Resources for Teachers and Students
New topical videos and discussion prompts are posted every Monday
01/23/2012
Utah school deems cougar mascot offensive
Students in Draper, Utah, voted for the town’s new high school mascot to be the Cougar. But, the school board overruled the vote saying that team symbol is offensive to women. Cougar also is a slang term for women who date younger men. The school board picked Charger – a war horse – as the school's mascot even though it was the last of five choices in voting by students.■Class discussion: Find newspaper reports about other controversies over team mascot names. Why were they controversial? Do you think some mascots are offensive? Why or why not? In Draper, the school board said it knew all along it would make the final decision. Should they have even held a student vote?
News Video Archive
Additional resources
Lessons & Classroom Activities
- Cartoons for the Classroom
- Front Page Talking Points
- This Week in History
- News Video
- Daily Science Webcasts
- Geography in the News quiz
Resources by grade level
- Elementary School Vocabulary Quiz Generator
- Middle School Vocabulary Quiz Generator
- High School Vocabulary Quiz Generator
- Use The News: K-4 | 5-8 | 9-12
- Resources for young learners
Online Reference Guides