Hove supply teacher defends teaching teen racist rhyme (From The Argus)

Pitviper wrote:
no matter which pneumonic you use to remember the colour coding it's going to cause offence to someone whether it be people, rabbits or badgers

Burgess901 wrote:
This man is not racist based on what this story reports, and his comment 'needing most help' could just be an unfortunate truth, but people (idiots) are quick to brand everything and anyone who makes a misjudged comment or has the audacity to speak the truth (needing most help) a racist. His rhyme was not the best in this day and age, but what he said was only the way he was taught, not his personal views. Racist: adj. hostile attitude or behaviour to members of other races, based on a belief in the innate superiority of one's own race.

Burgess901 wrote:
This man is not racist based on what this story reports, and his comment 'needing most help' could just be an unfortunate truth, but people (idiots) are quick to brand everything and anyone who makes a misjudged comment or has the audacity to speak the truth (needing most help) a racist.

His rhyme was not the best in this day and age, but what he said was only the way he was taught, not his personal views.

Racist: adj. hostile attitude or behaviour to members of other races, based on a belief in the innate superiority of one's own race.

acoustic wrote:
What a ridiculous fuss about nothing! You should see some of the pneumonics that were used at police training school to learn laws!

claremoss wrote:

acoustic wrote: What a ridiculous fuss about nothing! You should see some of the pneumonics that were used at police training school to learn laws!

Oh, that makes it ok then. !!!!

acoustic wrote:
What a ridiculous fuss about nothing! You should see some of the pneumonics that were used at police training school to learn laws!

another village idiot wrote:
It is a load of fuss about nothing, but we now live in a world where you cannot get away with this sort of language, no matter how innocent, or well meant it is. There are people being tied up and beaten in their own homes, but it's easier to focus on this as an outlet for justice to be exercised. I feel sorry for this bloke, 68 years old and being made to feel like a habitual law breaker for repeating something he's known for 50 years and he intended to be entertaining. Jim Davids*n offends a greater number of people, end of story.

another village idiot wrote:
It is a load of fuss about nothing, but we now live in a world where you cannot get away with this sort of language, no matter how innocent, or well meant it is. There are people being tied up and beaten in their own homes, but it's easier to focus on this as an outlet for justice to be exercised. I feel sorry for this bloke, 68 years old and being made to feel like a habitual law breaker for repeating something he's known for 50 years and he intended to be entertaining. Jim Davids*n offends a greater number of people, end of story.

Brightonian56 wrote:
I've just Googled resistor colour code ryhme. The first 3 entries give the mentioned rhyme, followed by two press (Daily Mail, if you count it as press) comments about this story. Finally I got to the one I was taught. Big Badgers Ran Over Your Garden Behind Village Green With Great Speed.

springy wrote:
A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it.

Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Baldseagull wrote:

Brightonian56 wrote: I've just Googled resistor colour code ryhme. The first 3 entries give the mentioned rhyme, followed by two press (Daily Mail, if you count it as press) comments about this story. Finally I got to the one I was taught. Big Badgers Ran Over Your Garden Behind Village Green With Great Speed.

The point of a mnemonic is that it is memorable, making it naughty or rude often helps, it is just the way the mind works. The fact that you had to use google to find the one that you were taught kind of proves the point. Every electronics student was taught the naughty one for decades and those that didn't hear it at college heard it from colleagues. I have heard "bad boys.." instead of "black boys.." but the first colour in the code is black, so it helps to use black boys. If the teacher was telling the boy that this is what he was taught, it was a statement of fact. If it helps the boy to remember, and it will, it has also served its purpose.

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

springy wrote:
A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it.

Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Of course if the resistor band colour code began with white and he used, "white boys rape our young girls......"; that would not be deemed racist!

I'm all for equality - when it goes BOTH WAYS!

Brightonian56 wrote:

Baldseagull wrote:

Brightonian56 wrote: I've just Googled resistor colour code ryhme. The first 3 entries give the mentioned rhyme, followed by two press (Daily Mail, if you count it as press) comments about this story. Finally I got to the one I was taught. Big Badgers Ran Over Your Garden Behind Village Green With Great Speed.

