Snohomish High School suspended a teenager for wearing a "Snohos" T-shirt
when Snohomish High senior Justin Patrick wore a T-shirt to school last month with the lettering "SNOHOS" across the front, it led to his suspension from school.By extension, we can assume that the Snohomish High career counselers will be forbidden from taking about jobs in hospitals, chemistry teachers will redact Phosphorous out of the periodic table, and the orchestra will no longer perform works of Shostakovich.School officials say "Snohos" contains a slang term for prostitutes and is derogatory toward women.
After all "Snohomians" could sound like a 'gay' slang.
I feel more confident every day that I'll be home schooling my children. I'll consolidate just 45 minutes a day to learning and they'll still be ahead of the public school system.
Posted by: Andy on March 31, 2005 10:13 AMOoops, sorry, this isn't offensive to Christians.
Posted by: Fred on March 31, 2005 10:18 AMYou should've let this one go. We don't know enough about this situation. I personally would like to congratulate the principal for taking a principled stance. Yes, the students may interpret "SNOHOS" as slang. I think the principal was in a better position to make that decision than anyone else.
We need more proactive principals like this one, and teachers as well. I personally would like to see the dress code enforce at our schools in Federal Way. As it is, too many people dress like prostitutes and nothing is done about it.
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on March 31, 2005 10:36 AMBTW "Ron Sims" is an amazingly offensive term in Klingon, let's sue.
Posted by: Al on March 31, 2005 11:23 AMThe public schools in New York City are numbered. It figures.
I went to PS 26 and JHS 82 in the Bronx, but that didn't keep me from becoming the hidebound right-wing reactionary I am today.
Posted by: Howard Hirsch on March 31, 2005 11:23 AMSorry for the lack of PC in the gala-phobic expression!
Posted by: Fred on March 31, 2005 12:01 PMMake him cover it up and promise not to wear again? Yes. Suspension for blowing up at the school official? Probably appropriate. But a one-day suspension for "sexual harassment" for a t-shirt containing a word used throughout yearbooks and other school materials? Insane.
My son was suspended Tuesday for hitting another boy on the playground, after the boy (a notorious bully) had tripped him and grabbed onto his leg. No one was hurt or crying. My son is 5 yrs old and special ed, but we "just can't have aggressive behavior". More accurately, we can't have boys who act like 5-yr-old boys.
Need more reasons not to send your kid to public school?
Posted by: Bill on March 31, 2005 01:23 PMBesides the collosal waste of time on non learning activities. Anyone in the biz community can recognize that schools fundamentally teach kids to be 'worker bees' and entitlement minded. Any leadership characteristic is BEAT out of them at a young age and challenging authority is not ok- unless it's both left wing and staff sponsored.
Kids are not taught to take ownership of their own success; if they fail they are taught that it really wasn't their own fault and something or someone else is to blame (and the state didn't throw enough money at the problem). In the real world- where does this mentality get you? "My business failed and it was someone else's fault??" Rich Dad, Poor Dad just hasn't made it's way into the curricula.
If you talk to any high school or college student- they want to 'get a good job'- they are not thinking about starting a business, creating jobs, creating wealth, or revolutionizing an industry or field.
Nah- The good jobs the public school kids will be applying for will be at my kids' business. At least the public school kids will all belong to the same labor union when my kid ships those jobs over to china.
Posted by: Andy on March 31, 2005 01:48 PMAll of the high schools in NY have always had names (mostly after US presidents), and the elementary schools numbers. My junior high, 82, was also named Macombs JHS.
I would point out, however, that my original comment to Andy did not address the merits of the present case. I do agree with you that those kids were doing nothing wrong (Snohos in a county called Snohomish??? Give me a break!!!), but in the pussified State of Washington these days the right of freedom of expression must give way to the right of the most sensitive individual not to have her feelings hurt.
In 1968 the US Supreme Court ruled otherwise in Tinker vs. Des Moines School District, upholding the right of students to wear black armbands to school to protest the War in Vietnam. I guess today now that the other side is in control, such expressions are no longer permissible--no matter what the Supreme Court said.
Posted by: Howard Hirsch on March 31, 2005 01:59 PMAfterall, when I die, it's not my money anymore is it.
Posted by: Andy on March 31, 2005 04:19 PMPlease try and refrain from shaming people for working for someone else. I would love to start my own business but, and as you've stated...
"When I embark on an entreprenierial venture, I work for free for the first 1-5 years. No vacations, no sick days, no pay at all and risk losing everything."
I cannot figure out a way to accomplish this without losing the house, health insurance and getting a divorce. Interested in making an investment?
And what do you do where you cannot find high school grads to work for forty grand, bullet-proof-vest tester?
I guess it's ok to have one "Ho", but if you've got a whole bunch a' "Hos", that's "politically incorrect"?
What's the world coming to when you can't have all the "Hos" you want?
Soon, History teachers will not be able to teach students about the "Holocaust", the Cheerleaders will not be able to wear panythose or any other form of hosiery. And the news won't even be able to mention or troops "coming under Hos"-tile fire, because it explicitly describes a sex act with a prostitute.
And, I guess any mention of Santa Claus is wrong... "Ho Ho Ho", which by this logic would be interpreted as a pimp counting his girls!
Jeez, somebody shoot me in the head! (Uh-Oh, the word "shoot" contains a slang term for a prostitute... sorry! Please don't suspend me from the group.)
I can afford to start my own business, because I cannot afford not to. That is why I shame others and myself for working for da man and then complaining when their job is gone. I'm a big fan of Rich Dad Poor Dad, MND etc. I've deferred my gratification in order to do so. That said, would the government please keep their hands out of my pockets so I could achieve this goal?
I have a day job too, but as the dems are one tax away from driving that job out of state, I cannot afford not to have an exit strategy. Is this mentality taught in school? no- in fact I look at my nephews and nieces and they believe they are entitled to insane wages and have no concept of responsibility/risk. The best thing their parents ever did was force them to work outside of the family biz, so they get a feel for hard knocks.
As per starting a biz- start small and make sure you and your spouse are not on different pages financially. Be disciplined about growing and how you invest in it. I have an MBA and all of that neat stuff, but Rich Dad Poor Dad, a divorce, and seeing a ton of layoffs taught me the value of owning my own biz and becoming financially independent.
None of this is taught in schools. Does an 18 year old male understand the financial and legal ramifications of knocking up a 'snoho'? No- but he'll pay 3/4 million to DSHS over the next 20 years in support and legal fees for that mistake- lot of good a bananna and condom do.
Posted by: Andy on March 31, 2005 05:48 PM1 - demeaning to females
2 - too much religion, it is what Santa Claus says
Take your pick!
Posted by: Fred on April 1, 2005 07:53 AMI am a Snoho. I live in snohomish, i shop in snohomish and i VOTE in snohomish. I am also a parent in snohomish, and i can't wait to get rid of this administrator who has too much time on her hands, and has to make a big deal out of a darn t-shirt, rather than be positive about her students who ARE making a difference.
Long live the snohos, may they find good cause to keep wearing their shirts.