Posted on 11/17/2005 2:33:43 AM PST by paudio
The screening of an Oscar-nominated movie about the life of Queen Elizabeth I to students in an advanced class on British literature has resulted in the forced resignation of an admired teacher in the Atlanta suburb of South Gwinnett. On Tuesday, students in Ed Youngblood's class mounted a protest. "If 'First comes learning' is true, why do you get rid of the guy who holds that motto the best?" one senior in the class told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Public Schools told reporters that Youngblood chose to resign after he was told that an investigation had begun into the screening of the R-rated film, 1998's Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role. "Mr. Youngblood did not ask for a local review of the film prior to showing it, nor did he allow parents the option of opting their students out of the viewing," she told the Gwinnett Daily Post. Youngblood, who had taught at the school for 37 years, said that he was given five minutes to choose between resigning or being fired. "I didn't think about it being R-rated," Youngblood said. "It's such a good movie." (Besides receiving seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, Elizabeth also won the BAFTA award for best British Film, a best actress award for Blanchett and a supporting-actor award for Geoffrey Rush.)
I don't know how old the students are, but if the argument simply "it's a good movie that won many awards", so is "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," (perhaps can be screened as part of American literature class?)
My problem with it is not that it's R-rated.
WTF have taxpayer been paying the #@$!@%@!# for, if he's SHOWING MOVIES IN CLASS? Why pay for teachers when you can save money and NEA dues and just send the little @#$#@$@s to the AMC down the street all day?!?!?!?
That's what I first thought. Don't bother actually teaching - just show students movies. Sounds like we can just get rid of teachers and just let movies teach the kids.
I saw the movie. It was a fairly accurate melodrama of the famous Tudor queen. There may have been a few nude scenes, but it was far from a pornographic presentation - it was good historical drama.
I don't have a problem with teaching with movies. It's a piece of literature that takes a different form (film, instead of book). But, just like I have problem with the use of some books, the same applied to movies.
Chaucer is XXX
"Mr. Youngblood did not ask for a local review of the film prior to showing it, nor did he allow parents the option of opting their students out of the viewing,"
Reads like Mr. Youngblood had a history with administrators. Otherwise, they would not have been so quick to give him five minutes to choose between resignation and termination.
What the article does not say is why he chose to show this particular movie to his advanced English literature class. As I remember it, costumes and locations were authentic, but use of language and depiction of events was not particularly true to the period. Wonder how he thought the movie would enhance the study of British literature?
But, I do agree. It was a good movie. With a better memory or a better explanation from the article, maybe there was a sound educational reason to show the movie. Next time, bet he gets it reviewed and approved, first!
When I was a kid, they showed movies on special occassions, like the day before summer vacation. I think it's a good idea, to relieve some stress.
Herbie the love bug and.. I think it was called Condorman, were shown a lot. On film strip of course.
Couple of science teachers who were coaches at a small town school around here showed Nightmare on Elm St. for 3 or 4 Halloweens to their 8th grade classes back in the late 80's.
No one raised a stink about it back then.
LOL... I hope it's only part of recreational sessions, not part of science class...
I agree. I liked the movie. Not as accurate as the books about her but it was good.
I never readthe book until after I saw the movie. That is what got me interested into reading the book.
Whoa...hold on there!
We were shown movies in class lots of times back in the 60's. We saw "Julius Caesar", while studying the play, for example to give us a good overview and to see how it should be done. It was a whole lot better than listening to Bubba stumble over the words..."Eat two Bru-tay?"
Didn't y'all ever have films?
We got to see the Helstrom Chronicles in biology class. That was pretty cool.
And I wouldn't approve of teachers telling kids to read their books all day, either. That's what homework is for. We pay teachers to teach, not usher a classroom-sized theatre.
Special occasions like teachers not wanting to do any #$@!%$#!@ work. They did it when I was a kid, too, and I knew then that it was simply avoiding teaching.
Can you imagine teachers in one-room schoolhouse days telling the kids to play marbles instead of teaching them? Letting them watch movies is the same thing. They're getting paid to do nothing, a waste of taxpayer money.
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