The point of a mnemonic is that it is memorable, making it naughty or rude often helps, it is just the way the mind works. The fact that you had to use google to find the one that you were taught kind of proves the point. Every electronics student was taught the naughty one for decades and those that didn't hear it at college heard it from colleagues. I have heard "bad boys.." instead of "black boys.." but the first colour in the code is black, so it helps to use black boys. If the teacher was telling the boy that this is what he was taught, it was a statement of fact. If it helps the boy to remember, and it will, it has also served its purpose.

Thank you for your excellent explanation on the use of mnemonics. I learnt both when I was young the polite one from the teacher the other from other students. The reason I looked them up was not to remember them, I know how to do that because of the mnemonics and the fact I use them every day so dont need to refer to anything. It was to see how common the rude one is which is what I pointed out in my post

140258 wrote:
We all need to chill out here. A rhyme like that is not to be read into, it's an aid to help remember stuff for exams/life/whatever. Since this 'old school' teacher is the age he is, we should be able to laugh it off like we would our grandfathers talking about 'coloured' people. What they learned then is archaic to us now since they lived in different morel upbringings. Nevertheless, by making a big thing over it we are teaching our children what to say to offend others. Whilst this teacher should be taught that rhymes like that are unacceptable, we should also take the higher ground and treat it as a Foe Par and laugh it off.

acoustic wrote:
And the B didn't stand for Boys when I learned the colour code either!

rayellerton wrote:
more PC bulls**t...like they have changed a kids rhyme in a book to 'baa baa green sheep' ...oh dear..grow some skin

mr_gee wrote:
I think Stewart Lee says it best:
http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=hmkHLiZMJ

eU

There is no place for this kind of language in society today, however innocently it was intended it has its roots in a horrible and sinister part of history which still affects people today. So the older generation had different 'social norms'; I don't think that can really be an excuse unless the person is senile and not capable of rational thought. Just because it was 'harmless fun' to make negative comments about ethnic groups back then, doesn't mean it was right, either then or now. This teacher was right to be reprimanded and perhaps he might think more on about how this sort of "saucy" (i.e. harmless) language is tied to some really pretty nasty attitudes that we now find unacceptable.

Tammy Flugh wrote:
Why is it racist to use it as a mnemonic, but acceptable for the Argus to print it in the article?
As three of the colours start with "B", starting it with "black" makes sense.

tinker000 wrote:
Looks like a lot of bigot's here ,i was taught this with the real words in the 50'S when ENGLAND was ENGLAND and when i joined the ROYAL NAVY WHO WERE ENGLISH AND Protected this fine country as was,wont say the real words cas i offend the poor soal's but will say it is not about badgers .
This has to be a joke and back the teacher all the way.

Tammy Flugh wrote:
Why is it racist to use it as a mnemonic, but acceptable for the Argus to print it in the article?
As three of the colours start with "B", starting it with "black" makes sense.

surreyseagull wrote:
P C crap gone mad yet again.
Lighten up why don't you
Who has been caused offence - nobody
It's only what some white liberal do gooders think MIGHT cause offence therefore they get on their high horse.
It really is all so easy to wind you lot up isn't it. You're sitting there quivering with unrequited rage at everything and when a story like this comes up you're all over it like a rash.

claremoss wrote:

surreyseagull wrote:
P C crap gone mad yet again.
Lighten up why don't you
Who has been caused offence - nobody
It's only what some white liberal do gooders think MIGHT cause offence therefore they get on their high horse.
It really is all so easy to wind you lot up isn't it. You're sitting there quivering with unrequited rage at everything and when a story like this comes up you're all over it like a rash.

It obviously caused offense to the student he told it to.
And I never quiver with rage, I am far too happy in my world of kindness, niceness and good quality humour :o)

claremoss wrote:

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

springy wrote:
A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it.

Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Of course if the resistor band colour code began with white and he used, "white boys rape our young girls......"; that would not be deemed racist!

I'm all for equality - when it goes BOTH WAYS!

yes, but white people were not historically persecuted by black people for centuries in this country!!!!
Equality doesn't go both ways, it goes ALL ways; but to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people is in anyway the same as a black man's feelings towards derogatory comments about black people is scary.

