No More Blessings During Class

Posted on by
SHANNON LI
Staff Writer
Everyone is bending over their test, furiously scribbling to beat the clock, when suddenly a loud noise is heard.
“Achoo!”
“Bless you.”
Doubtless this has happened to many people in class. However, a teacher in Vacaville, California has decided that this practice should be eliminated. Steve Cuckovich has forbidden his students from saying the phrase in class.
“When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body,” Cuckovich said in a KFVS-TV interview. “So they were saying, ‘God bless you’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, I said what you’re doing doesn’t really make any sense anymore.”
He says his policy has nothing to do with religion and believes the phrase is outdated and disrupts the learning process.
Cuckovich even lowered a student’s grade for saying “bless you” but stopped due to parental complaints. However, he wants to find other ways to discipline students for saying the phrase.
Other educational instructors feel differently.
“It’s a frivolous thing. Why would someone worry about something like that?” math teacher Paul Stein said.
Similarly, students think Cuckovich’s practice makes little sense.
“He needs to be tolerant about religion even if he isn’t religious himself, because this is America and freedom of speech should be respected,” junior Gary Qi said. “Students should be guaranteed their individual rights even on school campus.”

Everyone is bending over their test, furiously scribbling to beat the clock, when suddenly a loud noise is heard.   “Achoo!”    “Bless you.”    Doubtless this has happened to many people in class. However, a teacher in Vacaville, California has decided that this practice should be eliminated. Steve Cuckovich has forbidden his students from saying the phrase in class.   “When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body,” Cuckovich said in a KFVS-TV interview. “So they were saying, ‘God bless you’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, I said what you’re doing doesn’t really make any sense anymore.”   He says his policy has nothing to do with religion and believes the phrase is outdated and disrupts the learning process.    Cuckovich even lowered a student’s grade for saying “bless you” but stopped due to parental complaints. However, he wants to find other ways to discipline students for saying the phrase.    Other educational instructors feel differently.   “It’s a frivolous thing. Why would someone worry about something like that?” math teacher Paul Stein said. Similarly, students think Cuckovich’s practice makes little sense.    “He needs to be tolerant about religion even if he isn’t religious himself, because this is America and freedom of speech should be respected,” junior Gary Qi said. “Students should be guaranteed their individual rights even on school campus.”