One New York City private school is reportedly discouraging kids from using words like “mom,” “dad” and “parents” because they might offend other students who don’t have a typical family structure at home.
According to the New York Post, Grace Church School, a K-12 private Episcopal school in Manhattan, is concerned that using traditional words to describe one’s family might exclude those whose family isn’t exactly traditional, saying such words make “assumptions” about a student’s home life. They’re so worried about it, in fact, that they’ve issued a 12-page guidance book to students instructing them on what words to drop from their vocabularies, and what “non-offensive” terms to replace them with.
From the Post:
The detailed guide recommends using the terms “grown-ups,” “folks,” “family” or “guardians” as alternatives to “mom,” “dad” and “parents.” It also suggests using “caregiver” instead of “nanny/babysitter.”
“Families are formed and structured in many ways. At Grace Church School, we use inclusive language that reflects this diversity. It’s important to refrain from making assumptions about who kids live with, who cares for them, whether they sleep in the same place every night, whether they see their parents, etc.,” the guide reads.
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One should also never assume another student's religion, physical abilities or sexual preferences, and, of course, take care to use someone's preferred pronouns if they don't identify with their biological gender.
Oh, and it doesn’t stop there. The school’s new guidelines also tell students how they should ask certain questions so as not to offend someone by simply trying to get to know them.
For example, instead of asking someone, “Where are you from?,” students should instead ask “What is your cultural/ethnic background?” or “Where are your ancestors/is your family from?” instead.
And to keep students from inadvertently offending one another over their family's socioeconomic differences, the guidelines suggest kids refrain from asking "where did you go for break?" Instead, the question should be "Name something you learned during break." Because to the woke scolds, even saying you went to the beach last summer might upset someone. Likewise, the handbook says you should never assume that a student has regular transportation to school, but instead simply ask, "How did you get to school today?"
The school is only the latest in a string of other schools, universities, and public and private institutions seeking to rewrite the English language with more "inclusive" words that won't offend even the smallest of minority populations. The U.K.'s largest hospital chain recently instructed its staff to drop "gendered" words like "breastfeeding" from their professional vocabulary when working in the maternity ward, which has been renamed the "perinatal services" department to be more observant of trans and non-binary persons. Likewise, a university in Australia has also issued guidance to staff to drop gendered language, saying that "women-focused" terms like "mother" can cause "harm" to the relatively tiny transgender population.