Filipino Table Manners Warrant Punishment?
Filipino child punished in Canada for table manners
A Filipino child was punished for his table manners? Because he chose to use a spoon and fork? In what century are we living? This news is just shocking to me. That this could happen within the context of a modern school where cultures are supposed to be taught and respected is just unbelievable. While I do agree that children should be taught the ways of their adopted homeland as well, they certainly should not be penalized for practicing what is the norm in their culture. Shame on that monitor for his/her behavior. Shame on the principal for condoning said behavior. Shame on the school that doesn’t know what cultural tolerance means. Instead of taking this opportunity to teach other children that there are different ways people enjoy food all over the world, they choose to impose their “good manners” instead. Respect isn’t just about adapting yourself to a new culture. It is also recognizing the differences between yours and others, and accepting or even celebrating those differences.
What do you think?
Tags: canada, Filipino, luc-cagadoc, normand-bergeron, prejudice, racism, school-abuse, table-mannersRelated Stories
POSTED IN: In the News
9 opinions for Filipino Table Manners Warrant Punishment?
John B.
Apr 28, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I have to agree, what century ARE we living in? Doesn’t this principal and lunch room monitor have something more serious to worry about other than eating habits?
Like classroom attendance, student drug use, grades, school fights, disruptive behavior?
That school is a joke.
Antonietta
Apr 29, 2006 at 1:30 am
Of course I agree! And how could this happen in a school setting, where one is expected to give some amount of good learning experiences for kids! If that lunch room monitor & principal had a better and broader kind of knowledge, they would have SIMPLY RESPECTED & ACCEPTED the child’s cultural background and let him be!!! Another “bright and smart” move for a school personnel will be to let him know that there is also “another way” (but not necessary to say it’s “a better way”) of using the utensils and ask the child IF he wants to learn the other way.
How difficult could that be?
It definitely wasn’t right to punish the 7-year old child just because of his Filipino tradition of eating with a fork and spoon! It wasn’t right to call it disgusting! The behavior of the lunch room monitor and principal IS MORE DISGUSTING! Those two should be the ones punished for being prejudicial and racists.
Do you like to cook?
Apr 29, 2006 at 7:20 am
Cultural Sensitivity, Please!…
A seven-year-old sits isolated during his lunch period for his "disgusting" eating behaviour. Eating like a pig, you mean? Yes, according to the principal of his 387-student Roxboro school. Any parent would probably thank the principal for di…
Karen
Apr 29, 2006 at 7:39 am
Apparently, eating with a spoon and a fork together makes for disruptive behaviour.
I wonder what other Southeast Asians think of this. Tsk… tsk…
JMom
Apr 29, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I was relaying this story to my daughters and when I was done, their first comment was, “I didn’t know pigs ate with a spoon” :D
The principal and the lunch monitor definitely missed the mark on this issue. They get an F.
keny
Nov 21, 2007 at 4:16 am
I agree with that term…. and i agree how parents punished their child when not taking or eating thei foods….
” somtimes i wonder my gf i tell her some stories of love hehehhe ac2ualy im here to say i love my life….
life is very good hahahah
im just 14 yrs old…
bt i dont know the situaition,, iam just here to i love my gf…….
Tag Along Timmy
Feb 21, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Eating with a fork and spoon and burping at the table may be acceptable back in your hometown/village in the Islands but this sort of behaviour won’t get you very far when you are an adult hosting a business dinner meeting with clients. I think the pricipal is just trying to prepare the child in question for life in the “real world”. Unless the kid wants to grow up to become a nanny or minimum wage labourer he would do well to accept the customs of the land he now lives in. If eating with a knife is too difficult a task to master then why come to Canada in the first place?
Tom
Feb 27, 2008 at 5:03 am
Today I was eating my lunch in a Japanese University cafeteria. Japanese food is usually eaten with chopsticks…except if it is curry and then it is eaten with a metal spoon… or ramen and then it is eaten with a ceramic spoon. But I was eating omu-raisu and I realised that I wasn’t sure what to use. For a split second, I felt a wave of panic. What if I used the wrong implement? What would everyone else think? Then I realised that the one thing that the Japanese are good at is understanding that people from other countries do things differently. No body is going to get upset if I use the wrong gear or eat in the wrong way. They may think it is strange or weird but they would never think that theirs is the only correct way to do something. How about the rest of the world?
Tom
stef
Feb 27, 2008 at 8:58 am
Pardon me, Mr. Tag Along, why would anyone assume that to be “an adult hosting a business dinner meeting with clients” is, or should be, the goal of every person, as if it’s the ultimate occupation to be aspired to by everyone? Why would anyone assume that eating a spoon and fork is indicative of wanting to become a nanny or minimum wage labourer — and more to the point if he does become a nanny or minimum wage earner what is the dishonor in that? It would be an unfortunate thing, indeed, if we were to look upon the “consequences” of this incident with an attitude similar to the principal’s — that of a bigot!
I didn’t realize the use of a knife and fork was a requisite for migrating to Canada. It would be interesting to see where you get your information.
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