Teacher Shows 40 Year Old Virgin In HS Class

[MrsSpringsteen]

Not the worst thing imaginable that a teacher could do, but very poor judgment I think that movie actually has some positive and sweet messages, but obviously the teacher didn't follow the rules. Not that kids didn't sneak into the theater anyway but that's beside the point....


January 26, 2006

LEXINGTON, Ky. --Showing the R-rated movie "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" during high school Spanish class this week resulted in suspension for the teacher, who later resigned.

Fernando Del Pino was suspended with pay Tuesday for showing the movie to students at Lexington's Tates Creek High School a day earlier, said Lisa Deffendall, spokeswoman for Fayette County Public Schools. He resigned Thursday.

Del Pino, who was hired in August, said he decided to show the film after a student brought it to class and said it "was very funny," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Friday.

The movie is about a 40-year-old single man whose friends try to help him gain experience in sex.

R-rated movies are not to be shown to anyone younger than 17 without a parent or guardian. The movie was rated R for pervasive, explicit and crude sexual content and drug use.

Parents of Tates Creek students must give written permission for their children to watch an R-rated movie at school, according to the school's video policy. Students whose parents object must be given alternative assignments.

The policy also states that the videos/movies "must be part of the lesson plan with genuine instruction objectives."

Deffendall said the investigation was initiated because "it appears that the Tates Creek policy was not followed." The suspension letter was issued Tuesday, the same day a complaint was reported to the district, she said.

------

Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

btw I didn't get this on the Drudge Report-so if it shows up on there or is already there..I got it in my local paper

 

[yolland]

Del Pino, who was hired in August, said he decided to show the film after a student brought it to class and said it "was very funny," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Friday.

I've heard several teachers complain that in practice it doesn't work out to solicit ideas from their students for music to play and movies to watch, etc. at parties because they can't count on them to recognize (or be honest about?) what might violate school policies.

Of course that's not an excuse for the teacher not checking the label and stopping himself before putting the film into the player.

 

[BVS]

Dumb move...

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I don't know how old this teacher is and what kind of a rock he lives under that he wasn't aware of the content of this movie. Not to mention all he had to do was watch it himself first.

The title and rating are clues, no?

 

[U2democrat]

Tates Creek High School! I have friends who went there (I lived in Lex for 8 looooong years).

That same policy applied in my high school, the rare times a rated R movie was shown we did the permission slip thing.

 

[yolland]

I don't know how old this teacher is and what kind of a rock he lives under that he wasn't aware of the content of this movie.

34, a red brick row house, guilty as charged.

In fact, I had quite a far off idea of what this thread was going to be about based on the title when I opened it!

 

[randhail]

How is this even news worthy?? They showed an R rated movie to high schoolers, oh no! Society is doomed.

I was 15 in high school when my history class watched Schindler's List. Should Mr. White be suspended for this??

 

[MirrorballLemon]

seems to me that it was just poor judgement. i dont see the need for the national publicity though, but as always, things are blown out of proportion

 

[stammer476]

Heh. My in-laws live in Lexington, right near Tates Creek HS, but decided not to send their kids there because of the bad reputation of the school. They went private instead. Guess that was a good decision.

 

[Shaliz]

How is this even news worthy?? They showed an R rated movie to high schoolers, oh no! Society is doomed.

I was 15 in high school when my history class watched Schindler's List. Should Mr. White be suspended for this??

My history class did this, too, but the school required parental permission. But to me there's a pretty big difference between watching Schindler's List in a history class and watching The 40 Year Old Virgin because a student said it "was very funny." I mean, what was the educational reason for showing it? Unless, it was some kind of sex-ed class, of course.

 

[MsGiggles]

How is this even news worthy?? They showed an R rated movie to high schoolers, oh no! Society is doomed.

I was 15 in high school when my history class watched Schindler's List. Should Mr. White be suspended for this??

You have to be 17 + to see an R rated movie in the U.S. Additonally, the movie was being shown because it was "funny" not for any kind of educational use - so that time spent viewing the film should have been spent learning what they were there for in the first place.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Schindler's List is a very important movie for teenagers to see, and it is shown with permission and knowledge of parents (I would assume). When I was in HS I had to get parental permission to see a Holocaust documentary, it was so emotional for me that I remember it to this day-and I learned very valuable lessons from it. I can't believe anyone would make any analogy between those two movies

He was suspended for violating the school policy, not for the particular movie

I didn't say society was doomed, it was in the newspaper and I just felt like posting it as a silly thread here. Shoot me

 

[BVS]

I was 15 in high school when my history class watched Schindler's List. Should Mr. White be suspended for this??

How is that comparable?

 

[beegee]

How is this even news worthy?? They showed an R rated movie to high schoolers, oh no! Society is doomed.

no, society isn't doomed because high schoolers saw this film. it's doomed when there is no longer any sense of innocence in our children - and when adults no longer seem to care. i am the parent of a child this age and if it had been shown to them, i would have been outraged.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Yes, many parents and non-parents alike do still care about the innocence of children, and about letting them hold on to some things before they have to let them go or better yet-before then choose on their own when they are emotionally ready to let them go. So that is one thing that makes this issue important and relevant.

