But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.
I do note from elsewhere in the piece that the teacher was (correctly) criticized for wearing the devil’s shoes (flip-flops) to work, but it strikes me as incredible (no, strike that: it’s all too credible) that she has now effectively been fired for allowing this child to see something that the New York Times describes as “nude art”, an odd phrase that can, I imagine, encompass everything from Botticelli (that filthy Venus of his) to, I suppose, Karen Finlay, and in this case, appeared to involve a Greek sculpture, and works by Rodin, Aristide Maillol and Jean Arp, pornographers, doubtless, all.
The sad thing about this nincompoop decision, of course, apart (most importantly) from the fact that a teacher is losing her livelihood, is the chilling effect it will have on other teachers and, of course, their students condemned to read bowdlerized literature, study bowdlerized textbooks and keep clear of all those dangerous art galleries.
Ideas. Who needs them?