Thursday - January 24, 2008

Three little pigs ‘could offend builders, Muslims’ (DUH award for the year this early in ‘08?)

Somethin’ AWFUL STUPID would have to come along to beat this one for awful damn dumb. When’s it gonna stop? Right, once the West is won. But it doesn’t look as tho it’ll be won by the Brits and europeans.

Three little pigs ‘could offend builders, Muslims’

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Last Updated: 3:00am GMT 24/01/2008

A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been rejected by a government quango in case it offends Muslims.

The digital remake of the children’s classic was criticised by Becta, the education technology agency, because “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”.

Officials also attacked the story - called The Three Little Cowboy Builders - for stereotyping the building trade.

The comments were condemned by the computer program’s creator as “a slap in the face”.

It is the latest in a string of bans slapped on seemingly innocuous children’s stories and nursery rhymes.

In the past, Baa Baa Black Sheep has become Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep to satisfy race relations, the Seven Dwarfs have been axed from Snow White to avoid offending the vertically challenged and the ending of Humpty Dumpty has been censored for fear of upsetting sensitive children.

The latest controversy was sparked during an awards ceremony designed to honour the best educational stories, programmes and teaching aids for children.

Dozens of companies submitted entries to the annual BETT awards, led by Becta, which heaped praise on a robot with 67 different manoeuvres, a computer
program which allows children to recreate Jackson Pollock paintings and a game helping pupils to learn French.

But Newcastle-based publishers Shoo Fly were shocked when judges told them that their interactive 3D book was unsuitable for children.

In a feedback form, Becta told the company: “Judges would not recommend this product to the Muslim community in particular.”

They also said that the subject was “questionable for certain groups within the UK” and that “only an exceedingly creative teacher could find this innovative”.

The story for primary school pupils replaces pigs with “cowboy builders” as part of a light-hearted tale designed to spark interest in reading and design
technology skills.

OK wait a damn minute here!  Man I am soooooo frakin sick ‘n’ tired of the constant use of “Cowboy” over here as a term of denigration.  That isn’t to say they were all cub scouts but my read of history does NOT show em to be the wankers, cheats and inefficient bumblers the term implies here. 

Young children are encouraged to read the story and create their own versions using the software.

But its authors were also told that it portrays the building industry in a bad light.

Judges said “retelling a story” was acceptable, but it “should not alienate parts of the workforce”, adding that builders should be “positive” role models for
young children.

“Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?” the judges asked.

Anne Curtis, the founder of Shoo Fly, which won a prize at the prestigious Education Resource Awards for the story, said: “The feedback amounted to a verbal assault.

“I feel these criticisms aim to close the minds of teachers and young people to some issues.”

Muslims criticised Becta’s response and insisted that a computer program based on the Three Little Pigs should be welcomed in state schools.

Tahir Alam, the head of education at the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “We are not offended by that at all.”

Yesterday, the quango stood by the verdict, which was made by 70 independent judges, mainly teachers.

A spokesman said: “The feedback makes clear that the issues highlighted were a small selection from a much broader range of comments.”

http://tinyurl.com/2shtrc

Posted by Drew458     on 01/24/2008 at 07:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • Outrageous • RoPMA • Stoopid-People •  
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