Vacaville Students Lost 25 Points Off Test For Saying 'Bless You' To Sneezing Peer

When someone sneezes, it's common for a person in the vicinity to respond, "bless you."

But for making that remark, students in Steven Cuckovich's high school health class in Vacaville, Calif. lost 25 points off a test. The next day, someone used the phrase again when a student sneezed, and Will C. Wood High School student Erica Fagan told KXTV that Cuckovich docked points off everyone's grades.

The punishment has nothing to do with religion, Cuckovich tells KTXL News in Sacramento. Rather, it's about deterring students from being disruptive in class and interrupting learning time.

"The blessing doesn't really make sense anymore," Cuckovich told KTXL. "When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So they were saying 'God bless you' for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, what you're doing really doesn't make sense."

Parents aren't pleased, and the school's principal agrees that the punishment doesn't fit the offense. But Cuckovich says students will still face consequences for the act, just in a less severe way, The Christian Post reports.

Students also told KXTV that the sneezing-response rule isn't in the syllabus for the class -- a one-semester course required for graduation.

The Vacaville Unified School District issued a statement Thursday saying that it's investigating "this reported classroom disruption," as Cuckovich "believed that students were dramatically sneezing and responding in a repetitive fashion, 'bless you,'" KGO-TV reports.

A federal appeals court in California ruled this month in favor of a school's decision that a math teacher for Poway Unified School District cannot display banners proclaiming "In God We Trust," "One Nation Under God," "God Bless America" and "God Shed His Grace On Thee."

 

Comments

[jonpaul65]

10:59 AM on 11/10/2011

Mr. Cuckovich:
God bless you!

[YooperSue]

07:20 AM on 11/10/2011

All of these recent posters apparently didn't read the entire article as well as the link to the previous article. This was repetitive and the students took turns with their fake sneezing to disrupt the classroom. They also do it with dropping pencils, or clicking ball point pens, or getting up to go to the pencil sharpener... and on and on. Apparently none of you have been in a classroom lately. The disrespect is happening more and more, and the kids know teachers are powerless to take action against quasi-statements such as "bless you." What would you think would be an appropriate way to stop it? Tell them to stop? Yeah right. Make them write something 100 times? Naw. So what then?

[kareruhana]

10:40 AM on 11/12/2011

YooperSue, obviously this issue hits a nerve with you, as there is so much going on in the world and you are commenting with such enthusiasm over an article from september...

There were better ways to handle this situation. A student's grades should be based solely on academic performance; using grades to punish behavioral problems is inappropriate.

If an educator finds it too difficult to control a classroom, perhaps they should teach a different age group, or not teach at all. Academic penalty is not the answer.

[So silly]

10:37 PM on 10/04/2011

People have really lost their sense of common courtesy and this teacher is only making the situation worse by teaching poor manners.

[YooperSue]

07:22 AM on 11/10/2011

Give me a break. Trying to teach high school students good manners and respect is next to impossible...

[janeblue]

03:33 PM on 10/04/2011

It is a pity that so many people are refuting religion and faith to the point of taking away academic points from students. We are supporters of God & Country and the right to have a faith and not to be persecuted for it: http://www.buyonenationundergod.com, use PRDISC5 a Thank You gift from us.

[So silly]

10:38 PM on 10/04/2011

If you read the artice you will see his reasoning is to prevent classroom interruptions and has nothing to do with religion.

[kareruhana]

09:02 PM on 10/03/2011

The "bless you" custom originated as described, yes, but it still makes perfect sense today as a general health blessing on someone showing a possible sign of impending illness. One may not personally agree with this, but it is a common courtesy and nothing to be offended by. As for being disruptive, it would take a lot of sneezing to disrupt class and if someone were doing it that much they could simply be asked to leave (step into the hallway, go to the nurse's office, principal's office, whatever) until the alleged sneezing fit stopped. Some teachers just assume the worst and/or have control issues. I remember a couple of times in school when my very genuine coughing attacks were reprimanded by some teacher with a power complex. Regardless, neither sneezing nor being "disruptive" is an academic issue, so taking points off a test is inappropriate as a punitive measure -- much less something so ridiculous as 25 points.

[Lilmiss3]

10:16 PM on 10/02/2011

This teacher needs some better classroom management strategies. Obviously the students are egging him on in a disrespectful manner, and he's responding in a way that gives them negative reinforcement. And now, the students are now finding ANOTHER way of engaging him - going to the media to dis him and his approaches. He's looking a fool and the kids are happy as pie about it.

