How Do HP Students Learn Oxford Commas?

CBS screenshot this still from the original document.
CBS screenshot this still from the original document.

CBS DFW had an interesting story the other day — a tenth-grade teacher at Highland Park High School used a drawing of President John F. Kennedy, Joseph Stalin, and strippers to illustrate proper use of the Oxford comma.

The image, which comes up immediately in a Google search for “Oxford comma” and originated from Portland illustrator Anne Ferguson, reads: “With the Oxford comma: We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin. Without the Oxford comma: We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin.”

The image first depicts the three individual groups and then Kennedy and Stalin dressed as strippers.

When CBS reporters showed the image to HPISD parents in Snider Plaza, many expressed outrage. HPISD spokesperson Jon Dahlander said the image was not sanctioned by administrators prior to its use and the teacher has apologized to his class.

“This was a disappointing but isolated incident and the teacher involved deeply regrets it,” Dahlander told us. “He has apologized to both students and parents while assuring them that similar materials will not be used in the future.”

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4 thoughts on “How Do HP Students Learn Oxford Commas?

  • September 2, 2015 at 3:40 pm
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    I bet the students will remember the “Oxford comma”! No harm no foul.

    Reply
    • September 3, 2015 at 9:10 am
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      I would be OK with the example if he had left the strippers out of it. I’m by no means a prude but glorifying strippers or making them a funny, comical or cartoonish abstract idea undermines the fact that MANY strippers are victims of child sex abuse and/or sex trafficking. When sex trades like stripping, prostitution and pornography are in any way validated or made socially acceptable, society further undermines the heinous crime human slavery really is. Check out New Friends New Life for more info.

      Reply
  • September 2, 2015 at 3:57 pm
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    What an IDIOT. I read about this but had no idea it was created by an HPISD teacher. So glad my kids are out of the district. How bout a bond election for new teachers AND new schools. #I’mvotingno

    Reply
    • September 3, 2015 at 9:24 am
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      did you even get past the photo? the second paragraph CLEARLY states it was not “created by an HPISD teacher”…

      ‘The image, which comes up immediately in a Google search for “Oxford comma” and originated from Portland illustrator Anne Ferguson’

      Reply

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