"An Inconvienent Truth" in schools Part 1: The Initial Reaction

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Monday December 11, 2006 · 5:02 PM PST

2006/12/11 · 17:02

After hearing about the story where the National Science Teachers Association refused to accept some 50,000 free copies of the movie "An Inconvienent Truth" I set out to get my own copy for my high school. After e-mailing Laurie David's office (producer of the movie and one of the most prominent environmental activists today)I quickly got a reply saying that I could have a free copy for my school.

Well much to my surprise the DVD came sooner than I expected, and starting tomorrow some of the science classes will be watching the movie. In the first part of the series I want to tell you about the initial reaction I've gotten from teachers and students.

More below the fold...

I should start by saying that my school has about 220-240 students and the science department is made up of three teachers. I have classes with two of those teachers. Of those three teachers, the two that I have classes with both agreed to show the movie in their classes. In fact, they both showed interest in the movie. The third teacher, however, was more apprehensive. The teacher said that he hadn't seen it yet but heard that "Al Gore praised China for their clean environment, when in fact they have the most polluted country in the world." Needless to say, he won't be showing the movie. I didn't both to argue with him, since I was on my way to talk to the other science teachers. Now I haven't seen the movie for almost a month, but I don't remember him "praising" China. Not only that, but I also remember a statistic that said that the USA creates more carbon emissions than China.

As for the students, quite a few want to watch it. One of them said that his boss watched it and wanted everyone who worked there to watch it so that she could talk about it with someone. His boss also called it the scariest movie she had ever seen. Another student was being, for lack of a better word, bitchy. She had never heard of the movie so it must be stupid, was her argument. Yeah, it's the movie that's stupid, not her. I'll be sure to report her reaction after watching the movie tomorrow.

So in all, I think that most of the people watching the movie will go in with an open mind and will hopefully learn something. I find it funny that some Republicans in the school are so apprehensive about it when there's a quote from a FoxNews.com writer (don't remember who) who said that it's an important movie for Republicans and Democrats to watch. My effort to get a school-wide viewing was squashed after hearing some of the objections to it (from people who haven't seen the movie, no less). Fortunately a majority of students take the science classes where the movie will most likely be shown.

The second, and most likely last, part of the series will tell the reactions of people after watching the movie.

Poll
62 votes Show Results
Will An Inconvienent Truth get a message across to students?

Yes, they'll recognize the importance of the message

No. Most likely half of the class will fall asleep and the others won't care

Maybe. There will always be those that don't care but some will find the importance in it

62 votes Vote Now!
Will An Inconvienent Truth get a message across to students?

Yes, they'll recognize the importance of the message

36 votes

No. Most likely half of the class will fall asleep and the others won't care

2%

1 vote

Maybe. There will always be those that don't care but some will find the importance in it

25 votes

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