Art Teacher Loses Job After Kids See Nude Sculpture

A teacher in Texas took her fifth grade students, whose parents were notified of the trip and had to sign permission slips, to the Dallas Museum of Art. Apparently one of the students told their parent that they had seen a nude sculpture, and the parent complained. That was all it took to get the teacher fired.

This was an approved field trip that the principal urged the teacher to take the students on.

This teacher worked for this school board for 28 years, was honored with the Star Teacher Award two years ago, and is now on administrative leave until her contract is up, which the school board won't renew.

Someones career is now ruined. The parents knew their children were going to a museum, what did they think their children were going to see in there, CARTOONS.

Art Teacher Loses Job After Kids See Nude Sculpture

The Fisher Elementary School art teacher came under fire last April when she took 89 fifth-graders on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. Parents raised concerns over the field trip after their children reported seeing a nude sculpture at the art museum.

The parents had signed permission slips allowing their children to take part in the field trip.

McGee's lawyer said the principal at Fisher Elementary School admonished her after a parent complained that a student had seen nude art.

There is also a poll on the web page that the article is on

SURVEY

Would you be upset if your child saw a nude sculpture at a museum of art while on a field trip?

So far, the results are 97% said they would not be upset.

This is just wrong in my book, the school board should have stuck up for the teacher, and the teacher should have never have received any kind of reprimands or anything.

It's just amazing how "protective" (protective is not really the word I would prefer to use here) some parents think they have to be.



[edit on 27/9/06 by Keyhole]

This is sick.

Wow, that is ridiculous.

When I was in grade 10 we watched Heavy Metal.

BTW your link leads to a blank page.

[edit on 27/9/2006 by Umbrax]

this is really horrible.

why is America so terrified of the human form? is this a religious thing, where people believe some bearded white man in the sky will send their spirits to a lake of fire if they see a boobie?

i bet the parent, whomever they may be, thinks of this as a triumph for morality. and i think it's sick that they see themselves as fit to destroy the career and life of another person like this.

this is just really upsetting for me.

This is so ridiculous!!!

When i was in third grade we were made to watch a movie about a bunch of naked indians from Peru. I dont recall any complaints then- and my life wasnt changed or traumatized as a result of this either.

ART. Its called art.

Wow, how low can things sink.

DOUBLE POST-

[edit on 27-9-2006 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by Umbrax

BTW your link leads to a blank page.

Thanks for the heads up, the link should work now.

[edit on 27/9/06 by Keyhole]

Thats ridiculous. Just shows how things are turning out in our century. What I mean is, safety is everywhere, in unhealthy amounts. Its hard to explain but never mind. To be on topic i think its nonsence that the teacher got fired. The parents were aware that the children were going to a museum, and the trip was approved, signed premission slips and all. I lack the volcbulary to truely explain myself to this idioacracy (if thats a word). I remember when i was little, and I went to a museum on a class trip, i saw a naked statue, and i giggled about it with a friend, and that was it. damn it. The parents nowdays want to put thier kids in a cacoon and keep they kids away from the real world so no harm happens to them. Then the future generations are a bunch of soft, simple minded fools who would'nt know to run from a gun, because they would'nt know what one is.

i notice the use of 'parent' is singular... so only one person whined about it and got this teacher fired?? wow, unbelievable...

This does not surprise me in the least little bit
When I was in kindergarten (MANY years ago) I was hauled into the principles office for the first time, by my teacher complaining about MY artwork. Back then in the late 60's I was obsessed with mermaids and drew many mermaid pictures, but they were topless. I couldnt see WHY a mermaid would somehow just happen to have a bathing suit top, or WHY on earth she would attatch prickly starfish to her bosoms......so the mermaids I drew were bare breasted.
This, hauling me into the main office for 'drawing pornography' went on throughout my school years. In high school when I got into sculpture, of course the mermaids still had no tops, so I wound up banned from the art classes......I recieved MANY MANY failing grades because of my chosen subject matter.....

Well anyway...today I am STILL a sculptress and artist, and YES I do nudes. This has always been the case with me......it IS NOT PORN...it is art....and the way I see a body is un-clothed and free.......
Regular merican schools however do not SEE an un-clothed human body as art in any way shape or form. They see it as PORN plain and simple. The studants who create such art are kicked out of the art class, and the teachers who share such art are fired.
That is just how the cookie crumbles in the American school system, sadley......VERY sad but true.
This is no recent thing, its been this way for YEARS..........& years......
The small minded majority has ruled forever from how I see it....my past experiances taught me this frame of thinking. I was either in BIG TROUBLE for my art work in school or I was just plain BANNED from being in the class.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by theRiverGoddess]

Isn't this all about theological ethics?

