'Oral sex' definition prompts school district to pull dictionaries

A school district in Riverside County has pulled the Merriam-Webster's 10th edition dictionary from school shelves because it includes the term "oral sex."

The Menifee Union School District took the action last week after a parent complained about the dictionary.

The Press-Enterprise reported that some parents are angry about the move and want the dictionaries returned to classrooms.

"It's just not age-appropriate," said school spokeswoman Betti Cadmus told the newspaper. "It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature."

The school board will decide later whether to return the dictionaries to the classrooms. One board member told the Press-Enterprise that there are probably more objectionable terms in the dictionary.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Mike H]

What is this, 1954?

Now every kid from that school will go home and google the term instead.

Problem, solved!

[CraigFromm]

I wonder if the school board officials will find inappropriate the definitions of murder, genocide and ponzi.

[Rick]

How did the parent learn what the term "oral sex" meant? What a waste of time to even recognize this!

[Your Daddy]

let them learn about it where they should learn. from their mom's boyfriend, step dad and on the streets.

[Dru Rigney]

Taking the dictonaries out of the school is rediculous!! Especially over two words. You are denying everyother child who will not look up those particular words, the disavantage of leaarning the meaning of millions of other words.

[Michael]

I am sure there are many other words in the dictionary than the word oral sex. Does this parent have a personal thing out for the school district? Use the dictionary as its intent purpose a resource. This kid obviously did not hear or learn the word oral sex from the dictionary. It sounds like a curious kid it the kid did look up the word; seems like someone should explain the term to him or her because it sounds like he or she is learning these words from another source: friends, TV or the Clinton mishap! But seriously I would not remove the dictionary. As a parent, I would channel that curiosity into something positive because if you do not talk to your kid and they have this kind of curiosity there are more things to be concerned about: STDs, pregnancy etc...

[Brian]

Scholarship is now dead in the United States. Not killed by student laziness as we expected, but murdered by the so-called academics and administrators who were supposed to be teaching it.

[Menifee Parent]

Does the word disappear when you take the dictionary away? Parents should learn to parent and take opportunities to teach and guide their children. We won't be able to CONTROL their world forever, we should take even these uncomfortable opportunities and turn them into learning experiences for our children. I just don't believe in Censorship, I would have reacted differently.

[Southern Rebel]

To the School District in Riverside County - thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so pleased that you are taking this kind of action. If some parents are angry about it, let them teach their own children about "oral sex". I am disgusted with parents that want to push that kind of agenda for any age of children.

[Lanerd]

What next by by these screwed up school boards ? You better not have an asprin or a nail clipper on you , have long hair or dress like they don't like ,these clowns are way over the top . Why don't we save money and cut back on these fools instead of the teachers .

[Dixie]

HURRAH FOR THAT SCHOOL DISTRICT! I WISH ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS WERE THAT CONCERNED ABOUT OUR CHILDREN.

[Bridgid O'Donnell]

Oh by all means, it's much better to be ignorant of what children all ready know.
Today's children are a lot more knowledgeable when it comes to sex than most parents want to admit.

[not_disclosed]

I support the school in this action.

All material that references sex and another degrading acts that can affect our your children should not be readily available to students.

We send our children to school to learn and not to be made into sex objects by some of the teachers and other non God fearing educational officials.

All books and other such material should be taken out from any where in the school and destroyed. It is not the government job to teach our kids about sex, that is not where was want our tax dollars being spend.

[FDBRATT]

There are undoubtedly hundreds of words in the dictionary that parents will find objectionable. That's what's so great about censorship. When it starts, there is no stopping it. PUT THE DICTIONARIES BACK AND TELL THE PARENTS TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN PROPERLY. Smut is not in the words, it is in your hearts.

[craig]

note to tax money wasting moron: kids have the internet now - if they are old enough to read the dictionary, they are already watching actual porn online. Besides, if it is the kind of kid who READS THE DICTIONARY they are probably never going to have a date until they are 30 anyway.

This is not 1890, stop going out of your way to look for things to be fake offended about! "war" is probably in the dictionary too, and that is always age in appropriate so complain about THAT! "Prostitute" is probably in your little bible you are invariably clinging to as well, so I guess you can no longer read that either.

[Ban All Books!!]

Guess the psycho-prudes haven't read the Torah, the Bible, Roman poetry, Chaucer....

Just ship the Taliban here to chaperone the little dears.

[James Erdman]

I think the residents of Riverside County should think twice about allowing their children to go to school with the likes of Bette Cadmus or other self-appointed nerds to have any say over what our children learn.
That Bette Cadmus should be dismissed, the traditional meaning of words restored to the library, and may God forbid any further actions of this reckless type.

[Mike Oxbent]

Hahaha!!! Every middle school kid knows that one who aspires to be a connisseur of vulgarities can always turn to Websters. Which of you hasn't sat giggling with your friends thumbing through this cornucopia of profanity looking up such words as **** or *** ? We've all done it! I only wish we had UrbanDictionary.com when I was a lad.

[S. Rahim]

This story is just another reason why this great country is moving backwards compared to our counterparts in Europe and Asia. When will the adults (especially in Riverside) grow up and realize that the best way to educate their children is not place them in a bubble, but rather expose them to the world and spend the time to explain their curiosities. The ignorance exhibited by these adults towards the English language is just that. We are talking about pulling a reputable dictionary publisher (i.e., Merrian-Webster) from school shelves; does that really make logical sense? My biggest gripe is that the school district, whose primary job / mission is to educate our students, allows a parent or group of parents to stronghold their religious beliefs / morales on the education of all students. It would appear these same people would love to have nudity removed from famous paintings and sculptures, which is just ludicrous. This story is another reason why the primary education of our children is grave danger.

[Jon Gillenwater]

Any parents who would protest a respected reference book's desire to educate students in the gift of the English language, really need to practice a little common sense. Hate to break this awful news to you, but if your kids are smart enough to learn about this subject in M-W's dictionary, they already know exactly what "Oral Sex" is. To accept a path toward ignorance, as well as the "book-burning" mentality, is both dangerous and sad. What are you thinking!?!

[Johnsy]

Why are we so afraid of sex? Because some parents can't seem to handle it and consequently want to prohibit everyone from enjoying that which all of us desire? Come on people, let's try to be rational about this. Everyone learns about sex one way or the other, and many of the "other" ways lead us into all the "problems" associated with this activity. If everyone were explained the true facts of life as they were growing up as part of the education process, wouldn't we all be better off? Banning books - dictionaries for Pete's sake - because they contain information about sexual practices is simply absurd given the realities of our time.

[B]

Let's take our "intercourse" or "sex" too while we are at it. Let's dumb this down further and make sure kids keep their heads in the sand and continue to only rely on abstinence programs without any real world understanding.

[american citizen]

Who are these people? Burying things because someone wishes they didn't exist deludes only those with the shovels. Please make sure that no one tells the Menifee Union School District about Darwin.

[BLW]

Hypocrites. They complain about a definition in a dictionary and yet children are exposed to worse on TV and with their friends? Parents are failing as it is to discuss these things with their children, instead they rather hide it from them and think it's going to go away or the child never finds out. If the child asks about it, tackle it head on. Show the child some respect and give him/her a chance to learn.

[T. Jefferson]

Yes, there are other obscene words in the dictionary like Liberal, democratic, educated, and brotherhood.