It appears education is a lot more comprehensive these days. In Chicagoland USA a substitute teacher showed the class Brokeback Mountain for movie day, and now the board of education is getting sued. We get the dirty dish from the caves of Yahoo:
A girl and her grandparents have sued the Chicago Board of Education, alleging that a substitute teacher showed the R-rated film “Brokeback Mountain” in class. The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her 8th grade class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year.
The substitute asked a student to shut the classroom door at the West Side school, saying: “What happens in Ms. Buford’s class stays in Ms. Buford’s class,” according to the lawsuit.
I guess people get upset when you show a movie about cowboy bum sex to their 12 year old children at school; who knew? I thought Brokeback was a pretty good film, a little too drawn out, but good none the less. I can certainly see why people would freak about this movie being shown to their kids. It revolves around an ongoing sexual affair.
The teacher may have had positive intentions of teaching tolerance and acceptance of homosexual romance, but the way to do that is not to show a restricted film in the classroom. Teachers like this ruin actual opportunities to teach tolerance and understanding of homosexuality to students. Both sides of the debate must respect children and not try to force opinion on them. Give the children an education and let them know the arguments, but give them a chance to decide for themselves. Education should be about giving people the faculties to think, reason and understand for themselves; not to dictate the doctrines of those that yelled at them.
That being said – what kind of loser rats a teacher out that is willing to show them restricted movies?
