A teacher forced to resign to show Michelangelo’s David in class

Three parents from the Talas Classical School complained about the training course given by the director of the institution related to the Renaissance statue. Someone felt that the masterpiece was pornographic.

At a so-called “classical school” in Tallahassee, Florida, exposing sixth graders to the classics of the Italian Renaissance could have devastating consequences.

In mid-March, the director of the institution, Hope Carrasquilla, gave a lesson to sixth graders on this artistic period. To make its point, it displays several masterpieces, including two by the Florentine artist Michelangelo: Adam’s creation who sits on the roof Sistine Chapel in the VaticanAnd Davida colossal 5-meter-high white marble statue, was long considered the ultimate representation of male beauty.

But it seems that not all parents are satisfied with the work. After this course, the Tallahassee establishment receives three complaints from parents, according to the report Washington Post. Two regret not being informed in advance of the content of the lesson, and the other judges the statue, showing the biblical hero preparing to go to fight Goliath in his simplest pornographic device.

urgent meeting

On March 20, an emergency meeting was organized by the Foundation’s board of directors, at which an ultimatum was given to the director: either you are fired or you quit. The teacher chooses the second option.

“It is with a heavy heart that my position as president of the Tallahassee Classical School has come to an end,” she wrote in a letter. Washington Post have bought. With the American Journal, Hope Carrasquilla specifies that although no specific reason for her dismissal was formally given, complaints following her studies at Michelangelo are the main reason.

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For his part, Barney Bishop III, who chairs the foundation’s board of directors, confirmed to Washington Post That the teacher had already been given an ultimatum, after receiving the three complaints. While he added that other major related issues have affected the balance.

The latter, who stresses that he studied the Renaissance in Italy in his youth, considers the work of art in itself not to be a problem, but it is the lack of exchange with the parents that he regrets.

Florida School Curriculum Observation

Florida led by the Republican governor Ron DeSantisa potential candidate for the White House for the 2024 presidential election. Since the beginning of his term, his administration has been marked by the desire to strictly regulate the content of school programs.

in the southeastern state of the United States, Discussion of gender and sexuality issues among younger people is now prohibited, even indirectly. Just like certain ways of teaching racial issues, in a country that is deeply unequal. Another law is about to be passed, this time aimed at strengthening parents’ influence in school programmes.

“Parental rights are supreme,” Barney Bishop III admits.

The turbulent story builds up across the Atlantic as the program of the Tallahassee Classical School, whose legal status is so free to regulate, was created by a conservative Catholic institution, Hillsdale College. The latter insists that students get acquainted with the Italian Renaissance from the sixth grade.

A scenario that has already been thought of The Simpsons

In Italy, the teacher’s resignation caused a stir. Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, the city where he is David , The verdict on Twitter is that “to confuse art with pornography is absurd.”

He continued, “I will personally invite the teacher to Florence to show our gratitude to her on behalf of the city. Art is a civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect.”

nearby Washington Post, Hope Carrasquilla said she was “absolutely blown away” by the proposal, indicating that she could accept it. Cecilie Holberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, the museum in which the statue is displayed, has also sent out several invitations: to students and their parents this time, so that they can come and observe the “purity” up close. bust.

On social networks, users have enjoyed another aspect of this state. in a loop Simpsons Aired in 1990, the series’ creators had already imagined the controversy it would cause David by Michelangelo. While the statue was to be put on temporary display in Springfield, residents rallied against the initiative, deeming the artwork offensive.

Original article published on BFMTV.com

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