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Post by daveythefatboy on Jan 28, 2021 16:15:47 GMT
I dunno. I absolutely HATE the framing of “PC gone too far”. It implies that these school names were somehow products of the natural world and that changing them is some kind of unnatural act. But in truth, they were named based on the preferences of a community, and if they are changed - that will reflect the changing preferences of that community. What exactly is the problem with that? If you want to argue that the habit today is to sit in humorless judgment of others, so much so that nobody could make the cut for a school naming - I might join you in lamenting that. But my Jewish upbringing compels me to generally find idolatry distasteful. Maybe my ancestors were on to something, in that all humans are flawed, and the illusion that naming an institution after someone makes those flaws disappear is just a bad idea. Maybe we stop naming schools after people at all. Problem solved. They decided to take Dianne Feinstein's name off a school because of a controversy over the flying of a Confederate flag at a city property in the '80s when she was mayor of San Francisco. Now, that might be the most egregious example, but where does it end? It's been suggested that they rename SF schools like NYC schools with numbers. One of the points that has been brought up is the school board is dicking around with names and haven't addressed kids getting back into classes. They've been blamed for misprioritization. Yeah. That’s a dumb complaint. One of those, ‘can you chew gum and walk at the same time’ kind of complaints. Kids aren’t out of school because the functionaries in the school system aren’t working hard or fast enough. They are out of school because the public health context they are operating in is what it is. As for, “where does it end?” It doesn’t end. It keeps evolving. That’s how public sentiment works. Getting the vapors over “PC run amuck” is just as stupid as getting the vapors over the fact that Dianne Feinstein did something stupid once. If the current community sentiment is that Dianne Feinstein isn’t a proper subject for school naming, name the school after an elm tree. An elm tree will never let you down, and it will save us all from the culture war hyperventilating on all dumb sides of this issue.
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Post by sloopjohnc on Jan 28, 2021 16:16:44 GMT
Why the hell was a school named for Feinstein anyway, because she was mayor? Yes, and Senator. She took over the mayoral position after Harvey Milk and George Moscone were shot. First woman in office.
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Post by daveythefatboy on Jan 28, 2021 16:26:07 GMT
Maybe we stop naming schools after people at all. Problem solved. It does seem to be a very US thing to do. Here in the UK it is rarer for schools to be named after individuals unless they have some sort of religious attachment to them. Archbishop Tennison for example, or John Fisher, or Saint Simon Stock. There's that foundational aspect to the history of the US that perhaps drives forward this sort of thinking - the founding fathers and "great" men of History like Lincoln etc. Whereas the UK never had that sort of thing going on - we'd never name a school after a Queen or a King, nor would we have something like "Oliver Cromwell school for little shits" etc. There are exceptions - I remember walking past the Michael Tippett music school for example when I lived in London. British school culture tends towards the naming of houses within schools with figures from history. At best, it is just a well-intentioned but misguided instinct we have: To honor people we admire. But in doing so, we practically dare future generations to learn more about those we honor - and heaven forbid their stories don’t hold up to changing moral standards. At worst, it is a thing some of us do to actually manipulate and rewrite history - similar to putting up confederate statues. What I completely reject is that there’s something wrong with us looking at the names we’ve inherited and asking if we still want to honor them. It seems entirely within bounds to go through that process.
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wobblie
god
Just a prick out to make a name for himself.
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Post by wobblie on Jan 28, 2021 17:09:20 GMT
Why the hell was a school named for Feinstein anyway, because she was mayor? Yes, and Senator. She took over the mayoral position after Harvey Milk and George Moscone were shot. First woman in office. That's all well and good I suppose but did she do something that improved the school system?
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Post by sloopjohnc on Jan 28, 2021 17:13:49 GMT
Yes, and Senator. She took over the mayoral position after Harvey Milk and George Moscone were shot. First woman in office. That's all well and good I suppose but did she do something that improved the school system? Well, John Muir didn't either and he's being ousted too.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 17:26:40 GMT
I wouldn't risk that "Sloop's Sleeveless T-Shirt Bar" you were aiming for sloop, they might pull up for that time you jay walked when you were 9.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 17:42:46 GMT
It's been suggested that they rename SF schools like NYC schools with numbers. I have a funny feeling these names are gonna change every 10 years, and a few egotistical people are gonna have their people influence boards to pick their name. The vote in favor of changing was 6-1 by the school board. Are you sure that 6-1 wasn't the vote for the name?
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Post by Charlie O. on Jan 28, 2021 17:50:49 GMT
Some months back our local school board voted unanimously to change the name of the high school I attended from Robert E. Lee High School to John R. Lewis High School. I haven't polled all of the alumni, but my brothers and I were delighted.
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Post by sloopjohnc on Jan 28, 2021 18:00:24 GMT
I went to
Roy Cloud School (former superintendent)
McKinley Jr. High (Probably because the school was built in the '20s, but instituting tariffs, the gold standard, and assassinated are hardly good pre-requisites for a jr. high school)
San Carlos High (name of the town it was in and you can't really argue against a saint)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 18:18:24 GMT
If the US got rid of naming schools across the board altogether, i would love to see them try that with a schools named after MLK for example (if there is one) or some other minority leading public figure. Would they still agree to rename them?
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wobblie
god
Just a prick out to make a name for himself.
Posts: 1,230
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Post by wobblie on Jan 28, 2021 18:31:32 GMT
Why would you love to see schools named after MLK attempted to be changed?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 18:35:23 GMT
Why would you love to see schools named after MLK attempted to be changed? Because i think there will be people, regardless of race, that would be all for taking names off all schools but didn't think that meant schools named after revered public minority figures. Personally i couldn't give a fuck, the US can name their schools what they want.
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wobblie
god
Just a prick out to make a name for himself.
Posts: 1,230
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Post by wobblie on Jan 28, 2021 18:40:57 GMT
Huh... Well, there are lots of schools named in honor of MLK and they won't be changing their names any time soon rest assured - though you say you don't care.
Pretty hard to argue against naming a school after him. Although I think the man would be ashamed at the dreadful state some of the schools named for him are in.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 18:43:50 GMT
Huh... Well, there are lots of schools named in honor of MLK and they won't be changing their names any time soon rest assured - though you say you don't care. Pretty hard to argue against naming a school after him. Although I think the man would be ashamed at the dreadful state some of the schools named for him are in. Just to be clear and repeat what i already said, IF they brought in a blanket renaming of all schools, there would be a few people that are all for it without having the foresight of that meant schools named after leading minority public figures as well as racist cunts.
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Post by Charlie O. on Jan 28, 2021 18:45:29 GMT
I think Markus is just riffing off ideas put forth here of naming schools after things rather than people, or simply numbering them.
The fact is, no matter what we do, someone's gonna find a way to be outraged over it.
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