To want heads on platters? Utterly inappropriate school assembly

[Renarde1975]

This is a fucking corker. I am fuming but I'd like the hive minds' view.

At DS assembly today. Topic is 'Evacuation: WW2'. All good. Actually, they've done a great job and it's really excellent. Then this.

Towards the end, Christine Aguilera's 'Candyman' comes on. I'm watching open mouthed. I still cannot believe it.

MN: let me refresh you on the 'choicest' lyrics.

He's a one stop shop, makes the panties drop

He took me to the Spider club on Hollywood and Vine
We drank champagne, and we danced all night

He's a one stop shop, makes my cherry pop

And no, MN - this was NOT the radio edit.

And then to cap it all off for some inexplicable reason we are treated to two renditions of Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

A singer in a smoky room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on, and on, and on

WTAF? Did I smoke crack this morning and enter into a parallel dimension? I am a teacher, that another member of my profession could fuck up so royally is just, wow.

I don't want my nine year old son to be singing this in a school assembly, or listening to words that objectify women and glorify alcohol. Turns out the kids were practicing the dance moves to Candyman for three weeks!

No Jean you're wrong here. Totally expected people to disagree...but what are the majority doing?

No ill wishes, at all. And no. I went to reflect because once I got myself into an utterly unspeakable situation in the classroom myself.

I was teaching the 10s radioactivity. This needs videos. I noticed that our physics vids had been started to be migrated to a new video server. Or so I assumed.

Got the class settled. Typed in 'phy' into the search box. Get a vid coming up. I start to play it.

I watch in utter fucking horror as I see a man simulating sex with a blow up doll. I kid you fucking not. However, I had also turned on the projector. Now the year 10s were watching it as well...

At this point, I pretty much go into shock. My career flashed in front of my eyes. I can only do one thing, apologise. Which I do whilst simultaneously wondering HTAF was this on a school's server?

Luckily a good boy spouts up 'Miss, please dont worry. We saw this last week in Drama'.

The fucking Drama department. Fuckers. No teacher should ever be put into that position nor any student either. My old line manager whenever he had to do a French cover complained that they always showed vids which were pretty pornographic.

Renarde I agree with you epic fail on song choice for 9 year olds. Our primary choir belting out greatest showman which kids love and doesn’t involve reference to casual shagging

Happy memories of being taken in fifth year so about 16 to a play by a feminist collective their response to porn. It was amazing but the poor teacher was ashen at the end - lots of graphic swearing and explicit stuff. Remember her saying “please don’t tell your parents “

Wrong and you should complain OP, but unless you point out the younger children who may have been in the assembly (if whole school), I hold out little hope you will be listened much to.

The assembly would have been better focusing on World War 1 given the centenary of the armistice I think.

OP, why is not censoring anything a bold statement to make? I genuinely don't see an issue?

I'm actually quite shocked that the teacher thought this was appropriate. No school I've ever worked in would allow it. Having said that, I've never actually heard the song until this thread as it's strictly radio 4 with me!

Storm I do have strong views on censoring but probably not the ones you imagine.

When I was about 14 ish I would very often take adult books out of the library. Think Collins, Conran etc. But I was 14 or so and sexually curious.

But this is different. That class is 9 going on 10. Pre-pubescent. If parents and teachers do not enforce suitability and age relevant material then we are breaching our duty as care givers. No question.

By all means, allow them to do whatever the fuck they want. Then reap the consequences. Not just you personally but society as a whole.

Teachers, most teachers, take in loco parentis extremely seriously. They have to. Most teachers are usually vocationally led so they naturally want to protect from harm. Also...we just don't want to get sacked.

Whoops. Teachers are never sacked. They're forced to resign. Did I not mention that?

BTW as a teacher who deals with OTT parents regularly, I agree with OP - we should be responsible in ensuring we only expose children to appropriate content and it only takes a quick google to see if a song’s lyrics are suitable for delicate ears or not. I think a polite complaint would be warranted in this instance when there are literally tens (if not hundreds) of better soundtrack choices that could have been made.

