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> school systems are buying millions of tablets and laptops for classroom use Taking notes on a laptop has been found to be ineffective compared to writing: ht

• Someone1234 12y ago
  > utterly retarded Do you really think it is appropriate to be using the term "retarded" as a derogatory term in 2015? Why not just bring out "gay" and the n- word too if while you're at it... I actually agree with you regarding laptops and tablets in the classroom (and I work in technology). I just find such language pretty distracting to an otherwise great point and interesting link.
  • xroche 12y ago
    Ah, political correctness...
    • Someone1234 12y ago
      Ah, poor vocabulary... English has a bunch of words meaning "stupid" or "foolish." For example: absurd, asinine, brainless, cockamamy, crazy, daffy, daft, dazed, deficient, dense, dim, dippy, doltish, dopey, dotty, dull, dumb, dummy, fantastic, fatuous, feebleminded, foolish, futile, gullible, half-baked, half-witted, harebrained, idiotic, ill-advised, ill-considered, imbecilic, imprudent, inane, incautious, indiscreet, injudicious, insane, insensate, irrational, irrelevant, jerky, kooky, laughable, loony, loser, ludicrous, lunatic, mad, meaningless, mindless, moronic, naive, nerdy, nonsensical, nutty, obtuse, pointless, preposterous, puerile, rash, ridiculous, senseless, short-sighted, shortsighted, silly, simple, simpleminded, slow, sluggish, stolid, stupefied, stupid, thick, thick-headed, trivial, unintelligent, unreasonable, unthinking, unwise, wacky, weak, witless, zany
      • acheron 12y ago
        And several of those were formerly clinical descriptions of "mental retardation" -- "idiot" and "imbecile" for two -- exactly the same as "retard". The only difference is that they're further back on the euphemism treadmill. You can argue against the use of certain words if you'd like, but you can't pretend that it's anything other than political correctness.
        • Someone1234 12y ago
          It shows a lack of professionalism, a poor vocabulary, and a general disrespect towards the mentally handicapped. It just isn't up to the standards that people expect in this day and age. You seem to think "political correctness" is some kind of dirty term, rather than just accepting that times change, and society has moved on. Homosexuals are no longer seen as a negative (per "gay" as a derogatory) and the mentally handicapped are no longer seen as being idiots or fools (per "retard" as a derogatory). It surprises me that some people simply do not appreciate this and how their use of language reflects on them as people.
          • blumkvist 12y ago
            /me tips his fedora.
      • xroche 12y ago
        Poor vocabulary, most probably, not being a native speaker. But I wanted to emphasize the fact that it was not just a stupid decision, but a well-documented stupid decision. It takes few minutes on google to learn that it is detrimental to learning (with scientific facts), and if everybody can do stupid mistakes, I call insisting on doing documented mistakes being "retarded". And no, I did not intend to attack handicapped people, this is just plain ridiculous. But you may have a better, more suitable adjective for that.
    • blumkvist 12y ago
      Tyranny with manners.
    • dsr_ 12y ago
      90% of the time you can replace "political correctness" with "politeness"... including this case.