Expose children to culture...

[MrsNormanMaine[$]]

...and end up in the middle of a major contraversy.

What are they putting in the water in Colorado? Jeff?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_en_tv/faust_video

MNM

[slick4591[$]]

Link doesn't work, Andy.

[drmomentum[$]]

Maybe Spongebob Squarepants is more their speed.

(I like Spongebob, BTW)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_en_tv/faust_video

[drmomentum[$]]

Amy - it doesn't seem like the board automatically detected the text as a link.

[emeleel]

I guess they would have hated the show "Wishbone" that used to be on PBS Kids a few years ago - they covered Faust in one episode. Although, they did not cover anything like murder or suicide.

[hadassahchana[$]]

I am having the biggest WTF moment here...

"Any adult with common sense would not think that video was appropriate for a young person to see. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a high school student," Robby Warner said after two of her children saw the video.

Another parent, Casey Goodwin, said, "I think it glorifies Satan in some way."

I'd like to announce that I am a wicked and abusive parent. I have allowed my children to see and listen to:

Aida (and don't *even* say 'Elton John to me)

Don Giovanni

La Traviata

Madama Butterfly

All contain death, suicide, sex out of wedlock, pregnancy while unmarried, and/or incest in some combination or other.

I have to go now. #1 is reading 'Picture of Dorian Gray'. I have to get the house cleaned up before Satan arrives.

[emeleel]

And The Mikado. Would love to see a picture of whichever Horseman it was that markered himself up for that one!

[hadassahchana[$]]

OMG!!! I missed the best part of that article:

The video features the soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and three puppet friends discussing Gounod's "Faust." Waggoner thought it would be a good introduction to opera.

So, they didn't even see the flipping opera? Ok, words just failed me.

[hadassahchana[$]]

Or 'Pirates of Penzance'. You know, the scene where all of the swarthy yet unbearably handsome pirates set to kidnapping the Major General's daughters with intent to marry?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

In Missouri, teacher castigated for staging Grease and school board vetos The Crucible out of fear of more complaints.

She softened the language, substituting slang for profanity in places. Instead of smoking "weed," the teenagers duck out for a cigarette. She rated the production PG-13, advising parents it was not suitable for small children.

But a month after the performances in November, three letters arrived on the desk of Mark Enderle, Fulton's superintendent of schools. Although the letters did not say so, the three writers were members of a small group linked by e-mail, all members of the same congregation, Callaway Christian Church.

Each criticized the show, complaining that scenes of drinking, smoking and a couple kissing went too far, and glorified conduct that the community tries to discourage. One letter, from someone who had not seen the show but only heard about it, criticized "immoral behavior veiled behind the excuse of acting out a play."

One ot the letter writers was a 26-year-old who hadn't even seen the musical, but was offended by what his friend described to him.

[Redlass]

I wish I could be surprised.

We performed Marlowe's Faustus here a few years ago. (Er, OK, maybe it was five or six years ago--time flies.) We had the grandmother of one of the students in the show walk out because we were glorifying devil worshipping. Pity she didn't stick around for the ending where Faustus gets rended to bits.

[rmthunter]

I find it difficult to be reasonable about things like this. I've actually blogged both these stories, so I'm not going to make any extensive comments, except. . .

These are people who simply do not understand art, and think that the mere portrayal of something is somehow an endorsement. They don't actually have to see anything to know that it is unacceptable -- they can rely on half-baked descriptions by acquaintances who are equally ignorant to understand that whatever it is doesn't contain the message that they think it should, and being arrogant as well as ignorant, have no hesitation in doing whatever they can do to deny everyone else access to that material.

What really frosted me about the Missouri story is that there was no public discussion -- the school just cancelled The Crucible because .03% of the people in town objected to Grease. That's pathetic.

I fault the school boards and administrations in both cases. If they're going to cave on something like this, they're obviously not the people to have in those positions.

I have a net buddy who teaches theater in D.C. and decided not to stage a play because he was afraid of a reaction like this. He bitterly regrets it.

