Teacher suspended for saying "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"

[woody60707]

Kaukauna middle school suspends teacher for racist remarks
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/16/2007 09:17:07 AM CST

KAUKAUNA, Wis.—A River View Middle School teacher accused of using a racist rhyme in class has been suspended.

The teacher allegedly used the rhyme—"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—Monday while trying to pick a student to do a task.

Kaukauna Area School District officials learned of the incident Tuesday and put the teacher on leave with pay Wednesday, Superintendent Lloyd McCabe said. They are still investigating.

A student's parent reported the incident to school officials, McCabe said. He said he hopes to work out an agreement so the results of the investigation and disciplinary action can be made public.

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huh? We used to say this in school all the time when I was a kid. And that wasn't that long ago. When did this rhyme become racist?

 

[Godwynn]

You cannot say catch a tiger by his toe in public, that's racist.

 

[North King]

What? We still use this (usually sarcastically, but still), and I've never heard it described as racist.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

How in the WORLD is this rasist?

 

[Bill3000]

There is an alternate version of it replacing "tiger" with the n-word, apparently. Perhaps she used that version?

 

[Godwynn]

A little wiki digging comes up with a version that is racist made by Rudyard Kipling.

 

[Arwon]

I would have thought the N*gger version was the original. I mean, "if he squeals/hollers let him go" hardly makes sense for a tiger now, does it?

 

[emzie]

I'd never even heard of the other version.

As pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes,[3] the word ". .. .. .. .. .. ." was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. This, combined with evidence of various versions of the rhyme in England that predate the ". .. .. .. .. .. ." version, suggest that the ". .. .. .. .. .. ." version merely became the most popular at some point in the 20th century, probably originating in America.

 

[Murky]

I think this rhyme started in the south before the civil war so it probably does have racists origins.

 

[El_Machinae]

The article need to be clear which version is used.

Unless this is an area with crazy racial tension, I think it's stupid if she used the 'tiger' version.

 

[Gilder]

Teachers are getting hit with everything these days.

 

[emzie]

I think this rhyme started in the south before the civil war so it probably does have racists origins.

It started in England.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I would have thought the N*gger version was the original. I mean, "if he squeals/hollers let him go" hardly makes sense for a tiger now, does it?

It doesn't make sense for a llama to go about asking who its mother is, but that hasn't stopped writers, has it?

 

[JollyRoger]

huh? We used to say this in school all the time when I was a kid. And that wasn't that long ago. When did this rhyme become racist?

We did too. The second line we used was certainly racist.

 

[Mise]

We used n*gger and fishy when we were 5 or 6. We didn't know what a n*gger was.

 

[Stylesjl]

Perhaps the context of the class made it so that saying that rhyme was a racist comment? From the outside it seems harmless, but perhaps the context indicated otherwise. Anyway there seems to be a lack of sufficient information at this stage

 

[mdwh]

I would have thought the N*gger version was the original. I mean, "if he squeals/hollers let him go" hardly makes sense for a tiger now, does it?

See the Wikipedia article - the British version was "baby". No idea where tiger came from.

I agree with others - it really does depend on which version she used.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I am going to start using eeny meeny miny moe now.

 

[Leonel]

This is the first time I've heard of the racist version! I've been using that since kindergarten! Of course we lived in Asia and our ignorance of American racial issues had us end up using Darkie toothpaste.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I heard that the nursery rhyme "Baa baa black sheep" is now considered racist.