Oh well, my DS is 5 and his favourite song is Animal Nitrate by Suede. He doesn’t understand the words yet, we will jump that hurdle when we get there!

YABU

Gosh. It's a hysterical day on MN!

LurksNoLonger
I agree.
I'm the first to inwardly eye roll if parents are being OTT but if you set aside the original hyperbole, the crux of the OP's issue is reasonable.
It's not appropriate for sexual themed songs to be in a primary assembly.

Yes they probably don't realise most of the meanings and will hear it out of school but it's poor judgement for a teacher to do that in primary school.

I think a quiet and polite word would be reasonable.

@Tell the Cheesman is fucking awesome!

What a guy!

Agree that is semsible. And it's unlikely to result in a bunch of unpleasant teachers cackling in the staffroom, whatever a PP claimed.

World war evacuation and candyman?? Wtf where is the link? I'm lost for words

Maisie agreeded. The title is somewhat hyperbole. BTBH...I was angry this morning at such a poor lapse in a fellow professionals' judgement coupled with...DS has been rehearsing this for THAT long?

Not only is rehearsing for 3 weeks for a 3 min song completely unacceptable from an educational POV, it was a song THAT was a - not from the period and thus entirely missing the point and b- rammed to the gunwales of misogynistic, sexist and sexually provocative imagery. Let's not forget C, the Head stating clearly he had not seen what was about to happen.

No. I'm not about to drop another teacher in it. Having seen the ways schools operate, I'm reserving judgement.

If I'm over-reacting on candyman then why is it that the radio version gets played and not the unexpurgated one?

^I agree- this song is inappropriate for 9 year old. I also agree that Don’t Stop Believing is a shit song.

I don't think the 'it's used in dance classes' is a reasonable argument. It's inappropriate there too - as are some of the toe curling sexualised moves they teach them far far too young!

@CustardOmlet - if your little dahling sang "what does it take to turn you on" to my little dahling I would move her in the opposite direction from him very quickly and have a word with the teacher that your little dahling was using inappropriate adult phrases.
But hey, I'm not cool like you so it's my bad.

This thread is bringing back a memory I have tried to block for years. In my first teaching job I tried to organise a little talent show with my Yr 2 pupils. The first to audition were two 7 year old girls who did a loud rendition of Like a Virgin complete with dance moves. It was so grim. I agree Candy Man wasn't the best choice, and maybe you could send a note saying the assembly was brilliant, but maybe a song from the era would have been more appropriate. Although many of the songs from World War 2 had extremely rude lyrics, so maybe, in the words of another song, you should just Let it Go...

@bellinisurge I believe the word is spelt darling, but don’t quote me on that, I’m clearly thick! And do feel free to have a word with the teacher, his other favourite is The Pretender, so he’s clearly going to be a perverted anarchist!

@LG that indeed is grim.

I'm a teacher and while I wouldn't have chosen Candyman (bit too explicit imo), I wouldn't be worked up about it. I know girls in my class love singing 2002 at the moment, which gets huge amounts of radio play. I don't allow it in class but this and other pop songs are all along those lines.

As for Don't Stop Believing, I don't have an issue with that one. Im surprised though that no one stepped in with Candyman.

Don't Stop Believing immediately makes me think of The Sopranos! It wouldn't offend me in a dc school assembly, but Candyman would, both at my school and ds's primary.

Howver, if anyone complained, there would be no staffroom cackling - a deeply unpleasant image and post.

Thanks for the titbiscuit @CustardOmlet .

My boys were big fans of singing along to the radio Right from the ages of 3 and 5 and knew every word to ‘Sex on Fire’ as well as Shaggy’s immortal classic, ‘It Wasn’t Me’. Car journeys left me cringing but they didn’t have the faintest idea what they were singing about.

Looking back I still remember my Dad’s face when I used to sing loudly in my room to ‘Like a Virgin’ and ‘I Touch Myself’ at age 10.

Luckily my Dad kept his mouth shut and I remained in blissful ignorance for a few more years. Maybe you should take a leaf out of his book, OP?

we used to listen to relax when i was 9-the more u ban things the more kids wantt o hear it