Broward (FL) students ousted from drama competition for flag-cutting scene

[teach1st]

Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

By Peter Bernard
Staff Writer
Posted January 30 2004

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cplay30jan30,0,1428252.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

The play praises patriotism, but the judges only saw teens cutting up an American flag.

It was enough to disqualify Archbishop McCarthy High students from a competition early this week for their performance of The Children's Story. In the play, first published in 1963 by Shogun author James Clavell, third-graders in a classroom in a United States that has been defeated by a powerful enemy, presumably Communist, cut the flag into pieces. Their new teacher tells them if the flag is so good, everyone should get a piece and tells them to hand out the shreds. It's a message about the dangers of mindless political indoctrination.

"The play is actually pro-American," said Erin Fragetta, 15, a sophomore at the southwest Broward County school who worked on the production. "It was intended to be an anti-communist message, and the judges just turned it around on us."

Zac Ensign, who acted in the play, added: "People just didn't look at what we were doing for what it was. We never intended for this to be a malicious gesture."

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[displacedtexan]

1. Ignorance will doom us all.

I had to teach from a textbook in Texas that had Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' cut out.
Lesson to kids: Never question dogma.

[1monster]

3. Please explain to me how Shirley Jackson's horrible

nasty story THE LOTTERY is an appropriate piece of "literature" for teaching children.

I had that loathsome short story "taught" to me in the eighth grade and was sickened by it. My eleven year old son got it this year in sixth grade and had a similar reaction.

It may be that a good lesson could be made from the story, but it should be only for older students, high school level. And it is not being taught as a lesson against dogma either. It is being taught along with Edgar Allen Poe, as a horror story.

Better to have it cut out of the curriculum than presented to children far too young and in the wrong manner.

[mbperrin]

4. Hmmm.. perhaps it will teach children that

simply following the crowd because that's the way it's always been done may not be the best policy?

Or perhaps, as good Americans, we ought to just go along with the sacrificial deaths of our fellow citizens for no apparent reason but that our leaders ordered it?

This is really a very oblique, non-explicit way to approach this subject. For nasty violence, check out the video games being played by 8th graders.

[Stuckinthebush]

5. For many people, The Lottery is a wonderful short story

that illustrates how people will do what has been done before without question. The story helps to develop an appreciation for critical thinking skills. Of course, everyone who reads it is horrified at the stoning, and would never condone such a thing, but that is not the point of the story. The protagonist shows a distaste for the "Lottery", but you see her going along with the ritual even if it means that she or a member of her family would win the Lottery. This type of mindless acceptance of that which is and always has been is very dangerous to democratic, free countries.

If a literature teacher is assigning the story as a horror story, then that teacher is not very good, IMHO. Also, many of Poe's stories shouldn't be taught as horror - they also explore the darker side of human nature, but are not purely Stephen King horror stories.

I would question the teacher's understanding of literature, not the literature itself.

[NashVegas]

7. The Lottery Is *Supposed* to Sicken You

It's about the dangers of herd-think, and a study on the nature of scapegoating.

[Occulus]

8. Why don't you just burn a few copies while you're at it?

You know you want to....

[chimpy the poopthrower]

9. I don't think that poster said anything about burning.

Schools (including participation by parents and teachers) need to make sure that literature is age-appropriate. Of course, that is a matter of opinion. The poster has an opinion about a particular piece of literature and at what age it is appropriate. We may disagree but that doesn't make the poster a book-burner. (Although I would point out that the original post referred only to "kids" and didn't cite a specific age. Some people, including me, think of even high school students as still "kids".

[TheLastMohican]

2. Some Cold War indoctrinated kiddies out there, eh?

I mean what a bull to stage a drama like that for teens. Come on, isn't Hamlet more attractive anyways?

And these science fiction scenarios are getting more ridiculous each year. I thought the aliens were in fashion lately, but no, back to commies we go. Come on, show me a good healthy commie to hate, I had just run out of any.

[veganwitch]

6. florida!!! again!!

it never stops!