Community | May 12, 2010 | 9 comments

"Boobies" Bracelets Cause Stir in Washington School

source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/11/national/main6471986.shtml

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A Silverdale school is asking students not to wear bracelets that are intended to teach them about breast cancer.

The problem at Klahowya Secondary School is the message printed on the bracelets, "I love Boobies. Keep-A-Breast."

Principal Ryan Stevens told The Kitsap Sun the "boobies" reference causes problems in classrooms when some students made inappropriate gestures. He also says some staff members who are breast cancer survivors find the bracelets offensive.

The school is telling students to either turn them around or take them off.

But 16-year-old student Brittany Indvik said it's a good cause and the bracelet ban is a threat to her freedom of expression.

"It's a good cause and we're not allowed to stand up for it," she told the Sun. Teachers "tell us to stand up for something and then we get shot down for it."

The bracelets come from the California nonprofit Keep-A-Breast Foundation.

Indvik's mother, Victoria Burton, told the Sun that the school's ban on the rubber bracelets has only drawn more attention to them. Burton also said the school should focus its attention on other issues.

"There are other kids wearing really inappropriate T-shirts, students making out in the hallways," she said. "It's just funny that the school has picked that to ban. There are lots of other things they should be banning."
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    Community,   Art and Style,   WTF,   Fashion,   1 more
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    Culture,  Art and Style,  Fashion,  Education,  5 more
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9 comments // "Boobies" Bracelets Cause Stir in Washington School

  • Stoneyroad
  • ayashe
    • 0
      ayashe  

    • Bracelets that say "boobies" do not teach about breast cancer, and it's debatable if that's even their intent. There are a lot of other things people could do to actually teach about cancer. Kids thought they were hilarious, and actual breast cancer survivors find them offensive. But, no, the bracelets aren't the problem, it's them damn schools who's always hatin on the free speech.

    • 2 years ago
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  

    • Clearly this distracts only those who want to be distracted. Just like always, those who want to learn will do so, while those who don't won't.

    • 2 years ago
  • Naumadd
    • +1
      Naumadd  

    • I'll grant you, the bracelet wearers ought to be able to wear them without having to endure the immature behavior of those around them - student and staff alike. This, however, is not a free speech issue but rather one of preserving an environment conducive to learning. If the distraction, however admirable, harms the learning environment, it must be eliminated. Certainly, I would compel the bracelet wearers to hide or remove them or leave them at home but with sincere apologies for the inconvenience. The primary mission of the school is teaching and learning of the curriculum. Freedom of speech has obvious limits in such an environment, i.e., one can't run up and down the hallways shouting profanities or singing Yankee Doodle if it disrupts class time or the otherwise peaceful business of the school.

      I would also make an announcement to the entire school that such juvenile behavior as displayed toward such things is unacceptable. It's likely the behavior toward the bracelets is only one example of the larger problem which is, sadly, inherent to the species.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • Naumadd:

      Freedom, self reliance, self analysis,...individualism,... first design the best possible collective mechanism for education you can with those as the PRIMARY goals of education itself. I really don't care how efficient the public school system is at manufacturing drones for cubicles ,.....and I don't want my tax dollars to go toward the subsidization of the office worker crop.

    • 2 years ago
  • advertisehere
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • advertisehere:

      Oh,....mostly students "get it",..... I just don't see why I have to pay for it; thats taxation with repression,....and it doesn't represent ME at all. "Hey,...teacher,...leave those kids alone" and all that.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
    • -1
      remanns  

    • More pin headed censorship and conformity preoccupied hand wringing,...not to mention arm twisting. It also has fashionable overtones of "no good deed goes unpunished". They look like the sort of inane day-glow baubles 16 year olds are supposed to wear; hey I've been to a mall before.

      PROUD this has made it to "bOObies".

    • 2 years ago
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