It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School

Produced by Academy award-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff (Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment), It's Elementary is a cross-country look at six elementary and middle schools that have incorporated discussions about the gay and lesbian community and anti-gay prejudice into the curriculum. Chasnoff takes her camera into public and private schools, focusing primarily on educators and parents who are committed to promoting respect as a precursor to building both an effective teaching and learning environment and a better society. The filmmaker also watches kids in action, grappling with these issues, and revealing a depressing amount of homophobic baggage heaped on their shoulders by family and peers. Even more disturbing is the poisonous impact of the media on shaping early prejudices. On the up-side, it's also amazing to watch the honesty and openness of impressionable young minds attempting to understand an increasingly complex society. Chasnoff has done a rather remarkable job in demonstrating how a sensitive and potentially volatile topic can be tackled with honesty and compassion in the classroom in an age-appropriate manner. If there's a fault in the filmmaker's approach, it's the tendency toward discounting or neglecting valid questions about these programs: is it, in fact, the job of schools to teach morals and social values? How much does this type of discussion cut into time spent teaching core curricula? It's obvious that the lessons being taught have little (if anything) to do with sexuality and everything to do with social and cultural equality and kindness. So why not focus on the broader issues of diversity and prejudice, rather than on one particular community? Despite this weakness, It's Elementary is an important and well-crafted work which should be in any library collection interested in education, community issues, or gay and lesbian studies. Now, you just have to figure out what price to pay from the producer's pricing system (which is only slightly less complicated than the I.R.S.'s tax code). Aud: C, P. (G. Handman)