Keeping Religion Out of Your Sneezes

OPINION | |  By Meghan Agostinelli, staff writer

Avoid saying "God Bless You" or face a point deduction.

Imagine you are that “ideal” student - you ask intelligent questions in class and are nothing but polite to all your teachers and classmates. One day, while in your health class, you say, “God bless you” as common courtesy after a fellow classmate sneezed. What would you do if your teacher then said, “I’m taking 25 points off your grade because you simply said, ‘God bless you’”?

A California health teacher made national news at the end of September for banning the use of “God bless you” in his classroom. But he didn’t stop there. He banned the entire practice of saying anything at all, including “Bless you.” Additionally  he went as far as penalizing students’ grades for violating the rule.

The teacher has not only taken religion out of his classroom but also common courtesy among classmates.

The teacher, Steve Cuckovich, has argued that the phrase becomes a classroom distraction and “doesn’t really make sense anymore” as people no longer believe that sneezing releases evil spirits.

I believe that Cuckovich’s claims are ridiculous. Why not focus on a bigger issue like making sure your students are fully prepared for their I.B. exams? Why not focus on combating the issue of bullying in your school district if it is a prevalent issue there?

“God bless you” is just a simple phrase that is polite. Students should not  need to be politically correct and avoid politeness just because “God” may be in the phrase. Telling someone “Bless you” is an aspect of a well-mannered individual.

Of course, Cuckovich is a health teacher whose job is to teach students that the expression is rooted in superstition rather than science. Yet banning “bless you” because he considers it a distraction is just absurd.

Think that this is too ridiculous to have happened? Well, it’s true, check it out.