Published: August 25, 2007 10:27 pm      

Lesson learned?

Westside Middle School teacher Brad Barrett is taking some heat for showing a five- to 10-minute clip from the film “300” in his classroom on Wednesday.

Some parents are angry that Barrett screened the footage for his middle school history class, because the movie is a bloody and violent take on the adult-oriented graphic novel by comic book veteran Frank Miller. However, the section of the film Barrett showed was tame, including no nudity, profanity or extreme violence.

That hasn’t kept some parents from howling in outrage.

One mother, who hasn’t seen the film, but researched it on an Internet site, said her child was “distraught” when she came home on Wednesday and had trouble sleeping. The mother wants her child moved to another class. That’s probably a good idea.

Had the teacher shown the film in its entirety or portions of it including clearly objectionable material, then severe discipline (including possible termination) would be called for. But he didn’t. There is nothing in the opening minutes of “300” that a middle schooler shouldn’t be able to absorb. By that age a child should have a well-enough developed sense of what is real and what is make believe to view the first few minutes of “300,” read “Huck Finn” or watch “Dumbo” without suffering too much damage.

Barrett made imaginative use of a popular medium (film) to hook his students on the subject matter, world history. He should get a pat on the back for that, not condemnation. His critics are overreaching wildly.



The Daily Citizen