“Right up her ass”
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/25/2007 - 09:31
It is hard to imagine that I graduated from Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, MA, thirty years ago this June. Mount Greylock is a great school in a great town, but I rarely reflect back on my experiences there.
One experience, however, has come to mind twice this week for different reasons. It is one of the most memorable experiences I had, one which taught me so much more than many other hours in the classroom.
The year was 1972. America was mired down in an unpopular war abroad. Many people considered the man sitting in the White House a crook. In many ways, it was a year not much different than today.
Back then, there was a draft, and people found different ways to avoid the draft. I had a bunch of longhaired teachers, whom everyone said had become teachers to avoid the draft. Williamstown was a fairly liberal town, so they got away with things they might not have in other towns.
Miranda is now in eighth grade and is reading Lord of the Flies for school. I remember the day that my eighth grade teacher passed out copies of Lord of the Flies to our class. He said he had an important lesson for us and asked us to turn to page 123. I don’t remember the page exactly, but it seemed like a strange place to get introduced to the book we would be reading. About a third of the way down, there was a phrase that had been crossed out by a black magic marker.
“This is called censorship”, the teacher explained. He spoke about how people had complained about the language in the book and gotten the school to cross out the phrase. Visions of teachers, in the teachers lounge, crossing the phrase out in book after book and muttering about the idiocy of the school administration came to mind.
He explained the ineffectiveness of such censorship, explaining that anyone could go to a library or a bookstore and find out the line. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the class found out the phrase and told the whole class.
Sure enough. Someone in the class came in and announced the phrase was “right up her ass”. There were the sort of snickers you would expect to hear from eighth graders on hearing that phrase and on knowing that they had gotten around a stupid rule from the administration.
This story has always stayed with me and I have passed it on to my kids.
Then, yesterday, Sue wrote a blog post on MyLeftNutmeg entitled Wilton High School's free speech stomped on. It pointed to the article in the New York Times entitled Play About Iraq War Divides a Connecticut School.
It seems that the school principal is interested in teaching students about the value of free speech by attempting to deny the students the chance to perform their play. It seems as if the reaction the students are getting, including the article in the New York Times has taught the kids even more about the importance of a free press and how the truth almost always manages to find a way to sneak out. The story has been picked up by Good Morning America, Fox 5 and Firedoglake. Theatre companies around the country want to stage their production.
Yes, it seems as if the principal of Wilton High School has taught the students a very important lesson, a lesson that I learned a little bit about when I was in eighth grade and one that we all need to be reminded of
"a sensitive situation for a school community "
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/25/2007 - 10:16.I just received an email containing a press release from the Wilton Public Schools. If I didn't trust the source as much as I did, I would have thought this was some sort of parody.
Yes, fighting for freedom of speech, whether you are a soldier in Iraq or a drama student in Wilton is "a sensitive situation".
Dr. Gary Richards
Superintendent
March 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Wilton Public Schools administration would like to respond to the issues raised in The New York Times article entitled “Play About Iraq War Divides a Connecticut School” that appeared in the “Metro Section” on Saturday, March 24, 2007. The article describes the controversy in the WHS Advanced Theater Arts class about a play called “Voices in Conflict” compiled by students for performance during this spring semester. The play contains monologues about the Iraq war by U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens. The article describes the work of the Theater Arts class to develop the play, Principal Tim Canty’s decision and rationale for stopping the performance of the play at this time, and the resulting critical reactions by some students and parents.
This is a sensitive situation for a school community because of the complex issues and strong feelings involved. We also see it as an opportunity to extend the educational dialogue. With that goal in mind, we will summarize how we got to this point, our concerns about the performance of the play as written and our plans for next steps.
All school programs need to serve a legitimate educational purpose. The Iraq war, of course, is an important, serious, complex, and critical topic for a high school to address. In recent years, we have addressed the war in many ways including debates by experts, panel discussions, Social Studies courses and units, class discussions, etc. When the Theater Arts teacher first broached the idea of a play honoring soldiers in Iraq, we supported exploring it with the understanding that there would be on-going communication between the teacher and administration. However, after seeing subsequent drafts, we have serious concerns. The play has contained direct excerpts from a book, documentary films, letters to newspapers, and web-sites. These sources are modified and “cut and pasted” together in a way that does not give them attribution nor cite the viewpoint of the particular author or filmmaker. The script contains language that, while realistic, is graphic and violent. In addition, the format includes the student performers directly acting the part of the soldiers, rather than appearing as readers of their journals, letters, interviews, etc. In our view, this approach turns powerful material into a dramatic format that borders on being sensational and inappropriate.
School performances are different from private or commercial performances. Because the performance is part of the educational program, we have a unique obligation to our audience. Most people understand that we can not perform plays or musicals that contain vulgar language or strong sexual content because it would be inappropriate for a high school student audience. On a much more serious level, we believe that this play can be upsetting to our student, parent, and community audience. Our community, like many, is grieving the loss of our own and feeling anxious about those currently in harm’s way. As a school, we have a responsibility to ensure that the Iraq war, the lives lost, and the sacrifices made by soldiers and their families are presented in the appropriate context with appropriate support and guidance. We need to figure out how best to do that. In its present form, the play does not meet those standards.
We understand and appreciate the frustration that the Theater Arts students feel. Furthermore, we believe it is important to continue the dialogue. We would like to work with the students to complete a script that fully addresses our concerns. We then would like to explore appropriate settings to share the script so that guided discussion and support would be available. We also would like to explore the issues involved in this situation in larger contexts. We will work with the Social Studies teachers to continue teaching and discussion about the war in Iraq. In addition, we will plan discussions in those classes around free speech, public school responsibilities, proper use of sources, and other related issues.
We plan to work through this complicated situation together with the students and staff. I am optimistic that we will find an outcome that will be responsive to the concerns of all parties.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gary Richards
Superintendent