 

[randhail]

no, society isn't doomed because high schoolers saw this film. it's doomed when there is no longer any sense of innocence in our children - and when adults no longer seem to care. i am the parent of a child this age and if it had been shown to them, i would have been outraged.

Outraged? To me that seems a little strong. If keeping kids away from R rated movies until they're 17 is the biggest concern, then I think they should be pretty happy.


Once again, I don't understand why anyone can make a big deal about it, especially how it would wind up in a newspaper. What kid hasn't gone to school and had a day or a class where they don't do any learning?

 

[beegee]

Outraged? To me that seems a little strong. If keeping kids away from R rated movies until they're 17 is the biggest concern, then I think they should be pretty happy.


Once again, I don't understand why anyone can make a big deal about it, especially how it would wind up in a newspaper. What kid hasn't gone to school and had a day or a class where they don't do any learning?

i don't think this is about the fact that they spent one class not learning.

let me ask you this - do you have children?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

No one said it's the "biggest concern", it's just not appropriate-if for no other reason than it's a violation of school policy. There are reasons that movie policy is in place or it wouldn't be.

Yes kids have days in school where they don't learn anything but it's up to the teacher to do their best to avoid that. Isn't that part of a teacher's job? Yes kids need to have fun in school too, but there are so many ways to do that that don't violate school rules/policy and would meet with parents' approval.

I think parents should decide if their kids see R rated movies and what movies, not a teacher who seems rather clueless to me.

And I don't mean to bash teachers, there are plenty of great ones.

 

[randhail]

let me ask you this - do you have children?

Ah, the old "I don't have kids so I must not understand what's going on here" approach.


I'm sorry for thinking that this a complete non-issue, but this is way down on the list of things that get my panties in a tizzy.

 

[beegee]

Ah, the old "I don't have kids so I must not understand what's going on here" approach.


I'm sorry for thinking that this a complete non-issue, but this is way down on the list of things that get my panties in a tizzy.

no, i'm not saying because you don't have children you must not understand what's going on here. that would be stupid.

however, i do think that if you had children you would better understand why i would say that i would be "outraged" at the showing of this film in my child's classroom.

that was all.

 

[verte76]

This was a stupid thing to do.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

Ah, the old "I don't have kids so I must not understand what's going on here" approach.


I'm sorry for thinking that this a complete non-issue, but this is way down on the list of things that get my panties in a tizzy.

You're right, you don't have to have kids to understand the issue- just a sense of right or wrong. As a teacher myself, a young teacher at that---I could never ever justify showing a movie like 40 year old virgin to my students. It's completely stupid. There are times that non-educational movies can be shown as a reward or something, but they should be school appropriate.

Too many kids today have no limits whatsover--I see it daily. I'm a middle school teacher. Many kids have parents who don't care. The kids are living in country where everything is over-saturated in the sexual sense. I'm only 24, and the difference I see from when I was in school even is amazing. Theres such a huge loss of innocence and it's really sad. When you combine this "non-issue" with all the other "non-issues" concerning teens, it begins building into a lot of big issues.

 

[Dreadsox]

How is this even news worthy?? They showed an R rated movie to high schoolers, oh no! Society is doomed.

I was 15 in high school when my history class watched Schindler's List. Should Mr. White be suspended for this??

Are you really comparing the 40 Year old Virgin to Schindler's list....

 

[Dreadsox]

Well, the teacher did one thing right....resigned...if he were fired he would not work again.

As an administrator I would wonder why this was even on the radar in SPANISH class?

He was going to be fired. You cannot show a movie like this without permission from the parents....and the administration, sorry.

ANd the Shindler's List argument is really sad.

 

[randhail]

ANd the Shindler's List argument is really sad.

Thanks for the input. I'll make sure to make a note of it.

 

[Dreadsox]

You truly equate them as being the same?

 

[Chizip]

I didn't see anywere in the article where it said what grade it was, it just says high school students. What if it was a senior class, where everyone was 17 or 18 anyway? If it was a senior class that had an exam on a Thursday, and the Friday was before holiday break or something and the teacher just wanted to do something fun, then I don't see why it would be such a big deal.

Of course I don't really know all the details.

 

[BVS]

I didn't see anywere in the article where it said what grade it was, it just says high school students. What if it was a senior class, where everyone was 17 or 18 anyway? If it was a senior class that had an exam on a Thursday, and the Friday was before holiday break or something and the teacher just wanted to do something fun, then I don't see why it would be such a big deal.

Of course I don't really know all the details.

Still there are many of age that do not want to see this type of movie.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Well, the teacher did one thing right....resigned...if he were fired he would not work again.

As an administrator I would wonder why this was even on the radar in SPANISH class?

He was going to be fired. You cannot show a movie like this without permission from the parents....and the administration, sorry.

ANd the Shindler's List argument is really sad.

I would hate to work for a district that would fire a teacher over this. Poor choice? Yes. Firable offense, no. I actually laughed when I read this. 2 students were caught having sex in the boys bathroom today at my school. My district wishes it had problems like teachers showing R rated movies in class.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Also, many teachers in my department show Full Metal Jacket. They send the letter home and an alternative assignment is offered.