Sunday, July 10, 2011

Bad Teacher -- Jesus Christ!



The movie Bad Teacher seemed to have so much potential. Education is something everyone goes through (though fewer go to school with the home school movement strengthening and now folks are promoting online education for the pre-Adult grades).
Still the movie offered a humorous peek at the classroom experience -- offered, but I am not sure delivered. Yes, there were laugh-out-loud moments, but the teacher was so bad that one's concern for the children's experience began to outweigh the desire to laugh.
One particularly problematic moment for me came when the teacher was grading papers, and comments increased in their caustic nature. Finally, Cameron Diaz writes "Jesus Christ" on one paper.
OK, so this may violate the "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God" commandment. That is a big problem, but movies have been stepping over that line for some time. I am more concerned with this scene as if it would be tolerated in school. In recent films wrestling coaches easily flaunt language for their students and now this middle-school teacher. Teachers do have some modeling role for appropriateness for the students. Really? "Jesus Christ." I do not think that would be tolerated in school, even by a principal as out of touch as the one depicted in "Bad Teacher." Teachers do not have to be saints, but there are boundaries, right?


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