Cussing with Cussing
Here’s some news from the Detroit Free Press. I was surprised to see that this news item was been picked up nationally. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but maybe the idea of a nun using cuss words was too tantalizing to pass up.
Nun fights cussing with cussing
Parents shocked, others applaud principal
firing off list of banned words in churchDecember 9, 2007
BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI, FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Middle school kids like to experiment, and occasionally they try out new words. Those words, the ones you can’t put in a newspaper, that sometimes crop up on playgrounds.
Which is what happened at St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Park. When the school’s new principal Sister Kathy Avery heard that there was some swearing on the playground, she decided to draw from her experience elsewhere to take a direct approach to stopping it.
After mass late last month, she had the fifth- through eighth-graders stay in church a little longer. Then she informed them she had a zero-tolerance policy for swearing.
And to make sure the kids knew exactly what she was talking about, Avery read a list of words and phrases that she was banning, including a few that would make many grown-ups blush.
“It got a little quiet in church,” Avery said.
“Sometimes I think children don’t know what words to use, they use them because they’ve heard them from other people,” Avery said. “I think they knew that I drew the line.”
The students told their parents about the lecture. And in the St. Clare community, known for being a bit conservative, some parents were shocked, but others applauded.
“In a way you would think a nun would shy away from something like that, but she’s very open with the children, very clear in her messages,” said Margaret Roache, chairperson of the school commission, whose sixth-grade son was there when Avery read the list of banned words.
“When I asked him to give me a sample of it, he said, ‘Oh, no, I can’t say it!’ ” Roache said. “I thought it was great.”
Avery isn’t surprised that the students listened. She’d done the same thing in two previous schools, in Sioux City, Iowa, and Pikesville, Ky.
“I’m not saying that it’s an easy thing to do, it’s just something that I thought was absolutely necessary,” said Avery, who also has banned the words stupid and boring. “I’m not saying we had a terrible language problem. It’s just that you start hearing words — and they’re offensive.”
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{ 10 comments }
Sister Kathy certainly took a rather unusual approach to the “cussing” problem going on in her school. It’s not a bad idea for the kids to know that sisters are aware of what the kids are doing. It helps with discipline. Many students probably feel nuns are naive and prudish. This will teach them to think again. It kind of removes the nun from the proverbial “cookie cutter” mold some talk about on this blog. If Sr. Kathy’s tactic works, great. From my own experience, shock value is often very effective with kids.
I admit young folks use the words “stupid” and especially “boring” too frequently, but I certainly hope they don’t get reprimanded if they employ them at school (If they are calling another student “stupid”, something like that might be an exception though.). I remember when I was in college, one of my history professors prohibited us from using the word “interesting.” He said that term was the screen for a vacant mind. That may be so if you really think about it, but “interesting” is indeed a very handy word!
deerose
P.S. Does anyone have any idea how to play the nunpod videos?
I agree with you, deerose. I hope the non-cuss words don’t get too censured, unless of course used to refer to someone.
To play the nunpod videos, you just click on the video itself. Or click on the link at the bottom of the videos that says “see all 91 videos”.
Sr. Julie:
Thanks. I tried your suggestion but it still doesn’t work. My husband seems to think it’s because we have VISTA. That has been a pain in the neck since we got it in September.
Have a good one!
d.
Bummer. I’ve heard many Vista users are going back to XP. Just for the heck of it I’ll send an email to vodpod helpdesk to see if they have any suggestions.
That’s great. I know some bloggers were horrified at it, but I’ll bet those kids don’t say those words ever again…
(and yeah, Vista is a pain. We’re not officially supporting it, yet, because of how badly it works.)
I went to a Catholic school growing up, and my 8th grade teacher (who wasn’t a nun, but easily could have been) had us all come up with the most terrible words we could think of as she wrote them on the board.
She then said “I hope this exercise has gotten these words out of your systems, because if I hear a single word on this list for the rest of the year there will be trouble like you wouldn’t believe.”
It was actually a surprisingly swear-free school year.
hahaha! what a good one! i dont think i could ever do that…. she rocks!
Sister Kathy and the words that make kids blush… ah yes, I remember it vividly. 1987, Immaculate Conception Catholic School, Sioux City IA… 8th grade. I was there and witnessed this in all it’s glory as an impressionable youth. Did it make an impact… yes. Did it curb it on the playground… somewhat. Did I learn some new words… why yes, I did! BUT, it was one of those moments I will always remember, and to this day it sends chills up my spine even thinking about it. Bravo Sister Kathy… bravo.
John – I am so glad there are people who read the old postings, because it helps me catch up on what I missed before I found the site. This is a great story! I have a friend who tells people, “if i catch you saying that word [any cuss word] again around a child, I am going to stand beside you while you explain that word to that child until that child understands what the word means”. Particularly effective warning with some words, which I am sure you can imagine.
When I was growing up, we were not allowed to calll someone stupid, fat, ugly, fool…. none of those words that are most commonly used – no matter how semantic someone tries to get on you in justifying them – to assign lesser value to another human being . We got our mouths washed out with soap for it – which seems a little primitive to me now – but the message was absolutely clear and five of us born in the early sixties got it and today those words “taste” hateful and are rarely used in my extended family. We were given that list and we remembered not to use that list because we had been taught what they mean and how much they hurt people.
I wish we had more Sister Kathys in the world. And bars of Ivory when necessary.
Jean