Choose Your Words Carefully

Multiple Meanings

It's weird that when we write things or say things, in our mind we have a specific meaning; something that we are trying to convey to others. A thought we are trying to get out. There comes an unfortunate time when our words get taken out of context and mean something else to others. We say one thing and in the end it means something completely different.

What we have to say is important. Having our thoughts deciphered poorly can end up with miscommunications and hurt feelings or worse. That's what happened at Romeo High School, just north of Detroit. 

Many of us have had a biology where we learned about genes; genotypes and phenotypes and all that jazz. Lecture after lecture we were always bored; resulting in lack of understanding. Teachers always did their best to keep us involved and engaged. Silly questions and worksheets that always got a few laughs. Some laughs are better than none, right? The only problem with trying to be creative is that sometimes we lose the true meaning, or point, behind a series of words that make a problem.

At Romeo High school, students were given a homework question that said, "The sister of the mom above also had issues with finding out who the father of her baby was. She had the state take a blood test of potential fathers. Based on the information in this table, why was the baby taken away by the state after the test?” One father was outraged. He refused to have his daughter do the assignment and sent it in with a letter attached saying, “We teach our children not to sleep around.”

Not the best wording for an educational question. This question leads the reader to think multiple things. Thoughts like why did the state take the baby? Why are those the options for the father? These thoughts take away from the educational purpose of the question.

(Options for potential father on take home assignment)

The options for the father are outrageous. Not only does it make this women seem like a slut but it creates an image that women with a child (if not married) sleep around with trashy men.

As a female, I’m outraged by this question. But as a teacher, I can understand that the intent behind the question was good. That’s the problem with words. Everyone interprets them differently. If we aren’t careful about our word choice we can hurt someone. I do have to agree though. There are about 15 other ways that this question can be written that doesn’t degrade women and send the wrong message.

The intent behind the question was to get the students thinking about blood types but in the end students were thinking about how having a baby will result in getting it taken away by the state.

Remember that regardless of what you mean, your words are open to interpretation. Good or Bad.

For more information click below

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/15/we-teach-our-children-not-to-sleep-around-dad-outraged-over-biology-homework-that-stepped-way-way-over-the-line/