Tonight we dine in the middle school cafeteria!

[Infra-Man]

I haven't seen 300 yet (in the Netflix queue), but I found this story amusing:

http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/loca...235221509.html

From the article:

A screening Wednesday of the first few minutes of the R-rated movie “300” in a Westside Middle School classroom has left more than one parent and some students upset.

Richard Schoen, executive director of assessment and accountability for Whitfield County Schools, said about five minutes of the movie was shown.

According to two parents, history teacher Brad Barrett showed the first 7-9 minutes of the movie as part of his class. Barrett could not be reached for comment.

“My daughter came home from school yesterday distraught, saying her teacher showed her an R-rated movie. I was shocked,” said parent Tina McCurley. “I found out it was the ‘300.’ It was the first time I’d heard of the movie, so I went online (to www.ChristianAnswers.net) to read the reviews. They described it as a pornographic slaughter movie with prolonged scenes of female nudity, sex acts, lesbian and homosexual content.”

...

Schoen said on Thursday that administrators have investigated the incident and confirmed only about a five-minute clip of the movie was shown.

“I watched it with the principal (Stan Stewart). The clip had no profanity, no nudity, no violence,” he said. “It depicts a Spartan boy and the process he went through in attempting to attain manhood. We didn’t find it disturbing and thought it was appropriate to the lesson. There were no battle scenes. The clip starts with a boy as a baby and ends as he enters the army.”

Schoen confirmed one scene depicts the boy using a spear to protect himself from a wolf. The violence is shown off screen via a shadow on a wall, he said.

“Most sixth-graders are 12 years old,” Schoen said. “This is not something that age group is not reasonably exposed to on today’s television.”

[MartinRedmond]

I'm sure most parents stopped their panic as soon as the situation was explained to them.

[Infra-Man]

Originally Posted by MartinRedmond

I'm sure most parents stopped their panic as soon as the situation was explained to them.

Alas no. Other part of the article:

McCurley said she wants her daughter removed from the class.

“My daughter could not sleep last night, and I’ve heard many others couldn’t either,” she said, allowing she sees nothing wrong with the movie’s first five minutes. “We don’t know how much he showed to them. The students were not sitting there looking at their watches. I don’t care if it was one minute. ‘R’ movies have no place in our schools.”

A mother of another child in the class said she finds it upsetting that the movie was shown to new middle-schoolers during the second full week of school.

“We don’t allow R-rated movies in our home. It’s humiliating for Westside, but I can see where the teacher had a history lesson he was trying to get across,” she said. “I hate it for the school and the teacher. I know he was trying to hook them into being interested in that war and that age.”

The parent said her daughter is part of a gender-based classroom of all girls, and she understands mixed-gender classes saw it, too.

“We’re having mass killings in schools, then they show this movie. My daughter was very confused and took it at a different level,” she said. “Parents should be notified beforehand. My child would not have gone to school that day if I had been told. I told her, ‘If they put it back in (Thursday), call me.’”

[Josh S]

The teacher's an idiot for showing any part of 300 to a bunch of middle school kids. The parents are more than a little irrational, though. I like the one mom who appears to think that a rating is more damaging than the actual content of a movie.

[Paul McEnery]

Heh.

My daughter was very confused and took it at a different level

Reckon that daughter's going to get a lot of confusion from high school as she slowly realizes her mother has raised her to be a moron.

[Sabrinaset]

That girl who lost SO much sleep is simply a drama mama, and is overreacting for the attention. Like, well ... pretty much ANY 12-year old girl will.

I dunno what other states are like, but in California ... or at least in the district I was in ... you couldn't show ANY movie that didn't have a G rating in class UNLESS parental approval forms had been signed, and this policy was put in place to prevent stuff just like this from happening.

[Aggie]

and this is why the south gets a bad rap...grant it, that isn't exactly a movie you show in school, though i am curious about the context in which it was shown...and if it was the first 10 minutes...that's hardly anything to get worked up about...hell, i think the "veggie tales" is more disturbing than what you find in 300...

[Deathstroke]

I weep for the generation of children being raised to be a bunch of pussies.

[Deathstroke]

The mother went to a website called ChristianAnswers for a movie review of 300?

YEAH That review wasn't the least bit biased I'm sure.

[KevinTBrown]

Originally Posted by Deathstroke

The mother went to a website called ChristianAnswers for a movie review of 300?

YEAH That review wasn't the least bit biased I'm sure.

And extremely accurate too!!!!






NOT.

[Sanagi]

Originally Posted by Deathstroke

The mother went to a website called ChristianAnswers for a movie review of 300?

YEAH That review wasn't the least bit biased I'm sure.

Actually, the reviews on that site are pretty good. For instance, they give Princess Mononoke 5 stars while also saying that parents would find it offensive. I have to say, given that people will read reviews like this no matter their quality, I'm glad that these exist.

(The rest of the site looks pretty wacky, but that probably went without saying.)

[Bob Violence]

Originally Posted by Paul McEnery

Heh.



Reckon that daughter's going to get a lot of confusion from high school as she slowly realizes her mother has raised her to be a moron.

The real morons are never burdened with that realization. Teachers will continue to give her high marks, since the first B+ she gets will send her and her parents to the principal to complain, it's just not worth the aggravation to grade accurately.
I forsee a career in law, where stupidity and aggression are very much at home.

[KevinTBrown]

SCHOOL 1977 vs 2007

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1977 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1977 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1977 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy

[singoalla]

"Today we're going to see what it was like when the spartans went to war, so we're going to watch 300 a very historically accurate movie!"
Umm, yeah right. Like a 12 year old actually has the brain capacity to nitpick and critique and review it like Ebert&Roeper.

[Violently Apathetic]

Originally Posted by singoalla

Umm, yeah right. Like a 12 year old actually has the brain capacity to nitpick and critique and review it like Ebert&Roeper.

The ones I've met generally can, with the proper guidance. Most 12 year olds are fairly bright and certainly able to look at things critically. Not that I think showing them even the first few minutes of 300 was terribly bright (for a variety of reasons), but still.