I think it allows the student to disrespect the teacher on their own inmature level and get nothing from the "lesson" it's trying to teach...which might be "sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me"...unless you use them 5x's or more in a day in my classroom.

However...I DO NOT agree with Ms. Widdecombe! This (to me) is the TYPICAL response from the collective Conservative members around the world! IMHO...you cannot "improve something by discouraging it"!!! The more you tell a child NO...the more they want to do "it" (whatever "it" may be). But...we are the adults and can figure a better way without driving our morals down their throats. They'll rebel against that too...DUH!

We tend to inflict our personal morals (which, in most cases are influenced by our parents, and their parents, and so on and so on), and quite possibly antiquated due to changing times and circumstance, to the children...in a blanket lesson. Instead...I feel...it would behoove us as the mature, responsible lot...to take each situtation as individual!

I agree with Aqua...they are only words! But words can hurt deeply...in context, as wyndhy and BigBad suggested. And...there is such a thing as respect for your elders. They've earned it (well...most have) and telling them to "fuck off" or "fuck you" or "get fucked" when the kids get the notion and haven't out-limited themselves for the day...to me is totally disrespectful. I use these statements to show how pissed off I am and to purposely show I am NOT respectful of the person it is aimed at.

If I use "fuck" as a filler...ie: I couldn't get the fuckin thing open"...it's purely for effect and lack of a better word...and in essence, LAZINESS!. Seems to me the teachers in this school don't mind if the lack of the grasp of the English language and the laziness in terms of finding a more appropriate and respectful word...is lazy PERSONIFIED on their part! They've thrown their hands up and have quit trying to educate. Instead, they have said that these kids (the difficult ones) have won...and if they have any disrespectful followers...they are safe in the future to disrespect us too!

An example of my "practicing what I preach"? It's a no-thinker to me to curtail my language around my in-laws, bosses, in a crowded store or theatre...etc. (you get the gist)...but at a party, in my own home, in a friends home who let's her freak flag fly more than me...I use the "F" word more than a drunken sailor on shore leave at a tattoo parlor getting a battleship inked on my chest!

Again...just my 2 pennies!

__________________
Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~