Unincorporated Minds

OK, I read the article below and wasn't going to bother commenting on it. However, I was annoyed at one of the people being quoted in the Article.

This article is about how Marysville High School is reviewing their policy of showing PG-13 and R rated movies. I take no issue with that. The school is a gov't entity and should have to abide by the laws that R rated movies are for 17 and up. Even if I think the rating system is lame and pointless. The school is making a decent decision. They even get parental permission before showing a movie. Good move.

I was annoyed that the article is quoting Jared Cox. A parent who doesn't even have a kid in the damn high school. His oldest kid is 9. What the hell is he doing at a meeting for the high school. Then there is Tamara Bowers a dumb bitch who is trying to petition for the removal of the movies all together.

I don't know that movies like Saving Private Ryan and Rainman are all that educationally valuable. However, Schindler's List does give some good insight into parts of the Holocaust. People need to know that the Holocaust happened. People need to know slavery existed (still exists). People need to understand that war, political corruption, and that different religions exist.

History is not PG13. Sometimes history is worse than the most obscene NC-17 (I miss the XXX days) movie you can think of...but not as fun ;)

Even the basics, reading, writing, and arithmetic, have all been used for nefarious purposes. Without math, the nuclear bomb would most likely not exist. Without writing and reading, religious text like the bible (which has caused more deaths than all the spent bullets in history of the world), would not exist. Yes, I am listing that as a bad thing...right along side Mein Kampf.

So the minute you forget that the world isn't all roses and rainbows, is the minute you get clubbed and robbed. If a movie will help you remember that, then so be it.

Furthermore, we are an increasingly visual people. I personally learn better from visual queues than from someone droning on with a chalkboard for hours. The best teachers are the ones who find a way to get you involved with the material. Hollywood's job is to grab and keep your attention for at least 90 minutes. So if the movie is educationally relevant, I say use what you can. God knows I wish my college professors would find a movie that made accounting exciting.

Lastly, before you get all righteous and bitchy about how movies are mostly fiction and are historically inaccurate, know all I am saying is that they should be allowed to use relevant movies as a teaching tool. I'm not saying we should replace teachers with a cinema. Of course, some would argue we've already replaced parents with tv's.

If you aren't reading this at http://beavmetal.blogspot.com, you should be.