Posted on 03/18/2006 10:46:26 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing.
"It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore.
DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.
But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.
DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a classic romantic comedy with its own dicey subject matter, including suicide, rape and losing one's virginity.
DeVore, 31, a six-year veteran teacher, said administrators told her that her annual contract might not be renewed.
"Maybe I need to find a school that's a better match," she said.
Both Enderle and the high school principal declined to discuss DeVore's resignation, citing privacy concerns. The resignation must still be approved by the school board.
Publicity over the drama debate, including a front-page story in The New York Times, has cast an unflattering light on Fulton as an intolerant small town, several of DeVore's colleagues said.
"We have become a laughingstock," teacher Paula Fessler told The Fulton Sun.
For the record, before anymore laurels are laid at the feet of the Amish: The Amish exist only because they enjoy the protection of more practical Americans. The Amish are a novelty that we allow to exist in our midst despite their lack of contributions to society. Without the rest of us, they Amish would fall to the first power that wanted what the non-violent technophobes have.
'My son was in the production of Midsummer Night's Dream at his high school..'
Many years ago (mid 60's), I was in Midsummer Night's Dream (I was the Queen; some still think I'm acting that part). And it was during my junior or senior year in high school. That's why I have grown up warped and a sicko. That danged Shake-a-spear has ruined me.
I went to college in Fulton for four years. I do not remember it being so closed-minded or silly.
I cannot believe they complained about Grease or the Crucible. Talk about tame and relatively-dated material.
Are the guys from ZZ Top Amish or Hassidim? I keep forgetting...
Texans. Soon, I too will have a ZZ Top quality beard.
I smell a conspiracy -- has anyone ever investigated the Hassid, Amish, Texan connection?
If you can arrange a government grant, and tell my wife that hanging out with groupies would be a patriotic thing to do, I'll research it for you.
Exactly.
Which law is that?
You could make the case that the Amish add to the look economy of Lancaster County etc. as tourist attractions. However, there is also something very American in the way they practice their beliefs.
The posters were apparently blithely unaware that the article was deliberately and slyly written to give the false impression that religious (gasp) yokel parents in a small, narrow-minded, intolerant town were overly-protective of their children, even to the point of banning Shakespeare. The writer's ploy worked on more than a few here, unfortunately.
As you mentioned, the Shakespeare play was never protested. Yet count all the posts on this thread raving about how Shakespeare is now verboten in this hamlet (pun intended). Does anyone READ anymore before going off in hysterics at the drop of a hat?
Even worse is the lack of recognition of liberal propaganda by many freepers here, despite the training we get here on FR.
Taking one's time to actually READ liberal propaganda is also to analyze how leftist propagandists employ cunning manipulation of words, unidentifiable quotes, unnamed sources, trigger and buzz words, glittering generalities, bandwagon techniques, false impressions, lack of timelines, cherrypicked interviews and outright lies for propaganda purposes.
These types of techniques are used by liberals reporters and columnists in small-town newspapers......not only in the New York Times and other big-city liberal rags. They are all clones of each other.
By now, most of us should be trained to recognize agenda-driven articles disguised as news. If one is new here, the thread's article is a good place to start because it's typical, though minor-league, Goebbels.
It's actually fun to make a hobby of analyzing not only the propaganda techniques of local media writers, but the very sophisticated methods utilized by the abundance of experienced socialist and marxist writers and reporters in the American communications monopolies.
Let me add that for years, conservatives have wondered why parents don't fight back at the atheistic or anti-American indoctrination and brainwashing of their children in schools. Here are some parents actually doing it. But who do people feel they must condemn? Well, thanks to a cleverly-written article disguised as news, the parents and the town, of course, are the bad guys.
Whoever he is, one must hand it to this AP snot reporter who knows his Progaganda 101.
Leni
However, their are religious fanatics that call themselves 'Christian'
^^^^^^^^
And there are religious fanatics called communist atheists who tortured and starved to death more millions than all of the religions of the world combined since the dawn of humankind.
So why not do 'The Taming of the Shrew', instead?
and hardly anyone would notice.
I'm hostile towards any religious doctrine dictating morality on a public education curriculum, politics, and every other aspect of our lives.
$$$$$$$$$$
Except if it is the atheistic left.
ABSOLUTELY I defend Jay Bennish!!!
I am not so terrified of my children hearing a different point of view from my own. Education is about more than facts and numbers, it's about challenging your own beliefs. When you challenge your beliefs, they either falter and wither under the light of truth, or they become stronger.
And I fully support school choice, but don't expect me to support you pulling 100% of your tax money from the system. You can take a portion of it. That money also goes for colleges as well, not to mention that you as a citizen benefit from public education whether your child attends public, private, religious, or home school.
You drive on roads designed by an engineer that went to a public school or univeristy. You are defended by soldiers who went to a public school or university. You receive public works run by people educated in a public school or university. So, no you can't take your money from a public resource so you can feel good about your child being ignorant about evolution or being sheltered from a liberal point of view. If you want a private education for your child, you have to pay for it like everyone else.
But I refuse to sit idle as a small group of religious people dictate public school policy. And I would refuse to sit idle if the motivations of that small group were religous, political, economical, racial, or any other non-sensical reasoning.
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