Common sense. Prudence. Good judgement. Discernment. Wisdom
All things missing from my son's middle school social studies teacher.
Let me put this out there first off. September 11th was horrific! A day that should never EVER be forgotten. It was awful and unbelievable and mortifying all at the same time. I am not one to shelter my children from what happened that day.
They know that planes were hijacked by people who hate America. They know that some people died a horrible death. They know there were people who jumped out the windows of the WTC. They know there were courageous men and women who became heroes that day. Many of them dying. The loss was huge. One of the worst in American history.
My kids understand this.
All of them came home last week talking about the discussions they had in their classes. My younger ones had talked about it in their classes. My older two had watched videos. Kyla had watched the same video that we have at our house.
My son, however, watched a different video. A very different video. One that was going to be lasting more than 3 days. One that I am pretty sure I would NEVER have let him watch. I rarely let my children watch any PG-13 movies that I haven't previewed first. I have made a few exceptions, but they are few...very few and far between.
So when he came home telling me about his movie, I was a little disturbed. He told me about hearing the F-word over and over and over again. We don't use that language in my house and neither do most of the people that we hang out with, so to hear it repeatedly was noticeable for him. I am pretty sure the F-bomb puts any movie into the PG-13 rating.
But that's not even the worst part.
This film showed dead people. We're not talking about Hollywood's version of dead. We are talking about real people, recently dead people. Their bodies. Their faces. Eyes open and all. I have not seen many dead people in my lifetime, but the few that I have seen are seared into my memory.
My son added that you could hear bodies hitting the ground in background. And he knew it was bodies because the camera guy said they were just falling from the sky.
My question is this. Why do we need to expose our young ones to so much so young? I mean, really? I get teaching the tragedy of the attacks. But there are videos that show the tragedy without showing everything. And to me, that video was over the line.
Maybe I'm over-protective, but it's my right to be that way. I don't see a need to have that age group listen to foul language, no matter the situation. It will only promote it. Secondly, once those images and sounds are in their heads, they will not ever leave. I wonder if he even thought about that.
It's one thing if he wants to show it to his own children. His prerogative. But he doesn't have that right to show highly inappropriate not to mention unnecessary disturbing videos to my child...not without my permission.
Yes, I called the principal. No, she wasn't aware of the video. Yes, she would take immediate action. The principal was great about it. She agreed with me.
Do you? Would you have a problem with that?
7 comments:
It's tricky, but in our school system any videos are approved by the school FIRST. Then a memo or phone call is made to EVERY parent to let them know of the new film so they can raise their concerns. Especially of a graphic nature. 9/11 is still so raw... it's tough ground.
Now that birds and bees video... yeah, my son is totally being subject to that. Regardless of how uncomfortable he gets. :)
i've posted about my feelings on this Stef. I don't think you are being over protective. There is no need for the graphic nature of that film...not in middle school at least!
I agree with you 100%!
Totally.
And I'm amazed that teacher would take the risk of showing that without running it by the administration and/or parents first.
Sheesh.
"/
I'm a teacher and I find this appalling. I can't understand how the teacher thought that it would be good for the children to watch that. Yikes!
Um....YEAH! I do have a problem with that. You go mama!
I was quite disappointed when my children came home from school and had not even discussed it AT ALL. Neither of them. Not once. How lame is that?!?
I don't have kids so I probably have no right to have an opinion here. I have been very involved with my sister's kids' upbringing (weekly, sometimes daily interaction in a parent-like role) so I think that qualifies me somewhat, but I'm sure if I was solely responsible for a mini human I'd have different opinions.
That being said, I do think that I would prefer my children to see real life trauma than the glamorized Hollywood version (where violence is the answer to everything). Even cartoons are too violent these days, without providing a realistic context for it including the real impact and consequences. I personally think that, with quite a bit of guidance, a disturbing video like that might become an important piece of a child's upbringing. I know I saw some awful things as a child that with the proper guidance helped shape my convictions, and while there are other ways to do that, this is a certainly a powerful one. However, it should never be done without guidance from an adult to help the child process it all, and in the context of school it should absolutely, positively not be done without parental permission. You're the ones that have to deal with the fall-out from it. That was totally not cool.
Post a Comment