Is this the typical American pendulum? We often swing from insanity to insanity until we (usually…hopefully) find some relatively levelheaded middle ground.
At first glance that is exactly what it is. Michelangelo’s sculpture of the biblical figure David is one of the glories of Western civilization, and arguably* the greatest sculpture ever! The typical 6th grader can find prurience on a box of oatmeal, so concerns that a simple viewing of David and his genitalia are going to sexualize these kids seem overwrought and hysterical. Any competent teacher can control that, explain the historical use of nudity, link the sculpture to the Bible, and then tell the story of David and Goliath!
A principal was fired over 6th graders seeing a photo of Michelangelo’s David sculpture
Hope Carrasquilla of Tallahassee Classical School in Leon County is no longer employed by the school. She was given a choice by the school board – resign or be fired. She chose to resign. Why? Well, that is the question. Was it because sixth-graders were shown a picture of Michelangelo’s David sculpture in their Renaissance art history class?
Carrasquilla’s termination was the subject of a last-minute emergency board meeting that was scheduled for 7 a.m. Monday. Three parents complained about the photo being shown in class and how the exposure to the world-renowned classic was handled. The school is a charter school. Parents send their children there for a classical education. Renaissance art history is to be expected as part of the curriculum. These are sixth-graders, not kindergarteners. Typically, sixth-graders are 11 and 12 years old.
Except…is that all that is going on?
Florida school principal resigns after complaints over “pornographic” David sculpture
School board chair Barney Bishop told CBS News Saturday that Carrasquilla was asked to resign over “a number of other issues,” and the latest incident was the culmination.
He claimed that Carrasquilla knew that if she blamed the Michelangelo photo for her resignation, the “mainstream media” would “twist it” and wouldn’t report the truth.
Without more information it is difficult to understand why this teacher was sent packing, and because our experience over the last generation has taught us to discount pretty much everything ever uttered by any official anywhere, we may never know the entire story.
But “Michelangelo’s David is not pornographic. Books portraying sex between minors and adults are pornographic, and insidious because they are undoubtedly part of a carefully constructed program to desensitize children to the horror of pedophilia. Viewing an absolutely spectacular sculpture with tremendous historical context is simply part of a well-rounded education.
Would I be irritated if I weren’t informed beforehand of the topic and the photo being used? Maybe. Probably not. But I can’t speak for other parents, and it is reasonable for those three parents to be irritated.
On the other hand, this will be used by the leftist media to show the evil of “censorship” and how parental notification laws are injuring our children! Which is arrant nonsense and can be refuted with ease.
So what happened? Who the hell knows!
*We can discuss this on The Art Thread…The “Pieta” ain’t bad, Donatello’s “Mary Magdalene” is in the running, and some guy named “Rodin” did some good stuff! [Just don’t mention Duchamp or you’re gonna get savaged!]
