<p>The one who yells the loudest is heard. Many years ago, in our former school district, there was an incident about Huckleberry Finn. The sup formed a community forum and I served on it. It was made up of all ethnic groups, ministers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, and parents. We all read the book, and then heard from the community and the teacher. You wouldn’t believe the stuff we heard. One parent actually said that Twain shouldn’t be taught because he wasn’t representative of middle America as we all had learned, since he had been born in Florida. Florida, Missouri, people! I guess she thought we were all stupid and wouldn’t do the little bit of research to debunk her “fact.” The black little girl felt incensed she told us when she came into the class and on the overhead was the n— word for all to see. The way we got it, it was in big bold letters on the wall - the only word there. Well, the overhead was given to us, and it was an outline - with “The use of the word n—” buried in the middle, and cited the fact that the real n— were the so-called proper whites. Anyway, the committee unanimously agreed that the teacher had done nothing wrong, and all, blacks and whites voted to keep the book in the curriculum. Nothing more has been said, especially since the 2 black Baptist ministers supported the situation. I am sorry for the Latin teacher’s problems, but I have seen many excellent teachers having problems. For some reason, there is an undercurrent of condoning mediocrity under the guise of “protecting our children.” The mediocre teachers never get into trouble - perhaps because they don’t try to expose the kids to all the wonderful things that are out there, just lecture from the books, and collect their paychecks. The demanding ones are the ones who suffer. In this day and age of political correctness, some people take whatever they can to twist it to mean whatever they want. And the kids are the ones who suffer. As to Dia de los Muertos, we still teach it in our school. W explain very carefully that we don’t care if the kids buy into it or not, but that it is a cultural reality in Mexico, and we serve Dead bread. Don’t get any complaints because the kids are thrilled to get free food. WE show a movie about it, and even have the kids bring in momentos of their deceased loved ones to put on our ofrenda. It is in our curriculum, and so, we are covered. Some teachers in other districts have written a letter to send home to the parents. If someone really would strenuously object, then I would send that kid to the library with an alternate assignment, such as writing about their deceased loved ones - linked to the lesson, but not offensive. No one wants to do that - no kid wants to write a paper in lieu of… So, no complaints. The kids are thrilled to have culture days and watch a movie about it, or make their own crafts. Such a relief from the tedium of grammar.</p>
<p>Well I don’t think that in my younger D public school version of the Lysistrata- there was vulgar language- but in older D college version they apparently had prothesis’es( plural?)
um- yeah :eek:
For those who haven’t read the play- it boils down to the women of Greece withholding sex until a peace treaty is signed to end the Peloponnesian war.</p>
<p>Emerk, there is a whole lot more bawdiness than that! Our IB students love it!</p>
<p>When I was studying ancient Greek, we were given a bowdlerized version of Plato’s Republic. This made us all seek out the full version and try to translate the “naughty bits” (about appropriate decorum in school–homosexuality being a theme). Sometimes, I think our teacher was onto some great pedagogical trick.</p>
<p>um yeah- my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw the modern translation that Ds college used.
Very ironic- my sister who is very strict religous latter day saint- thinks that the “classics” are just * wonderful* and modern writing is just too crude.
I think that much of what the Greeks and Shakespeare wrote must go right over her head!</p>
<p>Ignorance can be so sad. I had a disagreement with a neighbor when she complained loudly and strongly that Hamlet should never be taught to anyone, and never put on stage either, because “it’s about a child who wants to have sex with his mother”. She was, naturally, very proud that she herself had never seen or read the play.</p>
<p>its an Opera! </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1142750931121290.xml&coll=1]lysistrata[/url”>http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1142750931121290.xml&coll=1]lysistrata[/url</a>]</p>
<p>EK:</p>
<p>Does one ever understand whatever is being sung in an opera, especially if the singer is not a native speaker? :)</p>
<p>I doubt it but they sound good sometimes.</p>
<p>Performing the musical Grease should be grounds for firing!</p>
<p>I was going to guess, “West Side Story.” but Grease? egad!</p>