Political correctness is socially incorrect

Political correctness is crippling society.

In an attempt to avoid offensive language, schools around the country have sought to eliminate ‘loaded’ words from textbooks and standardized tests. Now, some words are certainly inappropriate because of racist or sexist connotations and should be banned.

But some schools are taking it too far.

According to an article on CNN’s belief blog dated March 28, some New York City schools want to ban words such as ‘dinosaur’ and ‘birthday’ because these words might offend certain groups.

The word ‘dinosaur,’ they argue, may make people think of evolution, which in turn could offend certain Christian groups.

The word ‘birthday’ may offend Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not celebrate birthdays.

And some words, like ‘television,’ don’t make any sense at all.

While the goal seems to be to increase respect for certain groups’ beliefs, in the long run, it will only promote division and disunity.

 

The fact is, not everyone shares the same beliefs. That’s been the case since the dawn of mankind, and it will continue to be the case for centuries more. Shielding children from topics that might possibly conflict with their beliefs (or their parents’ beliefs, as the case often is) is as pointless as it is counterproductive.

Does anyone really believe that a person can go through life without ever having his or her beliefs challenged? Sheltering children from anything that might possibly in some remote way contradict their personal beliefs is doing them a disservice in the long-run.

Children need to learn to accept that their beliefs and opinions are not the only ones out there. I was in third grade when I realized not everyone shared my religious beliefs. And I was fine with it. It has made me a more understanding, tolerant person.

But these schools would ban the word ‘religion’ simply because differences exist. Do they really think ignoring the fact that people have different beliefs is a good way to help children face these differences later in life? Tolerance is a necessary skill to be a productive member of society. Pretending different opinions don’t exist teaches the opposite of tolerance. It teaches them that others’ beliefs aren’t worth mentioning.

Dinosaurs and birthdays are so unlikely to cause controversy, it just seems silly to try and ban them. And if anyone does throw a fit, it’s probably because they never learned to tolerate others’ beliefs in the first place – a problem banning these topic will only make worse.

And where does it stop? Do we ban the word ‘color’ because it’s racist? Do we ban the words ‘holocaust’ or ‘Nazi’ or ‘Hitler’ from history classes because they’re offensive to Jews? Why not ban ‘evolution’ and ‘fossil record’ and ‘big bang’ while we’re at it? In fact, why not ban science altogether? After all, a lot of people think science is evil because it contradicts their religious beliefs.

Diversity is a fact of life, as is the fact that some people will be offended by it. Ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist is like the four-year-old playing hide-and-seek who just stares at a tree because “if I can’t see them, they can’t see me.” Reality doesn’t work like that. Schools shouldn’t work like that, either.