# San Fran might rename 44 schools **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 15, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110 "2020-12-15T17:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/1 "2020-12-15T17:05:27Z")
Including one named for that well known racist Abe Lincoln (and yes I know the article is not new) > **[S.F. might change 44 school names, renouncing Washington, Lincoln and even...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-might-change-44-school-names-renouncing-15651679.php)** > > Parents and principals at schools were forced to scramble this week to brainstorm new... ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/2 "2020-12-15T17:11:00Z")
How exactly is coming up with a list of names a “strain” on schools or students? That’s up there as one of the stupidest things I’ve heard all year (and that’s saying something, considering the year we’ve had). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/3 "2020-12-15T17:25:21Z")
I don’t mind renaming schools. But I strongly protest renaming San Francisco to “San Fran”. SF if you need to shorten it, never San Fran. It’s like nails on a chalkboard. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/4 "2020-12-15T17:27:33Z")
How about “Frisco”?😋 ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/5 "2020-12-15T17:45:35Z")
how about city where Bernie Sanders would be be too far to the right ? ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/6 "2020-12-15T17:54:20Z")
It’s one the few areas of California that Biden beat Sanders in the primaries, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/7 "2020-12-15T18:30:06Z")
the one that is funniest is El Dorado, not a real person or place. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/8 "2020-12-15T18:32:47Z")
No, but El Dorado as a concept is practically the epitome of the Spanish/Colonial ransack of Central and South America. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/9 "2020-12-15T18:46:22Z")
If naming a school after a person only invites acrimony, just give them all numbers (e.g, P.S. #23). Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/10 "2020-12-15T19:08:26Z")
around here for the past 30 years or so they no longer use names of people. They use areas or streets which leads to dumb names like Athens Drive High. Not sure why they left Drive in the name. One town wanted a school named for the town so they renamed the street the school was being built on. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/11 "2020-12-15T19:14:12Z")
NYC elementary and middle schools have numeric names, and high schools have regular names. I don’t know of any off the top of my head named after people. They’re usually named after the area they are in (Midwood, Bensonhurst, Beach Channel…). I guess Stuyvesant is named after a person, but the area is also called Stuyvesant (which came first, the HS name or the area name? I don’t know). ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/12 "2020-12-15T19:14:49Z")
Athens Drive High School opened its doors in 1978. Political Correctness has been running amuck for a long time I guess. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/13 "2020-12-15T19:27:22Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I guess Stuyvesant is named after a person, but the area is also called Stuyvesant (which came first, the HS name or the area name? I don’t know). > **[Peter Stuyvesant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stuyvesant)** > > Peter Stuyvesant (English: /ˈstaɪvəsənt/; in Dutch also Pieter and Petrus Stuyvesant, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Dutch: \[ˈstœyvəzɑnt\]; c. 1610 – August 1672) was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English i Stu... ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/14 "2020-12-15T19:27:25Z")
While I think this is, in general, a worthy exercise, having left SF because of the nightmarish school situation there, I can think of a list of things they could fix first. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/15 "2020-12-15T19:29:38Z")
I fail to see how the minimal amount of effort required to rename schools is going to disrupt efforts to fix those other things. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/16 "2020-12-15T19:32:33Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I fail to see how the minimal amount of effort required to rename schools is going to disrupt efforts to fix those other things. - “How can we possibly fix the failing educational system when the school is named after _that man?_” ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/17 "2020-12-15T19:34:02Z")
Is that the argument of the people trying to rename the school, or your own? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/18 "2020-12-15T19:34:05Z")
Sure, if you think that the deck chairs on the Titanic are positioned incorrectly, it is perfectly fine to take the minimal effort to rearrange them. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/19 "2020-12-15T19:39:35Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Is that the argument of the people trying to rename the school, or your own? - Satire. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110/20 "2020-12-15T19:48:35Z")
the SF school system only has around 55k kids. That is very low for a city that size. To compare we have 1 million in my county and schools have around 160k kids. They must have many kids in religious and private schools and home schools. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-fran-might-rename-44-schools/928110.md?page=2)