Should teachers allow students to use profanity in their writing?

I never announce to my students, "Please include profanity in your writing!" But I don't ban it.

We want to encourage students to write. My students in particular—at-risk, older teens—have felt disenfranchised from our public education system, and that includes writing. They have spent most of their years in schools being told what not to do. So many come to my school afraid to write, or with other negative attitudes about writing.

There is the old saying, "Pick your battles!" I would rather win the writing battle than the profanity one.

We often ask students to write from their personal knowledge and experiences. Many of my students come from homes where they hear profanity used freely and frequently. And it has also been proven that writing can be a tool for releasing emotional pain. 

When I see profanity in students' writing and don't feel it's appropriate, I use it as a teaching moment. It gives me an opportunity to cover such topics as the power of words and the power of using certain ones sparingly rather than frequently. It also comes up in government classes when we talk about the First Amendment.

We have discussions about where profanity might be appropriate and where it isn't. In my students' home lives, profanity is so pervasive that I actually have to teach them why it is not acceptable in certain places and situations (a job interview, for example).

But because I don't ban it, I really don't see it that often. When I do, if I feel that other words would be better choices, then I gently offer alternatives. I treat the profanity as I would any other word where a different word could be better. It works.

We have to prepare students to

deal with the real world. In the real world, sometimes they will hear or see profanity, and at other times it is definitely unacceptable. They need to know the difference.

Rob Koplan teaches English and Social Studies at Stone High School, an alternative public school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Cast Your Vote

[NO]

Have I come to a point in my career where I am comfortable allowing my students to express themselves in any way they deem appropriate, including profanity? My answer is irrefutably and decisively no! Students should not be allowed under any circumstances to use profanity in their writing while they are in a public school.

One of the most important lessons I teach my students is that writing is a moral exercise. This influential tool can inspire and shape an individual's perspective. Words then become the source of nourishment for this inspiration. Words can soothe and caress the core of an individual. Words can sting and inflame the spirit. Words are power.

My problem as an educator is not about censorship, but about exposing this generation to something they might otherwise not see—the power to create imaginative essays with words of substance. It is almost too simplistic to allow students to use profanity. It does not take any real effort on the students' part to use vulgarity in writing. They are exposed to it daily by the media. The real test is to challenge them to find other ways to express themselves that have the same effect as these profane words. 

Profanity in writing is at times merely used as a shock element. Some students actually believe it is an expression of their generation. They think their generation invented profanity. My students find it humorous when I tell them I can easily conjugate those words in more creative ways than they ever knew existed. 

Students will argue that it is their right to express themselves as they see fit. They may be right in a way, but reality is colored quite differently. Young kids still need to be guided by the adults in their lives.

When they spill into the community as adults, they will have choices to make for themselves. Wouldn't it be fabulous if they had a wealth of words with which to express those choices?

Nellie Ugarte teaches English at Montwood High School, El Paso, Texas.

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Voting Results

Should students be required to wear seat belts on school buses?

The tally on the question in the October issue of NEA Today:

Yes, 35%

No, 65%