TheInsider wrote:
So is it ok to joke about rape?
Is that the kind of country we want our young boys and girls growing up in?
What a delightful man.

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

claremoss wrote:

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

springy wrote:
A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it.

Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Of course if the resistor band colour code began with white and he used, "white boys rape our young girls......"; that would not be deemed racist!

I'm all for equality - when it goes BOTH WAYS!

yes, but white people were not historically persecuted by black people for centuries in this country!!!!
Equality doesn't go both ways, it goes ALL ways; but to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people is in anyway the same as a black man's feelings towards derogatory comments about black people is scary.

The old left wing Labour, double standards, hypocritical, England hating, Britain hating, British history hating (the list goes on) mob are on these comment columns here again!

If you don't like the UK then !*!? off out of it and don't come back. And take all of your socialist chums with you. Britain was built on blood, sweat and tears and all these attributes are alien to the lazy no good layabout Labour supporting mob.

"to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people" Oh yes, if a black man called me white man or "whitey" I would take offence! Listen, little "missy" you try going to an Asian part of Manchester or Birmingham and see how welcome you will be made as an Anglo in your own country!!!!!!!!

WakeUpYouFreaks! wrote:
His rhyme is outdated and blatantly racist. It is also obviously from a time and place where the working class man believed that they had ownership of 'their' women. It should not be taught in a school, and the teacher should really have known better than to tell a child of this culturally aware generation and expect them to not be shocked.

DougM wrote:

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

claremoss wrote:

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

springy wrote:
A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it.

Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Of course if the resistor band colour code began with white and he used, "white boys rape our young girls......"; that would not be deemed racist!

I'm all for equality - when it goes BOTH WAYS!

yes, but white people were not historically persecuted by black people for centuries in this country!!!!
Equality doesn't go both ways, it goes ALL ways; but to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people is in anyway the same as a black man's feelings towards derogatory comments about black people is scary.

The old left wing Labour, double standards, hypocritical, England hating, Britain hating, British history hating (the list goes on) mob are on these comment columns here again!

If you don't like the UK then !*!? off out of it and don't come back. And take all of your socialist chums with you. Britain was built on blood, sweat and tears and all these attributes are alien to the lazy no good layabout Labour supporting mob.

"to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people" Oh yes, if a black man called me white man or "whitey" I would take offence! Listen, little "missy" you try going to an Asian part of Manchester or Birmingham and see how welcome you will be made as an Anglo in your own country!!!!!!!!

England wasn't made for scum like you, that's for sure.

puddingandpi wrote:
"Saucy"? Since when has rape been "saucy"?
Is it still "saucy" if it involves a child? Or is that more "kinky"?
The man is an utter idiot. He should've known that the rhyme was completely inappropriate. He could've easily replaced the words with different ones but he chose to repeat a ridiculous, racist, offensive rhyme & then tried to justify it by claiming it was "saucy". The man's an arse.

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

WakeUpYouFreaks! wrote: His rhyme is outdated and blatantly racist. It is also obviously from a time and place where the working class man believed that they had ownership of 'their' women. It should not be taught in a school, and the teacher should really have known better than to tell a child of this culturally aware generation and expect them to not be shocked.

"culturally aware generation" Who says the British are "culturally aware"? You or you mean your chums, The Labour Party! Take your twisted propaganda and shove it. British children must be taught British history, British culture and British tradition. The twisted "cultural" learning has screwed up the country nearly to the point of no return. Britain is a country NOT a cultural panacea. The majority ditched this poison chalice at the last election and rightly so.

Colin Houlson wrote:

Tammy Flugh wrote:
Why is it racist to use it as a mnemonic, but acceptable for the Argus to print it in the article?
As three of the colours start with "B", starting it with "black" makes sense.

Because that's what news reports do. They report news. You can't think of another word that begins with B? Go on, you must know more than two words that start with a B. How about Brighton? Or bishops?