[GraceNotes]

02:57 PM on 10/03/2011

I was just going to comment that it would be fairly simple to "fake" a sneeze and thus disrupt the class.

[joannetheresa]

10:08 PM on 11/09/2011

i agree with u. he probably do needs some better classrooom management strategries.

[YooperSue]

07:15 AM on 11/10/2011

Yeah, like write something100 times? What would you do? Have you ever been in a classroom when the students do this repetitively? Or drop pencils? Or get up and go to the pencil sharpener? Or any of the other stuff they do en masse? They know the teacher can't do anything about the reference to God's blessing, and it definitely is an adolescent groupthink to disrupt class. Go to a classroom nowdays and then report back how YOU handled it.

[cque8]

09:27 PM on 10/02/2011

I guess if the students dared to say "God" bless you they would have had 50 points shaved off...What stupidity.

[kencrn419]

06:26 AM on 10/03/2011

You never even read the article you commented on.

What stupidity.

[kareruhana]

08:45 PM on 10/03/2011

How do you know what someone else read? There is nothing in that statement to suggest this person didn't read the article. I read every word and I agree, it's pretty stupid.

[rewith85man]

08:32 PM on 10/02/2011

Indeed, students will do better if they go to college.

Most of these public schools and some private schools are pathetic

[rewith85man]

08:31 PM on 10/02/2011

So, what if a student:

- does not show up for the test?
- curses at the teacher?
- keeps sneezing?

How many points will they use?

[Edward Woodfolk]

07:43 PM on 10/02/2011

In a way I have to side with the teacher, but on a slight slant off the fence. He is correct when he explained the origin of the phrase "Bless you". I am a devout God-fearing Christian and I don't respond to anyone sneezing. But as far as the discipline (I don't think he punished the children), I believe he could have gone about it a different way. Maybe by warning the individual student if it is said again after a sneeze happens. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[tomeb]

05:52 PM on 10/02/2011

Teachers don't teach.... they punish... A truly smart teacher can surpass infractions..

[sactownsue]

03:06 PM on 10/02/2011

I just read about this very episode in my daily paper, The Sacramento Bee. They had a more detailed version of this situation than this very biased piece. It's astonishing to see how manipulating the press can be just by omitting some key details like the kids did this over and over again at the top of their voices and the sneezer thanked each "blesser" individually. These same students had a history of this same game in middle school. It was more about disrupting the class than about actually giving a blessing. This is absurd and ridiculous. Teachers have a right to try and keep immature kids in line. If my kid was doing this, I'd side with the teacher.

[pauldununfola]

11:16 PM on 10/02/2011

You would side with the teacher because you are an old school parent who holds kids accountable. I had a number of 13 year olds do this one year during a 10 minute silent sustained reading period. Fake coughing, sneezing and throat clearing.

I cant understand how this got so blown out of proportion. I guess it was the "bless" part that some parents think is an attack on their religion. That the Goddess that we have a separation of church and state or those very same "christians" would be ruling the country and dictating our conduct like they do in Iran...

[kareruhana]

09:57 PM on 10/03/2011

The article isn't biased, I totally understood the implication that this was repetitive and assumed to be fake. I still do not believe taking 25 points off of a test score is appropriate. Kids should receive the grade they earned, period. If kids are being disruptive, remove them from the class until they are ready to be quiet. What if this teacher becomes paranoid about every coughing/sneezing attack? What if one person has a genuine cough and others decide to join in with intent to be disruptive, will the innocent be blamed as well? If my kid had her A+ average ruined by a 75% on an otherwise-perfect final exam because she had a cold, i would be irate.

[YooperSue]

07:25 AM on 11/10/2011

How do you remove the entire class from the class?

[boscobear]

02:59 PM on 10/02/2011

Seems like he's a Legend-in-His-Own-Mind.

[Michael Legnon]

08:02 AM on 10/02/2011

So now kids are going to get punished for trying to being polite?

[Rebecca Toriello]

07:26 PM on 10/02/2011

the kids were not being polite they were disrupting the class by intentionally fake sneezing

[Michael Legnon]

08:06 PM on 10/02/2011

You'd probably complain if they didn't say bless you. I'm sure the kid who initially said bless you was doing so out of politeness...maybe the jerky teacher overreacted. At any rate, bless you.

[LiberalBuzz]

09:37 PM on 10/01/2011

What a JA.