They were less repressed in 1776 than now

There are no breasts exposed in the film, with nipple star or without, and yet the Fairfax County schools will no longer screen the movie “1776” because of “sexual innuendo.”

Jefferson is balking at staying in Philadelphia to write the declaration and protests to Adams: “I’ve not seen my wife in six months.”

Adams responds, “You write 10 times better than any man in Congress, including me. For a man of only 33 years, you possess a happy talent for composition and a remarkable felicity of expression. Now, will you be a patriot . . . or a lover?”

… As everyone knows, Jefferson gave in and penned the nation’s divorce decree from the British. But some Fairfax students won’t see the fictional account of that history, now that the county’s social studies coordinator has reviewed the film at the request of a middle school principal and deemed it inappropriate.

“I watched the video,” coordinator Sara Shoob said. “There’s some sexual innuendo and language, and when you’re talking about the Declaration of Independence, that does not have to be part of your discussion.”

… Its exclusion in middle schools upset at least one teacher, who circulated an anonymous e-mail to the School Board and community members protesting Shoob’s decision.

“Teachers are far better able to determine what material is suitable for teenagers than administrators who have not been in the classroom for years or attorneys whose job it is to protect the school system from the complaints and concerns of a few parents who have a political axe to grind,” the teacher said. “In the last 10 years, [the school system] has increasingly based educational decisions on fear instead of strength.”

In recent years, Fairfax, the region’s largest school system, has faced numerous attempts to ban books in its curriculum and on its library shelves, from the young adult book “The Chocolate War” to the popular adult novel “Shogun.” Although the School Board must hear every challenge, few books, even those with cursing, violence and graphic sexual content, have been banned.

In the case of “1776,” in which Adams sings that “life is more than sexual combustibility,” school officials said educators have alternatives in teaching Colonial history to students.

Frankly, it seems to me that the message of “1776” is valuable for those kids — that life IS more than sex. That sometimes you have to put those desires aside to create something incredible.

I work in social studies (and it goes without saying that my opinions here are not necessarily those of my employer) and I feel that this reaction is ridiculous. If you want students to learn about our nation and it’s origins, and you want them to be effective citizens in the future, you must first get them interested. Dry facts and figures from a text book won’t do it. As an adult, I learned more about the messy, dirty business of starting the American experiment from that film than I ever did in school — because it made the story so compelling that you almost thought they wouldn’t sign the Declaration!
Here’s a thought — why don’t they just censor — um, cut out the offending lines (which amount to barely a minute) and just get on with it?