Are you offended?
A recent case of mistaking biology for pornography has hit education. It’s not the first time folks have gotten worked up about exposing the children to unwholesomeness. When I saw this I recalled an interesting moments in my classroom that I had recently.
We’re studying human body systems, so I had to give my class the talk that we’ll be talking about pee, poop, and other topics that while not savory, are part of what makes us living beings. They’ve been cool with that. In art, we sometimes look at nudes, and I have to talk to them about art being art, and ask them to treat is with respect, and that I think they’re old enough to handle it without giggling. Teaching kids to see the difference between how we look at subjects that require at least a bit of maturity is part of making them functional citizens.
Other times it’s harder. Today we were reading Bridge to Terabithia, a classic YA story. Jesse had taken his friend Leslie to the Easter service at his church at her request. Leslie is “unchurched” (she’s never been to church) and doesn’t not believe in Jesus as the son of God, etc. When she reveals this Jesse’s little sister May Belle says, “God’ll damn you to hell when you die.” My students were alternately horrified and giggling at what they perceived as profanity. I patiently tried to explain that when someone talks about God damning someone to hell in a religious context, it’s not quite Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » Are you offended?: