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Teacher Bans “Bless You” From Classroom
Would Gesundheit be better?
When covering parenting news, you get fairly used to hearing crazy and outlandish stories, and today’s story about a California teacher punishing a student for saying “Bless you” to a fellow classmate after she sneezed, surely ranks among the most idiotic things I’ve heard all week.
Taylor McGinley sneezed in her health class at Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville, CA a few weeks ago. When a student replied with “God bless you,” teacher Steven Cuckovich was not happy and penalized the students.
According to one student, he said, ‘Do you think that girl is evil, do you think the evil spirits are coming out of her?’ And the guy that said “bless you” was like ‘No, I was just doing what I was supposed to do when somebody sneezes, not trying to be rude.”
The first time it happened, Cuckovich took 25 points off from a student’s grade and the next day it happened, he did the same:
“The blessing doesn’t really make sense anymore,” he said. “When you sneeze in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So they were saying, ‘God bless you,’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, what you’re doing doesn’t really make any sense anymore.”
I doubt that anyone saying ‘bless you’ to a person who has just sneezed really believes they are casting aside evil spirits. They likely do it as a common courtesy, a gesture of politeness. Many of us were raised immediately saying bless you when any person sneezes and for a lot of us, it’s completely automatic. I’ve never been in a classroom as a student, parent or teacher where students became unruly because a simple “bless you” had been muttered. It’s ridiculous. It’s also not fair. For a teacher to deduct grade points for student who may unintentionally, even automatically say bless you after a sneeze is unreasonable.
Cuckovich told the students sneezing and saying “bless you” is a distraction and takes time out of learning. He maintains his ruling has nothing to do with religion or God, but I wonder about that. His stance that saying “bless you” makes no sense seems a little nonsensical to me. I get that the school is a public school and God is not officially allowed in the curriculum, but they have no right to censor a student’s own personal words to each other (unless they are threatening).
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising then that we live in a society where, in many cases, bullying is overlooked to the point of children killing themselves, yet students being polite, even nice to one another is discouraged.
What’s next? Should holding the door for one another be banned because it promotes the spread of germs or holds up the line? Perhaps we should also ban “thank you” and “I’m sorry”.
Image: Stockxchng
Related article: How to teach manners to toddlers
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32 Comments
lenel commented on Sep 29 11 at 10:18 amA good teacher breaks up ‘automatic’ behavior and requires you to think about it. This teacher sounds like he was just doing his job. Unfortunately, some people never learn and continue to carry on with their automatic behaviors without question or reason.
Zoë commented on Sep 29 11 at 10:22 amIt’s funny, my MIL who is deeply religious won’t say “Bless you” because it is based on superstition (and a belief in witchcraft), yet I, who was raised in a non-religious household, say “Bless you” all the time. For me, it’s good manners.
goddess commented on Sep 29 11 at 10:41 amRedonkulous to the extreme.
La Rêveuse commented on Sep 29 11 at 10:59 amA good teacher does teach to the teachable moment, but he or she does NOT punish someone if they don’t agree with the teacher’s opinion. This is unacceptable. Does he punish for “Gesundheit”? “À vos souhaits”? Passing a tissue?
Way to go, teach. Give a little *more* ammo to the religious right and the whackos who are convinced public school doesn’t deserve a dime of our tax money.
S commented on Sep 29 11 at 11:26 amI agree that a good teacher “breaks up ‘automatic’ behavior and requires you to think about it.” But there is a time and a place to do so. As a teacher I can’t imagine interrupting my lessons each time a student says “Bless you” out of politeness. It would be a constant distraction to address every phrase that has become common courtesy in our day-to-day communication. A student saying two words under his or her breath to a classmate is nowhere near as distracting as the teacher stopping the lesson to attack the polite behavior.
What about when someone inadvertently says “Oh my God”? Or phrases like “You’re welcome” or “OK” that have no religious connotations, but still have become “automatic” behavior? Should the flow of learning be stopped every time to discuss the history, etymology, and ultimately (in this teacher’s case) the outdated and therefore unnecessary nature of the phrase? And what about other responses to sneezing that are not so religious? My grandmother always said “Gesundheit,” the German word for “health.”
