Stephanie Arthur-Worsop: Edgy content helps inform world view

Stephanie Arthur-Worsop does not envy teachers.

I do not envy teachers who every year have to navigate the minefield of picking content to teach in class.

While most subjects have to walk the fine line between using content that piques the interest of students but doesn't scar them, English appears to be the subject constantly in the firing line.

The Rotorua Daily Post ran a story last Saturday about the testy topic after a mother was concerned her Year 9 son was shown the movie Mean Creek in class.

She said while she was pleased the school had taken her concern on board and dealt with it appropriately, she thought schools should be asking parents' permission before teaching controversial content.

The story made me think back to what content I was exposed to at high school. A few stood out.

In Year 9, we read Lord of the Flies and subsequently watched the film which graphically (for 1963) showed poor little Piggy get killed by a falling boulder.

In Year 10, we studied Heavenly Creatures and, to this day, I cannot erase the memory of Pauline murdering her mother with a stocking-covered brick.

In Year 12, we were shown Shawshank Redemption, which had many confronting scenes, including gang rape and power-abusing guards.

These were all studied in English and, while there is no doubt they had an impact on the way I saw the world from then, they didn't come close to what I was exposed to in my history class.

I saw a man beheaded, a woman stoned to death and the uncensored, televised suicide of American politician Budd Dwyer. These clips had a more permanent effect on me than anything I studied in English but, because they were real life and not fiction, they were deemed educational, not controversial.

My mum confirmed she was never given a heads up or asked for permission before I was shown any of the examples above. While you might say my innocent view of the world was chipped away a little more with every clip, I don't think this was a bad thing.

I appreciate my high school treated me as a mature young adult and exposed me to some of the events that, while horrific, happen regularly around the world. It allowed me to emerge from my Western, middle-class bubble-wrap upbringing and see the world as it is. It helped me form a social conscience and develop informed opinions about global issues.

Like John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said, you cannot expect schools to wrap students in cotton wool and only show them Mary Poppins until they graduate.