Educators have responsibility to decide what's best for students

By Donna Shell

The recent Southeast Missouri State University production of "Romeo and Juliet" has created quite a stir in Southeast Missouri. As a teacher at one of those schools that canceled attendance for the high school matinee, I feel several issues have not been addressed and should be. I was in on our decision to cancel and feel we were justified in doing so. This side of the story should be discussed as too many people have berated our area school administrators for making the decision to cancel.

First of all, anyone in education should be ever cognizant of the fact that we are employees of our various school districts and the parents. That role puts us in front of the room daily with the charge to expose our students to good literature and good information. The parents of our students expect us to act and decide in their absence and on behalf of their children. We are hired to represent the values and standards of the people of our district.

Any time our buses move for a field trip, we are, in essence, saying that as a school we sanction and support that event. As a result, a decision had to be made on behalf of our students and their parents last week that canceled the trip which had been planned since January.

For the sake of argument, we need to consider the diversity of the students who would have been on our bus. We have some who have access to anything the remote control gives them on satellite television. On the other hand, some of our students are allowed to watch very little television, if any at all. Those letter writers who have argued that PG-13 is on television all the time anyway are making a totally irrelevant point. It's important to realize that it may be in some homes, but that does not mean all homes watch that type programming or condone it.

Also, the television can be turned off immediately if the viewer is uncomfortable. You don't turn off a live production. The student then becomes the captive audience. That has to be taken into consideration in a decision like this.

Part of my responsibility in taking students to a live performance is to teach proper theater etiquette. As I should preview a movie video prior to showing it in class, I should know what a production is before I go, thus avoiding the walking out during the performance and disturbing others. I applaud the Clarkton group that had to leave during the performance, as well as the young lady who left her seat to finish out the play sitting in the lobby. If they were that uncomfortable, I respect their right to act as they did.

Theater should not make anyone uncomfortable. It should be pure joy to sit in on that illusion of reality and its presentation on the stage. On the other hand, the theater department and director Kenn Stilson are perfectly within their rights to interpret the script as they see fit.

My theater background taught me that audience analysis is important in script selection and the stage business of each character. Perhaps the high school student isn't as ready for the creative interpretation presented this past week as the theater department would like to believe. Perhaps they have learned a lesson in audience analysis, a lesson that the audience's standards and preferences must be respected.

In addition, out of all fairness to the theater department, the journalist from the Southeast Missourian did not give a fair review of the production in the April 21 paper. My theater coursework under Larry Grisvard and Jack Hensley taught me that a good review of a show should include all its facets: set design, costuming and makeup, use of lighting, acting strengths and weaknesses. Matt Sanders saw the production and had only one focus: the Verona Boys Club, the Montague boys, the frat pack. That is what alerted our staff and community in the first place.

However, I do have one question as a result. If an adult male journalist sees a play and that is the one thing that stays in his mind to the exclusion of the true play critique, how can we expect high school freshmen to look beyond the stage business presented and not be equally as focused on what the guys will do next? I want my students to have the privilege of seeing Shakespeare performed on stage and be focused on how it fits with what we have studied instead of a focus on the stage business.

I know there are those who say, "This is Shakespeare!" However, I do not pick apart and teach those questionable lines in a language arts class for freshmen. I'll leave that to the Shakespeare class on a college campus. That would be expected by the parents of my students. I want to foster an appreciation for Shakespeare and will continue to do so in the classroom. However, I must always be mindful of the students I teach and the standards of the community they represent.

Donna Shell teaches at Woodland High School near Marble Hill, Mo. These comments are her own views and do not represent any commentary by the school administration.