Most importantly, in the current high school atmosphere in the United States, which is rife with competition, violence, discrimination, and inconsiderate behavior, I find it appalling that a teacher would penalize a student’s academic work for treating another student with consideration and respect.
goddess commented on Sep 29 11 at 12:31 pmSorry Lenel- I’ve known the lore behind blessing you- Catholics thought that the devil could fly up your nose and seize your soul in the split second that your heart wasn’t beating. But I’m a pagan now, so I don’t even believe in satan- – but I still say”Bless You: as a courtesy and social lubricant. Much as I say “Excuse me” when I REALLY have every right to walk in front of you in public as well.
Linda, t.o.o. commented on Sep 29 11 at 12:36 pmSilly. “Bless you” is pretty much an idiom at this point.
Joulia commented on Sep 29 11 at 2:18 pmSo if a student says “Good Morning!” when their are in fact having a bad morning, is that a teaching moment too?
In his position I would concentrate on docking points when students do not show each other common courtesy.
Anon, the original one commented on Sep 29 11 at 2:52 pmTeachers shouldn’t be “docking points” for things that aren’t really related to academic performance. I can understand his point about multiple “bless yous” and “thank yous” but I think him noting it a few times would teach them that one “bless you” is enough and we don’t need multiple ones. This is much ado about nothing on all counts.
RobertMN commented on Sep 29 11 at 3:48 pmIs Mr. Steven Cuckovich aware that “Wednesday” is named after the god Wotan? Will he be docked some salary for saying the word it in school?
This man is a bigot, intolerant and contemptuous of other people’s beliefs. What is he doing near children?
puasamanda commented on Sep 29 11 at 4:45 pmI’m sorry…I’m confused! Did the teacher say “Don’t say ‘Bless you,’” or did he say “Don’t say ‘God bless you?’” I know it seems like a small thing, but it is actually a large distinction. I say “Bless you” all the time when someone sneezes, because it is the polite and customary thing to say in this country. Even though I am aware of the origin of the phrase, I feel comfortable using it while I leave “God” out of it entirely. When my MIL says “God bless you” in my presence, it always makes for an awkward internal moment for me, because it is a reminder that she is Catholic and I am – shall we say – not. This very small thing illustrates a very BIG difference between us…a difference that has the potential to cause no small amount of rancor. For me, saying “Bless you” while leaving “God” out is equivalent to saying “Hoping for your good health” or something. Hearing “God” at the beginning of the phrase changes it significantly, at least for me.
PegLa commented on Sep 29 11 at 7:07 pmI was told that you say God Bless you as when you sneeze your heart stops! All who want to take God out of our schools are asking for trouble. God does exist and Jesus will return sooner than you think! We all need to take a good look at our life and our world and say God Have Mercy on us!
Your Kidding commented on Sep 29 11 at 7:44 pmThis is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Kids being polite to one another are a reason to punish? Is this a joke? Who cares if they say bless you, or God bless you? Give me a break. This guy is a joke and should be fired. Let’s focus on academics and punish the kids who make derogatory comments toward others.
Lizzy commented on Sep 29 11 at 8:53 pmI go to this school and would just like to say that this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. First of all, every single news cast that I’ve seen on this issue has made him sound like a crazy anti-religous freak. This whole thing started with one student fake sneezing and another would scream bless you at them from across the room. After that, the whole thing escalated until it became a game and then a war of who could say bless you the most. Now I’m sure you can imagine that in a small room of 30 or so students, this gets quite hectic pretty quickly. He is simply trying to keep control of his class! Think about it this way, if a teacher were to take off points from a student’s grade for saying any other phrase at a time while they were trying to teach, would anyone care? What if that phrase was not appropriate for the time? Or even appropriate for school? Before you start judging someone on how they teach THEIR class, put yourself in their shoes and find out the true story.
Librarymommy commented on Sep 29 11 at 9:23 pmMy major issue with this is that the teacher shortchanged ALL those students by interrupting valuable teaching time for something so ridiculous! The parents of the student whose academic grade was docked points for this should be screaming from the rooftops! How is that grade an accurate reflection of the student mastery of the skill or standard being taught?
Jessica commented on Sep 29 11 at 10:38 pmYet another reason I am SO GLAD my children attend/will be attending Catholic school.
Anon, the original one commented on Sep 30 11 at 8:07 am@LIZZY, that is exactly what I thought happened…why would the news spin it the way they did? why would people think it’s about god or not…it was obvious to me when he said something about multiple “bless yous” that this is what was going on…geesh!
