You decide: intolerant town or ignorant drama teacher?

Mo. Drama Teacher Resigns in Play Flap

from JoeUser Forums
This one is (at least to start with) up to the readers to decide. Convince me either way who is wrong in the news piece that I'm clipping below, and which is referenced in the sub-heading.

Is the teacher that is talked about in the article in the wrong, and ignorant of local standards that should be used to determine what materials can be used in teaching students in the town? Or, is the town wrong and intolerant for not letting classic, though perhaps objectionable, materials be used in drama classes?

Ripped from the headlines (via My Way News) for you to decide. Now just do it ;-)




Mo. Drama Teacher Resigns in Play Flap

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing.
"It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore.
DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.
But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.
DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a classic romantic comedy with its own dicey subject matter, including suicide, rape and losing one's virginity.
DeVore, 31, a six-year veteran teacher, said administrators told her that her annual contract might not be renewed.
"Maybe I need to find a school that's a better match," she said.
Both Enderle and the high school principal declined to discuss DeVore's resignation, citing privacy concerns. The resignation must still be approved by the school board.
Publicity over the drama debate, including a front-page story in The New York Times, has cast an unflattering light on Fulton as an intolerant small town, several of DeVore's colleagues said.
"We have become a laughingstock," teacher Paula Fessler told The Fulton Sun.
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ok, you read the article (hopefully)... So is the town of Fulton a backwater ignorant little burb that can't deal with classic materials, or is the teacher ignorant for not paying heed to local standards in choosing what materials to use in the spring play?
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't think they are ignorant, they just want their kids enacting particular subject matter. I don't think either party is really wrong, here, the teacher hit it right when she said she needed to find a "better match".

I differ with the whole 'intolerant' thing. It's their community, they should run it the way they see fit. They aren't going to be able to pass on their kids play, so they ought to be able to see something they want to see. There's a lot of "liberal" folks that have a problem with the way smoking and drinking are portrayed in entertainment.

I think drama teachers forget that drama is really about the audience. It sounds like she just consistantly picked plays that the audience didn't want to see.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't think either party is really wrong, here, the teacher hit it right when she said she needed to find a "better match".

Absolutely. The teacher needs to remember who writes her paycheck every week, and play ball by their rules.

I also don't think it's intolerance here. If the school board has more stringent moral principles in what it shows to the people of the town, then more power to them. Because ultimately it's the school and the teacher whose butts are on the line, not the New York Times, from whom the teacher sought ultimate approval.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Um... the story played bait and switch...

DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.
But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.


The complaints were for Grease, not the Crucible, and upon looking at other stories about the incident, the way it is being painted is that a) a clear double standard is being set because the work in question is studied in the school by many of the students as part of their required English courses, and b) that it seems that the cancellation was BECAUSE of 'Grease' rather than the contents of Miller's play. I think those two things make this a much different situation than presented.

The Fulton Sun article which is a different spin on the matter
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hmmm.... I agree with the you and the teacher about the better match thing.

Interestingly, "The Crucible" has to do a lot of personal freedom and the dangers of accusations in a fearful society. Some irony that this was the play chosen after "Grease" and I wonder if it was chosen before the teacher had heard any complaints or not. I also wonder if the board/community members saw the selection of this play as a message from the teacher.

I think "The Crucible" is an amazing play. It challenges people to ask questions of themselves and to reflect on their values. I'd be thrilled to watch a high school drama group perform this play.

As far as the family values in "Grease" go, I don't think that it actually promotes drinking and smoking. I was always surprised at what Sandi had to do to get her man "complete 180 in the style department" but again, food for thinking not fodder for "oh, I must go emulate this play that I just watched."

I think that the community is selling their highschool students short. It's their community so, yeah, they have a right to live it the way they like withing legal limitations, but I think they are selling themselves and their students short.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I must have been blogging my response at the same time as you, HIH.

After reading your link, I can't say I'm any clearer on the matter. I got the part from the original post about the complaints being about "Grease" and the result being the cancellation of "The Crucible."

The kids are right. If you read it in class, why CAN'T you perform it?

There must be more going on then meets the eye. Or people are willing to talk about.

Personally, if my kid were going to that school, I'd be upset that "a handful of Callaway Christian Church members" were telling the school what they can and can't do in what I am assuming is a state run school using plays that can be found withing school curriculum (not sure about "Grease", but HiH's article link stated that they read "The Crucible" in English class.

Then again, not my town and I think there is a lot of behind the scenes politicking going on.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

It is not the subject matter, but the actions.  reading Grease is one thing, acting it out is another.  I think the parents went over board (as I think society has today about smoking).  But I will respect their wishes as the students are minors.

Just my two sense.

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
It wasn't Grease they were reading, it was the Crucible, and again I say, the indication is that the argument was "Because you did Grease last year, we won't let you do the Crucible sight unseen because you are the one who is suggesting it". It was the fact that these people rejected the production more because of the teacher's previous production rather than any other objection that makes this problematic.

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top

It was the fact that these people rejected the production more because of the teacher's previous production rather than any other objection that makes this problematic.

It was.  I do not debate that issue.  But, while I think (and stated) that the parents went overbaord, that is their right.  The teacher was not forced out, she decided to leave on her own.

I dont disagree with the teacher, but I agree with the parents right to regulate their children's education.

Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
"It wasn't Grease they were reading, it was the Crucible, and again I say, the indication is that the argument was "Because you did Grease last year, we won't let you do the Crucible sight unseen..."


It wasn't the parents that stopped her according to the article, it was the Superintendent.

Have you considered the topic of "The Crucible"? Take a look at the situation for a second. Religious people decide to kick up a fuss about Grease. What does the teacher pick next? "The Crucible"? Is there, maybe, just a *slight* chance that she was trying to make a snide statement with the choice?

Then, when the *Superintendent* asked her to pick another play, she picks one that features a pagan theme complete with rape, etc. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but could it just maybe be that she was perceived as picking plays *purposely* that would piss these people off?

I think it is quite a coincidence that she picked a play about the salem witch trials after religious people got mad about Grease. I think the Superintendent probably saw it for what it was.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

I think it is quite a coincidence that she picked a play about the salem witch trials after religious people got mad about Grease


That's what I was trying to say!
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think it is quite a coincidence that she picked a play about the salem witch trials after religious people got mad about Grease. I think the Superintendent probably saw it for what it was.


Meh. I agree with her. The townsfolk don't have to go see the plays, and it won't hurt the kids to perform them. The Crucible and A Midsomer Night's Dream are classics. Everyone should see them at least once in their lives.

I dislike this hideous modern notion that noone is allowed to tweak the noses of the insufferably intolerant, that people somehow have a right to not see something so mild in controversy that catholic schools have been doing it for years.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
"The townsfolk don't have to go see the plays, and it won't hurt the kids to perform them. "


Having been in school plays, and having attended my daughters, I don't think you're really thinking that one through. Look your kid in the face and tell them that, "meh, not my cup of tea."

"I dislike this hideous modern notion that noone is allowed to tweak the noses of the insufferably intolerant, that people somehow have a right to not see something so mild in controversy that catholic schools have been doing it for years."


And no one is preventing her from starting her own drama group and performing any play she likes. As a teacher, she works for the community, and the drama club is on the dime of the school board. I don't think anyone really has the right to tell them they can't say what can and can't be performed in the school they oversee, can they?
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
The plans to do the Crucible were a full year in advance... and both plays were approved by that office(which represented the community when they were presented for approval again, a year in advance)... so unless she had precognition, I don't think that was her intention for choosing the latter play.

After all, it is one of the most performed modern plays as well.