totally sufficient for full-fledged life of the average ape-American -- the best of the best type of human on the Earth ... Hm... Or 25 words are much more than enough???? EJ257 ROFL. They want to ban the word vermin?!? LMAO The kids riding the subways to school see rats everyday! Also, how do you live in NYC and never seen a roach before? Teresa They didn't ban the use of the word bigot. Selse, Sweden I can't help but wonder if anyone actually went to those guys on DOE and said: "Hey, they used words like 'dinosaur' and 'unemployed' in this test, and I am REALLY offended!" Or did Dennis Walcott wake up one morning, screaming: "WE HAVE TO SAVE OUR CHILDREN FROM THE DINOSAURS!" just out of the blue? Is everything so perfect in that school, that they have to make up "problems" like this to have something to do? mbirdlowry It is the administrators, superintendents and state legislation that dictate what we teach in the classroom. It is so frustrating to be attacked for what we teach when we are bound by standards. The powers that be assume that each child hits developmental milestones at exactly the same time during their schooling and that each child has exactly the same life experiences and capabilities. Combine that with curriculum and texts that are bland and irrelevant and you have our current school system. This is what the public voted for and these are the constraints that bind teachers.