In view of our Ofsted inspection, one of my colleagues sent me this version of the Downfall meme.
WARNING: Contains strong language

Funny. A piece of chalk and a blackboard. Priceless.

ROFLMAO

Alas, it's a-propos here too - but I second arnie's reaction!!! Good find, Bob!

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Funny. A piece of chalk and a blackboard. Priceless

Are blackboards (albeit now called chalkboards for PC reasons) now entirely a thing of the past?

It's years since I did any work in schools and certainly most of the training rooms I encounter now have only white boards and flipcharts.

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Originally posted by Richard English:

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Funny. A piece of chalk and a blackboard. Priceless

Are blackboards (albeit now called chalkboards for PC reasons) now entirely a thing of the past?

It's years since I did any work in schools and certainly most of the training rooms I encounter now have only white boards and flipcharts.

As mentioned in that video, not only are blackboards entirely a thing of the past, whiteboards are going that way too, replaced by smartboards. These hideous monstrosities require a computer, are more difficult to write on neatly (the "pens" have wider tips), require frequent realignment so that the line appears at the point where the pen touches the board rather than up to a couple of inches away, are smaller and - crucially - are prone to breaking down leaving you without anything to write on in the classroom.
I think it's time for my favourite Star Trek quote again.

"The more you complicate the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains." (Mr Scott, The Search For Spock, talking about sabotaging a pursuing starship)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

I don't much like whiteboards, I have to say. Use the wrong pens and they won't erase;use the right pens and they are only just legible with strong colours.

What (apart from the fact that the PC brigade say you mustn't call them black because it might upset black or bronw-skinned people) exactly is wrong with blackboards? They are easy to use, highly legible and never go wrong (providing you keep an eye on your chalk so it doesn't get stolen!).

I don't mind blackboards or whiteboards but the smartboards drive me crazy for all the reasons mentioned above.

SHEESH! I'd wondered about the gradual & complete disappearance of blackboards from nurseries over the last 10 yrs. And this explains a curious phenomenon in a daycare conference room where one of my classes meets: a giant, smudged-up mobile whiteboard with a jumbo-sized newsprint tablet slung over it. (Notes are recorded on the tablet, natch.)

Meanwhile the CEO's of whiteboard & smartboard mfg co's are no doubt off golfing on the proceeds.

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Originally posted by Richard English:
Are blackboards (albeit now called chalkboards for PC reasons

Really? I think this is a myth.

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Originally posted by goofy:

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Originally posted by Richard English:
Are blackboards (albeit now called chalkboards for PC reasons

Really? I think this is a myth.

I'm not sure if the reasoning is that "blackboard" isn't PC but it's certainly true, in the UK at least, that chalkboard is the current preferred term. I suspect that it's more to do with the fact that some "blackboards" were blue and some were green.

A lot of these "black is a forbidden word" stories have nothing in them apart from wishful thinking by some of the newspapers.

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A lot of these "black is a forbidden word" stories have nothing in them apart from wishful thinking by some of the newspapers.

Certainy when I was doing my post-grad at South Bank University I found the people there to be very PC. I was taken to task by one lecturer for speaking about a "master copy". "It's an "original" she told me. And she definitely only used the chalkboard (which was black).

Edited to correct typos.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard English,

When I was at school all the boards were green. They were only ever referred to as "blackboards", though.

They were red, wet clay at my school, and one wrote with a wedge-shaped stick.

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and one wrote with a wedge-shaped stick.

They trusted you with pointy instruments?

If "blackboard" is verboten due to PC reasons, why isn't "whiteboard?"

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"The more you complicate the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains." (Mr Scott, The Search For Spock, talking about sabotaging a pursuing starship)

Ah, yes. My father-in-law would never order the fancy equipment on cars for just that reason.

As one who teaches with blackboards...still...it certainly isn't politically incorrect to use the term here. Even though many of them are green, we still call them blackboards or boards. Not "chalkboards."

I think around here we still call black chalkboards "blackboards" and green ones "chalkboards."

That video is hysterical, Bob, and I don't even know what an OFSTED inspection is, though I get the gist. I love those Hitler rant videos.

Wordmatic

OFSTED is the Office for Standards In Education, a government body that monitors schools and colleges. Arnie works for them.

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If "blackboard" is verboten due to PC reasons, why isn't "whiteboard?"

You tell me. And why, in the UK, do we have such organisations as the "Black Police Association" - but not a "White Police Association"?

And we* don't like being referred to as OFSTED nowadays. Once it was an acronym (something about "Office for standards in education" I think), but our remit has widened over the years and we now inspect almost everything in England relating to young people from 0-19, with some adult education thrown in for good measure. The powers-that-be decreed several years ago that we should be called "Ofsted" but old habits die hard.

* By "we" I mean Ofsted as a corporate body; personally I couldn't care less.

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Originally posted by arnie:
And we* don't like being referred to as OFSTED nowadays. Once it was an acronym (something about "Office for standards in education" I think), but our remit has widened over the years and we now inspect almost everything in England relating to young people from 0-19, with some adult education thrown in for good measure. The powers-that-be decreed several years ago that we should be called "Ofsted" but old habits die hard.

* By "we" I mean Ofsted as a corporate body; personally I couldn't care less.

Indeed. I capitalised it above, where I normally wouldn't, solely because I was explaining the acronym derivation of it.

Apparently any color reference is cause for an uproar in some place.

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I capitalised it above, where I normally wouldn't, solely because I was explaining the acronym derivation of it.

I wan't referring to your use, Bob, which was correct, but to the capitalised use in the video.