OK -- I've commented more than I intended. I just don't want to live anyplace where I'm limited to the entertainments that are approved by people who are not as well educated as I am and nowhere near as intelligent or thoughtful. They can watch reruns of Mayberry RFD. I'll opt for Der Ring des Nibelungen.

[drmomentum[$]]

It starts with ignorance. And, really, anyone can be ignorant. And ignorance leads to fear.

But it seems like (and I don't know if this is an increasing trend) ignorance quickly turns to outrage and people who "aren't going to stand for it!" and make themselves heard, loudly. In other words, people are comfortable enough in their ignorance that a clash with the unfamiliar doesn't result in any sort of an awakening or change in awareness about themselves. And so, usually, I think this means that it's been reinforced by a community of like-minded people.

But Bob is right that the most disturbing thing is when people who should know better cave. Maybe they figure that the community is so hostile to new ideas (i.e. learning) that they'll be run right out of town if they stand their ground.

-JP

[rmthunter]

It seems to be the same basic impulses that feed any "populist" movement, from the Luddites on. There seems to be a nasty mix of ignorance, fear, anger, and feelings of disenfranchisement, justified or not. Ignorance is more than not knowing things, and that's important to my remark about being well-educated: it's not a matter of "book learning" as much as a matter of having the tools and resources to confront new ideas. Basic skills don't do it. It's patterns of thought, and sadly, one thing that still seems to be true in American education is that independent thought is not a survival characteristic. (It's really remarkable to notice how many "problem children" are either exceptionally intelligent or otherwise outside the norm in ways that are not in themselves destructive.) I think that's one of the major dangers of gearing education toward standardized tests: flexibility in dealing with new ideas and situations is not included.

There's also the matter of arrogance, and at the risk of offending some, it just seems that if you have strong belief in a system that stresses obedience to authority and the inviolability of received wisdom, you are not going to have what you need to confront some of these things. Obviously, this does not hold true across the board -- this group is evidence enough in that regard -- but for those who are not curious and/or independent, it leads to the belief that their views pre-empt everyone else's because their authority figure told them so. Everyone else is, by definition, wrong, and the habit of questioning authority is not one that they've developed.

What's appalling is that there are enough of the latter (and there always seem to be) that, given the proper demagogue, they become a defining force in a society.

[CurtisEdmonds]

Y'all are just so wrong about this.

I mean, they're exposing kids to opera.

Damn it, if they don't start teaching Merle Haggard in schools, this whole country is going to go right to hell.

[drmomentum[$]]

I'm not quite sure what group would get all hot and bothered if their kids were exposed to Merle Haggard.

If there were one, and they claimed their kids were being exposed to Satan through Merle, it would rise to a similar level of silliness.

[quasar]

I'm never surprised by stuff like this. Just look at some of the books challenged in the US each year. It's depressing.

Connie Willis wrote a short story called "Ado" about a girl who desperately wants to read Shakespeare in school. Her teacher okays it, but only if she helps to wade through the active complaints and restrictions against the play to cut out the offending passages (any passage with any open complaints by anyone is restricted from student eyes). Needless to say, there's not much left by the time they're done. It's a brilliant dark comedy with, unfortunately, a lot more than a grain of truth at its core.

[CurtisEdmonds]

drmomentum said

I'm not quite sure what group would get all hot and bothered if their kids were exposed to Merle Haggard.

Opera lovers, I imagine.

drmomentum said

If there were one, and they claimed their kids were being exposed to Satan through Merle, it would rise to a similar level of silliness.

No such thing:

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

[drmomentum[$]]

CurtisEdmonds said

Opera lovers, I imagine.

The imagination is the only place I see this is happening.

But I would never underestimate a body's ability to get confused.

-JP

[wivabef]

rmthunter said

I have a net buddy who teaches theater in D.C. and decided not to stage a play because he was afraid of a reaction like this. He bitterly regrets it.
.

They have theatre in DC?

I'm shocked!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

CurtisEdmonds said

And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

Alcohol!!!! Leads a young'un straight to Old Nick!