Teachers love to sigh at the retrograde attitudes and habits of their charge, and then they ask for more money to justify their quixotic endeavor. Apparently clueless teachers know how to educate–as formation–their students better than family, friends, neighbors, the media, the law, the cops, etc.

Meanwhile, the youth watch De Palma’s “Scarface,” and they play-act paddy-cake Tony Montana’s ridiculous criminality. They love his bravado, because that movie (in its genius) also incorporates within itself the right minded critique of good liberal moralization to its main character’s depravity. In so incorporating this disdain, the untaught youth see the movie as another example of taking the piss out of the sclerotic morality of parents and teachers that no one amongst their elders seems to be able to live up to anyway. What with high divorce rates and Joe Paterno–who can say anything?

Nonetheless, we elders must make sure they score high on test scores, and make sure they bow down to the bitch goddess of success as so defined by experts in social science and education theory.

The youth are more savvy in their readings of popular culture and latch onto the better renditions of it, e.g., “Scarface,” in that they can smell the merde presented to them as wholesome entertainment that straightforwardly tries to teach otherwise.

This is one reason why it’s best to keep Homer or Shakespeare or Faulkner in the curriculum. But parents will complain–as when I tried to teach Sophocles and was accused of teaching pornography (which in a way I guess it was–but it was important pornography!). Parents and teachers would rather have students watch Kirk Cameron movies, or hagiographies to the most acceptable liberal leaders.

Right wing entertainment is another thing. I don’t really care for it. It usually shows itself as cartoonish as most left wing entertainment. If you could assign Celine’s Journey to the End of the Night, that would be one thing. I wonder what the reaction would be to Walker Percy’s Lancelot. Not good, I suspect.

The key to good novels or television or movies is not to preach in an obvious manner. Not to have lame gimmicks as a substitute to telling a good story–like Tony Soprano on the couch, Walter White dying of cancer, or Don Draper acting cool in a cartoon situation of the past.

Tony Montana was more honest, but that movie incorporates its own critique–a critique only smart teachers can show, and not the type in charge of education these days.

See Chris Dumas–

http://www.amazon.com/Un-American-Psycho-Brian-Political-Invisible/dp/1841505544/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345782333&sr=1-1&keywords=unamerican+psycho