TheInsider wrote:
lordengland of sussex...so you think England is a place where it is ok to joke about rape in front of children.
What kind of pervert are you? Rape is a violent act against another human. And you think that is ok? Is that the Britain you want?
Would you want your daughter or wife to listen to that?
What is wrong with you? Read the story. You have wound youself up so much defending England and getting on your political high horse, you have lost sight of what has gone on in a classroom full of children.
It has nothing to do with politics.
You cannot defend rape and England in the same arguement it makes you sound like a nutcase or a pervert.

Morpheus wrote:
It's about time we had a Ministry of Truth so that all evidence of racism, etc could be removed from our history.

Morpheus wrote:
This is not the same as the report on TV. It was claimed that he was asked about how to remember the code and he explained that there is a rhyme that he could not give out. Outside the lesson he was asked again and gave an idea of the rhyme from which the boy worked out the actual rhyme. This is far from teaching a racist rhyme. We need the facts on this case.

TheInsider wrote:
Baldseagull don't be silly....the point is that jokes about rape have no place in the classroom.
If one chooses to see Frankie Boyle and other extreme comedians, then one knows what to expect and one chooses to expose oneself to all sorts.
These shows are also rated 18 and above and people choose to pay to hear that kind of humour. Most parents would not send their kids off to see Frankie Boyle. These are children in a classroom.
However, Frankie would probably joke that you are clearly some kind of paedophile because you think telling rape jokes to kids is funny.
Is is their little faces you like to watch while you tell jokes about a violent sex crime?

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

claremoss wrote:

lordenglandofsussex wrote:

springy wrote: A reprimand is entirely appropriate here; the mnemonic is offensive, in perpetuating a false stereotype, but is not sackably so; the response is not over the top, it's proportionate. This kind of stuff is not acceptable any more, and it's remarkable that a teacher would try and defend it. Shouldn't be beyond the wit of a tecaher to think up a new mnemonic that is not offensive and achieves the same result.

Of course if the resistor band colour code began with white and he used, "white boys rape our young girls......"; that would not be deemed racist! I'm all for equality - when it goes BOTH WAYS!

yes, but white people were not historically persecuted by black people for centuries in this country!!!! Equality doesn't go both ways, it goes ALL ways; but to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people is in anyway the same as a black man's feelings towards derogatory comments about black people is scary.

The old left wing Labour, double standards, hypocritical, England hating, Britain hating, British history hating (the list goes on) mob are on these comment columns here again! If you don't like the UK then !*!? off out of it and don't come back. And take all of your socialist chums with you. Britain was built on blood, sweat and tears and all these attributes are alien to the lazy no good layabout Labour supporting mob. "to think that a white, British man can be offended by a comment about white people" Oh yes, if a black man called me white man or "whitey" I would take offence! Listen, little "missy" you try going to an Asian part of Manchester or Birmingham and see how welcome you will be made as an Anglo in your own country!!!!!!!!

ade1200 wrote:
Actually when I read again even the article tells the truth. Read the following quote very carefully: "This was a response to a question from a pupil about what I learned at school. I was not talking to the whole class." What a terrible world we live in if you are no longer allowed to discuss the less acceptable days of the past. Perhaps we should ban old books like Heart of Darkness or old films like the Dambusters because of use of the n word... Grow up you reactionary fools!

TheInsider wrote:
Baldeasgull, you have stated....you will tell a joke to whoever you think will find it funny.
That is the whole point. To 'whoever you think will find it funny'. It was the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place in this case.
This is the very point I am trying to make to you, but you haven't grasped this as you are so wound up with fighting or the prinicple of being allowed/able to say rotten things you are missing the point.
This man may have been saying this to his group of friends, or older generation students for years.
However, now we are in a generation of young people who think very differently about humour, what is acceptable and where and when. Kids now are very, very careful about what they want in a modern Britain and it's a very different picture to when I was growing up and by the sound of it you too. If you don't move with the times, you find youself old and out of touch like this chap.
That is the key point. There is a right time and place for everything and you even give this away in your comment and this youngster did not find it appropriate and many of the teenagers I work with say exactly the same.
Somehow, I don't think you would dare go up to a 16 year old in a youth club and say the same thing. You would know not to test the water, unless you were reckless or stupid.
I can tell you now, you would probably be strung up by your little baldseagulls by a gang of kids.