This is the stupidest f*cking thig I've heard in a long, long time.
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[/p][hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][h1]Baa, baa rainbow sheep[/h1] [font size="1"][span class="artByline"]by CHRIS BROOKE, Daily Mail[/span] [span class="artDate"]07:34am 7th March 2006
[/span][/font] It has been a children's favourite for hundreds of years. But 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' has again fallen victim to the drive for political correctness. [/p] Nursery school children are being taught to sing 'Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep' instead of the traditional rhyme. Teachers at two centres were told to change the words to promote 'equal opportunities'. [/p] It is not the first time the rhyme has been altered - previous substitutes for black include 'green' and 'happy' sheep. [/p] Stuart Chamberlain, of the Oxford Sure Start Centre in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, said: "Basically we have taken the equal opportunities approach to everything we do. [/p] "This is fairly standard across nurseries. We are following stringent equal opportunities rules. No-one should feel pointed out because of their race, gender or anything else." [/p] Children at the Family Centre in nearby Abingdon are also taught the 'PC' version. [/p] Mr Chamberlain said he could not explain why people singing or listening to the lyrics of the original version would be offended. [/p] The origins of the famous rhyme have nothing to do with race. [/p] Although the first publication of the nursery rhyme was in 1744, it probably dates back to the Middle Ages, possibly to the 13th Century, and relates to a tax imposed by the king on wool. One-third went to the local lord (the 'master'), one-third to the church (referred to as the 'dame') and about a third was for the farmer (the 'little boy who lives down the lane'). [/p] Yesterday the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality refused to comment on the revised rhyme. [/p] But the move has been condemned by campaigners as another crazy example of 'political correctness gone mad'. Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education said: 'This is a traditional children's song and the reference to black sheep has nothing to do with black-skinned people. [/p] "It's a new Stalinist approach to good manners and respect." [/p] John Midgley, co-founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said: "This is absolutely ridiculous. If they say it's for equal opportunities then it's counterproductive. It fails to understand the history of nursery rhymes which have enriched children's lives down the generations. [/p] "It's a blatant example of political correctness and somebody ought to give the Sure Start Centre a good dose of common sense." [/p] In 1999 Birmingham City Council said the rhyme should not be taught in school because it was racially negative and could cause offence. Last year a number of nursery schools in western Scotland began singing 'Baa Baa Happy Sheep'. And some children in London have also been taught 'Baa Baa Green Sheep'. At least one other traditional rhyme has also been targeted. [/p] Three years ago Mothercare sold cassette tapes and CDs with a new version of Humpty Dumpty in which there was a happy ending. [/p] In the PC version, Humpty Dumpty was able to 'count to ten and get up again'. [/p]
