I was chatting with a friend the other day, who was expressing her opinion about a comment one of her teachers had made in class. She was offended when the teacher reminded her students that "this is an honors class, not a special ed. class," admonishing them to be estudious and not slack off. Most of us would just say it was a somewhat harsh comment.
But my friend has a different perspective. She has a job working with the "special ed." kids, doing therapy for the autistic or mentally impaired. From working with them, she has developed close relationships with the kids and is compassionate towards the disabled. Upon hearing this teacher throw around the words "special ed.", she was angered. "How could she use that term in such a derrogatory manner, when the kids who are special ed. have no other choice than to be who they are?" she pleaded to me.
While discussing this issue, we both agreed that our society now uses these words very commonly to mean stupid, irresponsible, or in a just plain mean way. (How many times have you smacked your head after forgetting something and said "Ugh, I'm so retarded!") It's a shame to see how such words can be twisted to have derrogatory connotations.
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I think the word "retarded" is a good example of shifting symbolism, like we talked about in class a few days ago. In the past, special ed children were called retarded and stupid, but now those terms are considered very derogatory and have been replaced by terms like "special ed" and "mentally challenged." I don't even think most people associate the word retarded with special ed children when they say or hear things like "that was retarded." It has developed a new social context.
ReplyDelete-Alexa
I agree with Alexa that the word's meaning in a social context has become almost completely unrelated to its former meaning. This process is hard (if not impossible) to reverse, however, since more and more people will continue to use the word in a derogatory way as they continue to hear it from others. "Retarded"'s new meaning has become subconsciously implanted in many peoples' minds, and barring a conscious effort it is hard for them to avoid saying it.
ReplyDelete-Bryce Cody
As Alexa said, words such as "retarded" is definitely being shifted symbolically. I sometimes find myself using terms like "retarded," "mentally challenged," or "slow" to describe a situation or my action and later find that it is wrong to say such things. People use these terms more commonly than before and they accept the usage of these words more leniently.
ReplyDelete-Joanne Park