Exactly. With all we have to complain about with our public education, watching a bootleg Shrek movie isn’t one of them at the end of the year. Unfortunately, this will get the most publicity.
Actually, this isnt the first incident:
Trewhella said he has long complained to the superintendent and principal about showing movies in the classroom. Since his two daughters have been in the district, Trewhella said, they have seen many videos for entertainment's sake, including "Happy Feet" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," a film that is rated PG-13. Other movies, he conceded, including "Charlotte's Web" and "The Chronicles of Narnia," have been shown for educational purposes.
Trewhella said he has complained to the superintendent and principal for a long time about showing movies in class. Since his two daughters (the other is a sixth-grader) have been in the district, he said, they have seen many videos just for entertainment, including the Warner Bros. animated film Happy Feet and Pirates of the Caribbean -- a PG-13 film. He acknowledged that such other movies as Charlotte's Web and The Chronicles of Narnia, have been screened for educational reasons. He said that he favors a policy that would create lists of appropriate films for instructional use throughout the school district: "What is frustrating to me is that in this day and age, there are so many educational videos that could be taught with their curriculum. This is just lazy."
I remember back in my day the elementary and high schools would show part or all of various famous movies as arts appreciation. If kept to a reasonable proportion that is not a problem. The big problem here was the bootlegging. There might be an educational exemption to copyright for showing it, but the media itself was illegal. The picture has not been officially released on media meant to be played by the general public.
It makes me sad that we are now okay with listing our shouldn't do's as to their highest priority; rather than putting them all in one category.