Posted on 06/23/2007 4:01:45 AM PDT by lowbridge
PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (AP) - He doesn't want to be an ogre about it, but the father of a fifth-grader thinks teachers are wasting time when they show movies in class - and if the film is a bootleg, he says, ''That's a really terrible lesson.''
Tim Trewhella, 46, said his 10-year-old daughter reported that her class watched the animated movie ''Shrek the Third'' on Tuesday and recognized it as the fairy-tale hit still showing in theaters.
''A friend hooked me up with it,'' teacher Lovell Quiroz said, according to the girl.
Peekskill schools Superintendent Judith Johnson issued a statement saying administrative approval is required before a video is shown in elementary school and ''if a pirated video was shown it is in violation of district policy.'' An investigation was under way, the statement said.
An attempt to meet with Quiroz at the school was foiled by a security guard who ordered a reporter off school property.
The Motion Picture Association of America says major American movie studios lost $6.1 billion to piracy in 2005, 20 percent of that in the U.S.
''I don't want to see the guy hung for this,'' Trewhella said. ''I would just like him to apologize.''
Trewhella also says that what really bothers him is how often teachers show non-educational videos in class, bootleg or not.
''I run a candy and toy store,'' said Trewhella. ''I completely understand about entertaining kids. But it has its time and place.''
He said going public ''might be making this unpleasant for the school district. But as a taxpayer and a parent, I don't want my dollars going for movies. It's the teacher's job to make the educational stuff interesting.''
Oh damn, do I remember those mind numbingly boring documentaries on 16mm (or 8mm) film on subjects like Ancient China and Christopher Columbus. I found the movements of the projector alot more fascinating.
In high school (mid 1980s), I do recall the one time for reasons I do not recall, they played for us on the old 16mm projector a series of 1950s instructional films on how to be polite, how to date, etc. The other kids in the class laughed uproariously at the ancient ways of the 1950s, all the overpoliteness of the characters in the films, and the old innocent slang of those days ("Gee", "Golly", etc). I was the only one not laughing. I found the innocence of the films, and the times, quite enchanting.
When I took an elective film criticism class, I assumed that we would be doing just that. Sure, we watched a movie here and there, but they forced us to read (and write critiques of) shakespeare. I couldnt make heads or tails out of the "Ye Olde English" language of it. Didn't understand a word.
They were showing entertainment films once a week in welding class. That was the only class my homeschooler was taking. I was flabbergasted by the sheer sillines of such an activity in a welding class.
I’m sure you received compensation “in-kind” for attending.
First; you received an education. Although it was, I assume, a public school education you seem articulate enough to cope in the real world.
Second; since your “job” was to attend school, your parents provided food, clothing, shelter and other items.
Third; you enjoyed the “socialization” that public schools offer. Granted it is unlikely you received the socialization offered by female teachers to the young lads today. That is, however, probably for the best.
Fourth; and the most important - when you attended school your parent(s) didn’t light up your behind with a paddle.
I believe it was from the Bell Telephone Science Series.
Bell put out some great Christmas specials in the Delaware Valley, There was The Nativity, and The Night Before Christmas. You could see the stings on the marionettes, but I don't remember caring that much. I just pretended I didn't see the strings.
BTW if you want to check out some of those classic films we saw in school check out this site. Those of you who watched Mr Wizard will love it.
http://www.toonarific.com/international.php?lb_letter=&country_id=57&lb_genre=7&mp_showsPage=2
Notwithstanding legalese, copying is not the same as stealing.
A copy of a copy is not stealing anymore than the first copy.
I said nothing of values, rather discussing plain definitions.
Copying may still be wrong, but the degree of wrongness - however great or small - should not be compared with the fundamentally different act of theft.
One rule for one, one rule for others?
The same as immigration.
I don't see anyone but Europeans or Americans allowing anyone to just walk into their countries and immediately call it home.
I know, let's fight each other on the issue of copyright!
I taught myself how to read and write at age 3. At age 5 I was teaching others, starting with my younger sister. By the time I started school, it was pretty much anti-climatic.
Second; since your “job” was to attend school, your parents provided food, clothing, shelter and other items.
Parent. Parents got divorced, Mother got custody of us. We lived on welfare. Horrible experience.
Third; you enjoyed the “socialization” that public schools offer. Granted it is unlikely you received the socialization offered by female teachers to the young lads today. That is, however, probably for the best.
I was born too soon!
when you attended school your parent(s) didn’t light up your behind with a paddle.
Wrong on that count. I attended school, still got beaten for little or no reason.
See my post #59, speaking of “degrees of wrongness.”
Your responses are intriguing. Sounds like we have a lot in common FRiend!
Have you ever noticed most people who can express an idea clearly enjoy reading?
Theft of intellectual property is no different from theft of tangible property in that in still deprives the property owner of any potential financial gain derived from the stolen property.
But this video wasn’t legally purchased, so your comments don’t apply to this story.
I believe stealing an idea is still possible, but only in the sense of falsely claiming credit for something. Copying the idea is as wrong as say, copying someone's homework, but that's not exactly stealing. (It's still wrong however.)
As for depriving them of financial gain, that's fair business. It happens all the time... Burger King copied McDonald's. There are endless examples.
If you wrote a song in 1995, there was an expectation that it would hold its value. Today, technology has erased that expectation in classic form. You are a fool if you invest in something that you know will be copied, and no laws should exist to protect fools from themselves.
Find another job - become a janitor or something. "Art for profit" is dead.
“and no laws should exist to protect fools from themselves”
That is your opinion, however trademark and copyright laws are foundational constitutional principles and bootlegging copies is currently illegal and is a form of theft.
You can pretend otherwise and and dance around with your semantics, but the bottom line is your opinion is a minority and doesn’t sqaure with current law or the founder’s ideal.
"Word Nazis", we all should be.
your opinion is a minority and doesn’t sqaure with current law or the founder’s ideal.
The founders paid no attention to anything like this, and judging by the number of downloaders my view might very well be with the majority.
Either way, the industry is doomed. No laws will change that.
Sounds like Trewhella thinks he missed a possible Shrek DVD sale.
US Constitution Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8: To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
Copyright and Patent protection in a nutshell, included by the founders in the constitution.
Bootlegging is illegal and anti-thetical to the prosperity of a free nation of self-governed men. People who think it is all right to rip the work of others instead of purchasing or in order to resell and steal the profits for themselves are thieves as well as brigands who hijack not only music and movies, but our culture and our nation with their overweening sense of entitlement.
You are historically and morally bereft.
It applied to the comment I responded to.
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