Whatevs commented on Sep 30 11 at 8:22 amLizzy, that makes perfect sense to me. Hopefully, this teacher won’t be fired for trying to do his job without having his students being ridiculous.
goddess commented on Sep 30 11 at 8:22 amPegla- will you have a problem bringing the Goddess into your kids’ school as well?
goddess commented on Sep 30 11 at 8:26 am@Jessica:
13 years Catholic school = me born-again pagan
12yrs Catholic school & raised in a very Old World Catholic doing rosaries on your knees on Fridays = agnostic/atheist husband
9 years Catholic School = agnostic sonGood luck- they say most pagans are recovering Catholics!~
Danielle Sullivan commented on Sep 30 11 at 9:01 amWhile I agree that he has every right to discipline his students for being loud, obnoxious, disruptive, etc….. he also has some problem with the term being said. He talks about the term and its origin rather than simply saying the students were out of line. Bottom line you can’t ban words or terms, but of course you can ban talking during class time. Two very different things. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUerHTLFzq0
Essy commented on Sep 30 11 at 9:29 am@Goddess
I went to Catholic school and am still a Catholic. Do I know many Catholics who left the fold? Yes. I also know just as many who remained in the church. I also know quite a few who changed to a different denomination but are still Christians. Catholic school has nothing to do with it. And it sounds like perhaps your husband’s family taught him to fear the Lord instead of love him. That is too bad.
bob commented on Sep 30 11 at 11:07 amWhat about hiccuppers, coughers, noseblowers and throat-clearers? Why are we indifferent to their health/souls?
bc commented on Sep 30 11 at 11:33 amHey PEGLA- I’m with you!
goddess commented on Sep 30 11 at 11:34 amNot to worry Esse- he’s starting to embrace his inner pagan.
Linda, t.o.o. commented on Sep 30 11 at 1:15 pm“All who want to take God out of our schools are asking for trouble. God does exist and Jesus will return sooner than you think! We all need to take a good look at our life and our world and say God Have Mercy on us!” @PEGLA, people like you are the reason we have separation of church and state to begin with. Please be clear on the fact that you have absolutely to right to force your christianity on to my children while they attend public school. I know this isn’t what this story is about, but there’s always someone who is going to chime in with this ignorant drivel.
Sabrina. commented on Sep 30 11 at 6:26 pmHe is not doing this because it is the saying “bless you.” He is doing this because of all the immature kids that love to take any chance they get at disrupting the class. One kid sneezes, half the class says bless you, and then there are a million thank you’s. In the original interview the teacher says that the studen’ts grade does NOT get affected by this. This has nothing to do with making a sound like someone said coughing and clearing their throat. And it also has nothing to do with religion. People automaticaly think that his teacher is a “God hater” and that this is just like the pledge, but it is not. Stop jumping to conclusions and thinking that this is a big deal. He has reasons that make sense.
anna commented on Oct 01 11 at 7:25 amjust as lizzy says,here’s the part from the chronicle that fox news doesn’t seem to highlight:
“Steve Cuckovich disciplined his freshman students . . . for repeatedly disrupting class by responding to sneezes with an overenthusiastic chorus of ‘Bless you.’
The sneezer would then thank each giver of the blessing individually.”other kids admit that the “bless you” was sometimes delivered at top volume.
thanking each giver of a blessing during class? screaming “bless you”?
and now they’re claiming their religious freedom has been trampled?i think these young sneezers are terrific manipulators. but polite/religious?
not so much.a-choo? bless you! (quietly. once.)
Jeff Mortelette commented on Oct 02 11 at 6:55 amThat is crazy. Students’ grades should be determined solely by their academic performance.
Brix commented on Oct 03 11 at 12:22 pmDid you actually research what happened before you wrote this column, or are you just parroting what you read on some alarmist Christian website?
The issue wasn’t saying “bless you,” but rather that the kids thought it would be funny to disrupt class by pretending to sneeze, having everyone say “bless you,” and then have the sneezer say “thank you” to each person who said “bless you.” The kids were being obnoxious and the teacher needed to do something to get the kids to stop so he could, you know, actually teach.
Danielle Sullivan commented on Oct 03 11 at 12:28 pm@Brix Watch his response and then see what he is stressing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUerHTLFzq0
Brix commented on Oct 03 11 at 1:49 pmDanielle, I see that the news story did not mention what was actually happening in the classroom. I stand by my point
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