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September 12, 2007
Film school
Those of us a certain age can remember watching the movie To Kill a Mockingbird in school after finishing the book. For many of us, and certainly for students now, films are used to supplement all different kinds of lessons. But the film choice, and the lesson it supplements, can present a slippery slope for educators. This article from Edutopia magazine (published by the George Lucas Foundation) notes that using film as a teaching tool "may be a lot trickier than it seems. It can also get downright explosive."
The article cites recent incidents where schools and school districts had to limit what was shown in classrooms.
Earlier this year, for instance, in a suburban Seattle high school, the film An Inconvenient Truth got even more inconvenient when parents complained that the school didn't present a balanced perspective about the film's warning of global warming. School district policy states that films presented must be accompanied by a "credible, legitimate opposing view."
The Federal Way Public School District, in Federal Way, Wash., imposed a temporary moratorium on the film; after two weeks of criticism in the local and national scenes, the school board still insisted that opposing views be considered.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Board of Education was sued in May after a substitute teacher showed the R-rated (and Oscar-winning) film Brokeback Mountain to an eighth-grade class. The lawsuit claims student Jessica Turner suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie at Ashburn Community Elementary School. The film, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, was shown without permission from parents and guardians.
But film can be a valuable teaching tool. So where do school districts draw the line? Filmmakers have their own ideas.
These concerns have some prominent filmmakers worried. "The one thing that each and every one of us uses every day is our creativity," says John Lasseter, an Academy Award-winning American animator and director of such films as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Cars. "Teaching film is not the issue; we're teaching creativity. We want to show kids how to imagine and create. We can use filmmaking to do that. We need to help kids nurture their creative side."
It's a particularly important issue to Lasseter, whose mother spent thirty-eight years as an art teacher at Bell Gardens Senior High School, in Los Angeles. "As a child, I saw the French film The Red Balloon in class. I still think about that afternoon to this day."
Francis Ford Coppola, another Oscar-winning director, whose work includes The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has an idea: "Maybe we should trade the secretary of education position for a secretary of youth," he says. "We should be thinking not just about educating students, but about inspiring them."
What's the policy in your school district? Leave a comment and tell us about it.
Posted September 12, 2007 5:14 PM |
Teachers
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