英小學禁送情人節賀卡 家長褒貶不一

A primary school has banned Valentine's Day Cards from thepremises because of concerns that young pupils spend too much time talking about boyfriends and girlfriends.

Ashcombe Primary School in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, has told parents that cards declaring love can be “confusing” for children under the age of 11, who are still emotionally and socially developing.

In his February newsletter, Peter Turner, the head teacher, warned that any cards found in school would be confiscated.

He wrote: “We do not wish to see any Valentine’s Day cards in school this year. Some children and parents encourage a lot of talk about boyfriends and girlfriends.”

"We believe that such ideas should wait until children are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment involved in having or being a boyfriend or girlfriend."

Mr Turner said any families wanting to support the Valentine’s Day concept should send cards in the post or deliver them to home addresses by hand.

His views were endorsed by Ruth Rice, 46, who has twins Harriet and Olivia, nine, at the school.

She said: “Children at that age shouldn't really be thinking about Valentine's Day, they should be concentrating on their schoolwork.

“They are at an age when they are impressionable and most parents including myself are with Mr Turner.”

She added that the cards cause “too much competition. If someone gets a card and another doesn't then someone will be disappointed.”

However, Rajeev Takyar, 40, who runs a local newsagent, and has two children Jai, 11, and Aryan, five, at the school, said he was “genuinely outraged”.

He said: "There are schools that have banned conkers and snowballs, and now Valentine's Cards.

"I think banning the cards stops children from having social skills. How are they going to learn about relationships otherwise? It's ridiculous.”

Alec Suttenwood, founder of the Anti-Political Correctness group, said of the ban: "It's totally ridiculous. Young children just send the cards to each other as friends and to their parents. It’s just a bit of harmless fun. There is no difference between this and Mothers or Fathers Day.”

英國一所小學日前宣佈禁止學生互送情人節賀卡，理由是小學生不應過多討論男女朋友的問題。

英國薩默塞特郡濱海韋斯頓鎮的艾什康姆小學日前告知學生家長，11歲以下的孩子在情感和社交上都還不夠成熟，傳達愛意的情人節賀卡會讓他們感到“困惑”。

該校校長彼特•特納在二月份的學校通訊中提醒家長說，今年在學校發現的任何情人節賀卡將一律被沒收。

他在信件中寫道：“今年我們不希望在學校看見情人節賀卡。有些孩子過多地與家長討論男女朋友的問題。”

“學校認爲，孩子們現在討論這些問題爲時過早，必須等到他們在情感和社交上都足夠成熟，能夠理解這其中所牽涉的責任之後，才能給他們這樣的自由。”

特納校長說，任何支持送情人節賀卡的家庭請通過郵局寄送賀卡或自行送到別人的住所。

九歲的雙胞胎姐妹哈麗特和奧利維婭的母親、46歲的魯絲•萊斯對校長的看法表示贊同。

她說：“孩子們現在不應該過多考慮情人節這個問題，而應把精力放在學習上。”

“這個年齡段的孩子缺乏判斷力，包括我自己在內的大多數家長都支持特納校長的做法。”

她還說，互送情人節賀卡“會讓孩子們產生攀比心理，如果有人收到了賀卡，而另外一個人沒有收到，他就會感到失望。”

然而，11歲的吉埃和5歲的阿里安的父親、40歲的報刊經銷商拉吉維•塔吉亞則表示自己“十分憤慨”。

他說：“先是打栗子遊戲和打雪仗在某些學校被禁，現在又是情人節賀卡。”

“我認爲禁送情人節賀卡不利於孩子們社交技能的培養。以後他們要怎麼學各種社會關係？真是荒謬。”

反政治正確性組織的創始人阿萊克•薩特恩伍德評價這一禁令時說：“這簡直是荒唐。小孩子之間只是像朋友一樣互送賀卡，或是送給父母。送情人節賀卡只是學習之餘的一點小樂子，無傷大雅，和母親節、父親節送賀卡沒什麼區別。”

Vocabulary:

premise:A proposition upon which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn（前提）

impressionable:readily or easily influenced; suggestible（敏感的；易受影響的）