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It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
by Debra Chasnoff, Helen S. Cohen
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"I preview scores of tapes for our diversity and multicultural training programs and IT'S ELEMENTARY is really the BEST film I can recall. For people who are in the business of educating educators, this is a seminal piece of work."
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It's Elementary takes cameras into classrooms across the U.S. to look at one of today's most controversial issues - whether and how gay issues should be discussed in schools. It features elementary and middle schools where (mainly heterosexual) teachers are challenging the prevailing political climate and its attempt to censor any dialogue in schools about gay people. Rather than focusing on the debate between adults, though, the film takes the point of view of the school children, starting as young as first grade. The results are surprising and, as the LA Reader says, "funny, touching, and fascinating." Third graders' jaws drop when they find out some of their favorite celebrities are gay; second graders react to a book about a girl who gets teased because she has two moms; fourth graders say it makes them "feel weird in your stomach" when other kids yell "faggot" on the playground and teachers don't do anything about it; eighth graders fire a barrage of poignant questions to the gay guest speakers who visit their social studies class; third graders passionately debate the current events issue of the day: should gays be allowed to get married? It becomes quite clear that most children are affected by anti-gay prejudice in some way, and that they are very responsive to a curriculum that teaches respect for everyone, including lesbians and gay men. The San Francisco Examiner says It's Elementary, with its refreshing child's eye-view of a topic that sends some adult racing to their school boards, "could become one of the most important films ever devoted to lesbian and gay issues." SPECIAL FEATURES VHS Two-Tape Package includes both original feature length (78 mins.) and educational training version (37 mins.). Films not sold individually. Appropriate for:
78 & 37 minutes • VHS • Closed
Captioned
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REVIEWS "By providing the educational community with IT'S ELEMENTARY, Chasnoff and Cohen have provided...college instructors, workshop leaders, facilitators, and social activists one of the most powerful and important resources available for initiating dialogue, encouraging individual self-development, and pushing forth toward educational and social change on a topic that too few have successfully accessibly addressed." "[It's Elementary] serves as a model for educators who want to deal with the subject of lesbians and gays but don't know where to begin." "...a sterling production...highly recommended for parents, educators, and other adults." "IT'S ELEMENTARY does a lot to cool down one of education's hottest potatoes... (it) should be consoling to parents who are eager to raise good-hearted children but who can't imagine how this topic can be addressed in class." "A challenging, wonderfully provocative piece which offers a highly engaging forum for discussion of many issues concerning schools - like what's 'appropriate' subject matter and how to combat the most basic kinds of intolerance."
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