Showing a 15 film to 11 year olds in school

I also think you're a bit precious. The DC weren't shown the whole film; they were only shown a clip that the teacher seemed to want to use to embed the message of the lesson. I think the clip was brilliant.

It seems that teachers can't win. If they only use written worksheets, the lesson is boring, but if they try and make it interesting there's always some parent or other moaning. DC grow up very, very quickly at secondary school. You will be surprised. My friend (actually works in a secondary school) thinks that her DS is very proper and doesn't swear/muck about. Little does she know! He is in my DD's classes. He is a lovely boy, but nowhere near as innocent as my friend thinks.

I think you are being a bit precious. The clip is age appropriate. I showed my 8 yr old a clip from MP & Holy Grail (the French taunting scene) because he couldn't spell "night" / "knight" and hearing it pronounced in an outrageous phonetic way fixed the spelling in his mind in a way all the revision and practice hadn't done. MP&HG is a 15 too.

Lets face it Eric Idle sang Always Look on the Bright Side of Life at the Paralympics closing ceremony.

Life of Brian wouldn't bother me personally, but.....

DH has just written to DD3s High school, she is 11 and in S1, refusing permission for her to watch Hotel Rwanda when they teach genocide in Modern Studies, and Armistad (?sp) when they do slavery in History. We have spoken to her guidance teacher and her Head of Year and they didn't think we were being unreasonable either. This came about because in Geography she was shown an educational film with a 12 rating, a fictionalised story about what might happen when the Yellowstone caldera erupted potentially destroying all human life on earth, and we got over 2 weeks of not sleeping properly, nightmares, not eating enough and high levels of anxiety before it all got sorted out.

I totally get the "let's make it exciting for everyone" view of education and it is hard for teachers, but there are unintended consequences and this was one of them. DD was not the only child having a wobbly about this, but was probably the worst affected. As her geography teacher agreed, how to deal with a panic attack was not the desired learning outcome from this piece of work. DD herself has said that she would probably have been OK if she had read about it in a textbook, but she can't get the pictures out of her head. As an adult, I wouldn't watch Hotel Rwanda either, but I have choice, if it is part of the curriculum DD wouldn't have that choice. My difficulty with this sort of thing is that we are supposed to be teaching kids how to evaluate evidence etc, not taking fictionalised versions as true records of events, but that is a whole other argument.

I guess your kids are older than Y7 then seeker??

Sorry, I know mine hear the words at school, but films using "fuck" , "bastard" and "kike" do not float my boat as a parent of 10 and 11 year old girls..... but then, I didn't let them watch Avatar 'til this year because of the gratuitous "bullshit" and "limp-dick" comments.. yep - I'm a prude I guess, but they do not need to hear those words in this house...

They were only shown an appropriate clip, there's no problem. You can block YouTube at home i f you want to.

My children have known LfoB practically by heart for ages. One of the most educational films ever, in my opinion. History, RE, Latin- it has a bit of everything!

at cory - I'm not entirely convinced that reading anything of Shakespeare would want to make them read more. Though Leonardo di Caprio has improved dd's interest in Romeo and Juliet a bit.

Can I complain to my dd's junior school because they made her read the witches scene in Macbeth when the porter scene in the same play contains unsuitable sexual references and bad language? Surely they should have realised that introducing her to any part of Shakespeare might want make her want to read the rest?

Advising people to look at an illegal copy is wrong. A school can show a bit of a DVD or all of it. YouTube is different. The school should have ponied up for the DVD.

I think the life of brian is pretty harmless tbh. I will suspend my outrage for later on in the term when they show them "the human centipede" in order to teach them about biology. Then I will clutch my pearls :)

I think yabu and a bit precious tbh.

It's a tiny clip, and if they have access to you tube, etc. they've probably already seen worse!

dd has been watching 15 films for a while now. Only films I've already seen then I use imDb for the parent guide in case there is anything I've forgotten and then make a decision on whether she can watch a particular film.

Life of Brian -

Sex & Nudity
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A nude man wakes up next to a nude woman in bed (they are covered by sheets); he climbs out of bed, and he appears completely nude as he opens a window to a large crowd who mistakes him for the messiah. Later, the woman is shown completely nude (her pubic region is clearly visible, while her hair covers her breasts).

In another scene, a man appears to be nude (whose genitals are obscured by his long hair).

Some discreet mild sexual references throughout.

Violence & Gore
EditHistory
Contains some mild comedic violence which has some blood and gore, body parts, and may upset or disturb younger viewers. Other scenes include a stoning sequence, a mass crucifixion, a lynch mob and a group suicide.

Profanity
EditHistory
6 uses of "fuck".

2 uses of "shit".

1 use and one implied use of "wanker".

2 uses of "bitch".

Many uses of "bastard", "piss" and other mild terms.

A Jew uses the term "kike" towards himself.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking
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None.

