-----Original Message-----
From: andrew fildes [mailto:afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Subject: RE: [OM] Courage
>Strewth!
>You wouldn't want to be gay in the states, would you?! (And I
>thought Mike Moore was exaggerating!)
Depends what state one is in. :-)
<snip>
>The only risque pic I've seen of a 16yo girl lately was taken by another
>16yo girl - it involved bra, panties, ropes and stakes!
<snip>
>The girls were quite open about what they were doing but utterly naive
>about consequences - I had to warn them not to leave wet prints lying
>around in case they got stolen by male students - and then I had to
>carefully explain why they might steal them. They were quite startled that
>they might be used in this way. I think it's this uneven moral and social
>development that causes some of the problems.
>Trouble is that the sequence of photographs is really very good. And the
>Principal keeps asking if I've got anything that could go in the School
>Magazine. It's soooo tempting! Instant professional suicide. Wonderful
>ethical conflict.
This has gotta be one of the most complex aspects of teaching in what would
be High School here in the US. Uneven experience, moral and physical
development and sexual awareness in students complicated by the widely
varied (and often blinkered) expectations of parents and the general public.
Students are quite often capable of having a totally different vision of
something they produce than the interpretation likely to be placed on it by
others, as you mention. Then comes the problem of trying to recognize and
reward what may well be great work in a situation where the work may not be
able to be shown. I can remember controversy over student art from all the
way back when I was a student, myself. Requires a courageous school
administration to just go ahead and post them as they get them.
Unfortunately, also as you mention, that sometimes means some form of
professional suicide is committed. Parents rarely seem willing to believe
that their child independently produced an image which they found
disturbing.
---
Scott Gomez
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