Cursing is as old as language. But cursing is called cursing because it's on the edge of what's acceptable. To be sure, cursing is common. Some words in the newspaper, for example, qualify under a broad definition of the term.
Nonetheless, gutter language is best suited to the gutter. It's not suited for schools and should not be tolerated. When Fargo North High School's no-cursing policy made headlines last week, some readers were surprised that North and several other schools in the city and region are so tough on students who curse.
There should be no surprise. Schools have a lot to do these days that has little to do with education, but standards of conduct should be high in the halls and classrooms. North's policy is measured and proper. If a student curses at a teacher, administrator or staff person, the offender is out for the day, plus two more days. For a more casual obscenity offense, called "slippage" by the school, a student is sent home for the rest of the day.
The penalties are relatively light, but they send the right message. The policy in and of itself won't stop kids from swearing out of school, but the standard in school certainly will have some effect on young people. The brighter among them hopefully will understand that cursing will not really advance their social standing or job prospects in the real world, which they will confront soon enough.
The use of foul language by young people has two motivators. First, they believe (as all generations before them have believed) that swearing is a mark of adulthood. It's not. Some of the most foul-mouthed adults just never grew up.
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Second, swearing is lazy. It's easy for a kid to make an impression by spewing obscenities rather than thinking a thought through and expressing it in effective language. Chronic cursers are boorish and boring.
Cursing has become almost second-nature among young people because society - adult society - has enshrined swearing in movies, television programs and talk radio. A generation or two have matured in an ever-coarsening cultural context. Even the basest curse words are so commonplace as to hardly raise an eyebrow when used in casual conversation.
Schools, therefore, are up against a formidable societal onslaught. Parents, many who would rather curse than think, do their children no favors by swearing at home.
Fargo North and other schools might be tilting at windmills, but the anti-swearing effort is worth the tilt. It is not too much to demand that students be civil, that civility be required in school. Who knows? Maybe a few of them will carry the lesson with them when they graduate.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper's Editorial Board.
