The Prudes Are Still Coming, The Prudes Are Still Coming...

From today's Studio Briefing (at the IMDB):

The screening of an Oscar-nominated movie about the life of Queen Elizabeth I to students in an advanced class on British literature has resulted in the forced resignation of an admired teacher in the Atlanta suburb of South Gwinnett. On Tuesday, students in Ed Youngblood's class mounted a protest. "If 'First comes learning' is true, why do you get rid of the guy who holds that motto the best?" one senior in the class told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Public Schools told reporters that Youngblood chose to resign after he was told that an investigation had begun into the screening of the R-rated film, 1998's Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role. "Mr. Youngblood did not ask for a local review of the film prior to showing it, nor did he allow parents the option of opting their students out of the viewing," she told the Gwinnett Daily Post. Youngblood, who had taught at the school for 37 years, said that he was given five minutes to choose between resigning or being fired. "I didn't think about it being R-rated," Youngblood said. "It's such a good movie." (Besides receiving seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, Elizabeth also won the BAFTA award for best British Film, a best actress award for Blanchett and a supporting-actor award for Geoffrey Rush.)

The original NYTimes review includes this warning about the rating (in their typical snarky fashion):

It includes violence, nudity, sexual situations and quaint Tudor profanity.

I can understand the teacher perhaps getting a suspension for not informing parents ahead of time of the showing of an R-rated movie. But come on--a five minute choice between resignation or firing for this offence. That's f'ing ludicrous.

[Sorry, there was nothing happy about this post. I gotta work on that happy angle some more...]