Frightening/Intense Scenes
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None.

Any impact from violent or suspenseful scenes is mitigated by the humourous tone of the film.

Sounds pretty tame to me!

That clip is quite funny and makes a good point. It's not as if they drew the blinds and watched Terminator.

The Italian Job has a G rating. It's fine to show to kids.

I'd be surprised it was possible given yer average school firewall cuts off youtube.

The hours I spend on keepvid, downloading clips to (no doubt illegally) embed into flipcharts for my interactive whiteboard...

The school will probably have ripped the relevant clip from a dvd & put it on their own server. This is what we do, & yep, it's probably illegal in the same way that 'home taping' is illegal.

agree highly unlikely that mentioning that clip is available on youtube is a breach of copyright.

Showing a clip on YouTube in a school is NOT breaching copyright. Schools and other educational establishments can show copyright works for educational purposes provided the audience is limited to teachers, pupils and others directly connected with the school.

Telling children to access a YouTube clip at home is NOT breaching copyright. Actually viewing a YouTube clip may be a breach of copyright but even that is highly debatable as videos on YouTube are streamed, so you aren't technically creating a copy. It is highly unlikely that any action would be taken against you for viewing a clip on YouTube. Any action would be against the person who posted the clip.

Showing a clip on YouTube is breaching copyright. Telling kids to access it at home is breaching copyright.

The teacher should have more imagination than this.

Poor teacher.

They have obviously spent time and energy trying to make the subject interesting and amusing for their students. Nobody on this thread has any idea about the context of the lesson - time of day/class dynamics/prior learning.

Maybe they should just stick to the same old boring worksheets and textbooks in future - save all the fuss.

I showed a clip from the Italian job as part of my observed PGCE lesson. It was to illustrate moments and counterweights (bus off edge of cliff). The lesson was rated as outstanding. I am so glad nobody complained about the fact that the words 'you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off' are used elsewhere in the film.

Yabu and I'm sorry to say a bit bonkers. The clip was innocuous and was an effort on the part of the teacher to make their lesson enjoyable and grab the interest of students. Lazy teachers wouldn't bother to do this. If you make any more fuss about this you risk being thought f as a loon at your dc school. Not. Only that but it is highly likely that your dc will start being very selective about what they tell you as they grow up.

For goodness sake trust the teachers and don't be so precious. There are far worse things out there and, at secondary school, they are no longer your babies but pre-teens who often need creative and imaginative teaching to get them involved and interested. Teachers are being expected to use media in a creative way to connect with pupils. No doubt the class has a mix of abilities and this allows them all to be involved in ways a book might not. Nothing wrong with books but they are no longer the only way to teach.

I wouldn't show anything more than a PG.

The teacher should have more imagination than this.

I show bits of Troy (which is a 15) to my year 8s. I skip the bit where Brad Pitt is in bed with two ladies and you can see their boobs. The rest of the film is fine - a bit gory in places, but 12 year old boys love gore.

I won't show anything with swearing in, though. Accidentally played an inappropriate YouTube clip at the end of term once, without realising it contained the word 'fuck'. That was pretty mortifying.

I use LOADS of clips from 15 & 18 rated films in school.

Particularly enjoy making year 8s scream at the scary twins in 'The Shining', although the bit with the head in the boat in (PG) Jaws makes them jump just as much.

The only complaint I've ever had was from a supply teacher who was appalled at me showing a Jason Manford dvd to a class of 15-16 year olds (it's a 15) as part of their work for an assessment on Spoken Language - accents & dialect, he does a sketch on Mancunians & Scousers abroad...

I don't show entire films that are classified above the students' age unless I get permission (eg. a comparison between a ghost story & The Sixth Sense with year 9).

We watched top gun at school at 11.

I personally don't have a problem with this. When I take my children to the cinema they may see PG-rated trailers for films rated 12A or 15. The "what have the Romans ever done for us" clip is funny and inoffensive apart from use of the word "bastards" near the beginning (assuming the whole clip was shown - the school could have skipped that bit). It also makes a point in a way that a Y7 is far more likely to remember than simply reading it in a book or hearing it from a teacher.

No laws are being broken. The school may not supply a DVD of this film to a child under the age of 15 but they can show it to underage children. It would be good practise for them to get parental consent before doing so but this is not compulsory. Had they sought consent I suspect most parents would have given it.

themumsnot thats is my point. they should have taken a book and a film with a U certificate and compared them. Where the wild things are, the film is full of violence and the first 1/4 shows monsters and the boy completely destroying a village, to the obvious upset of the other monsters. when we watched it at home, my DD was clearly upset and we switched it off.

Now she HAS to watch it at school or she cant do the work.... thats simply wrong.

things are certified for a reason and i think that the school should respect that.
also it is giving the kids the go ahead to ignore the classification of all films