European dogma resulting from the church?

All those missionaries aghast at the nudity displayed by native tribes as they explored new worlds.

tsk tsk

Being ashamed of our bodies is as old as Adam and Eve.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by Lug]

Originally posted by m3rlz
i notice the use of 'parent' is singular... so only one person whined about it and got this teacher fired?? wow, unbelievable...

Well, that was a little unclear, here are a few quotes from the article.

Article

So, here it says ONE STUDENT saw ...

FRISCO, Texas -- An award-winning Texas art teacher who was reprimanded after one of her fifth-grade students saw a nude sculpture during a trip to a museum has lost her job.

Here it says A PARENT complained.

McGee's lawyer said the principal at Fisher Elementary School admonished her after a parent complained that a student had seen nude art.

And here it says PARENTS complained.

Parents raised concerns over the field trip after their children reported seeing a nude sculpture at the art museum

So it's not clear on how many complained.

But that doesn't really matter if you ask me, the whole thing is ridiculous.

So, either there is one idiotic parent, or a bunch of them.

The school board just should have told them (or her or him) that if they were that worried about what their child might see in the museum, they should have went to the museum first and see if anything in there offended them or was not suitable for their child to see. Sorry, but you signed the permission slip, and I do believe that everybody knows that there is nude art objects in an art museum.

Will posting a work of art get me a warning on ATS ???




There has to be more to this story than just one parent complaining about one child seeing a depiction of the human form. Someone had to be looking for an excuse to get rid of this teacher for some other reason.

How the hell does this school deal with sex ed if they can't even show a drawing of the parts we all have.

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
Will posting a work of art get me a warning on ATS ???

I hope you do get a warning from the ATS staff.
this is the wrong thread to be posting members pictures! And I bet you didn't even get lysergic's permission!


Seriously, this entire story is disgusting. That an award winning teacher should lose her job and lose her career over a 'harmless school trip to the museum' is absolutely ridiculous and revolting on so many levels.

The only reason that I can deduce is because of some sort of fundamental religious belief. Of course, perhaps the statue in question was in some way lude and inappropriate or controversial. But even if this were the case, the museum's curator should be the one on the hot seat -- not the teacher. How could she possibly be held responsible for the artwork in the museum? Nevertheless, I don't believe for one minute that any statue or painting that any chiildren might have seen -- nude or otherwise -- in a museum would have been inappropriate. If anything, the only thing inappropriate is the attitude held by the complaining parent.

This guy looks like he just stepped onto the beach and is looking around for a place to tan.

Gee whillikers, Batman, how come they didn't burn the artist who carved this masterpiece at the stake for such impudence? You know, Mike Angelo or whoever.

What's changed that it was OK in those days and in that place, but not OK in Texas today?

*ZNORT*

It's a sad state of affairs..........

I would really like to see the offending object that the children saw so that I could pass my own judgement.
Anyone have pictures of that ???

I remember going through National Geographic when I was a boy, and looking at art books. I even read some pretty provocative poetry and verse that could have caused some urges in a young child, but hell, I made it too adulthood without much scarring.

People need to lighten up over issues of the human body, sure society needs to draw lines, but this one seems to have gone too far.



Edit: bbcode

[edit on 28/9/2006 by anxietydisorder]

I don't get it? I can understand if were talking elementry school students, but if their teenagers or middle school age, unless their stricly religious or something.

Originally posted by brokenwindows
I don't get it? I can understand if were talking elementry school students,

I think the original story said the students were in grade 5, so in Canada that would equate to children about the age of 10.

I can't see children of that age, or any age, being cloistered from seeing something like David or Venus, or any other work of art that depicted the human form.
Children live within families where they see nudity, they are exposed to the naked bodies of their peers at school in the change room, they view the daily flesh on cable T.V. without harm. So what makes this any different ???

It's not like the teacher took them to a Mapplethorpe exibit.

Somebody in this story is way too uptight..........:shk:



[edit on 28/9/2006 by anxietydisorder]

This happened in Texas. I'm not surprised! I have lived here for over a year and a half and am still hoping employment opportunities will get us out of here soon.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with children seeing naked art. By fifth grade (age 10) children should know what a naked body looks like. Parents should know that art museums have pictures and sculptures of the human form in all its glory. If the parent didn't want their child exposed to this but signed the permission slip, they have only themself to blame.

just thought I'd let people know who were reading this thread, in the article there was a link to school officials e-mail, so I sent them an e- mail with a link to this thread so that maybe, maybe they would re-think their position.

If I was wrong for doing this, please let me know.

I just thought maybe they needed to hear a different perspective of the field trip.

[edit on 28/9/06 by Keyhole]