Conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan has a chain of charter schools that use its “classical” curriculum. One of its affiliate schools, the Tallahassee Classical Charter School, made headlines last week when the principal was fired after a teacher showed the statue of Michelangelo’s “David” to an art class.
Apparently Hillsdale was appalled, it severed its connection to the school. Even super-conservative Hillsdale was mortified by the prudery of DeSantisland.
A Michigan college has ended its relationship with the Florida charter school whose principal was pressured to resign after parents complained that her Renaissance art syllabus, which included a picture of Michelangelo’s David, was inappropriate for sixth-graders.
The Tallahassee Classical School, which was licensed to use Hillsdale College’s classical education curriculum, is no longer affiliated with the small, Christian college, Hillsdale spokesperson Emily Stack Davis said in a statement to MLive.com.
“This drama around teaching Michelangelo’s David sculpture, one of the most important works of art in existence, has become a distraction from, and a parody of, the actual aims of classical education,” Davis said. “Of course, Hillsdale’s K-12 art curriculum includes Michelangelo’s Davidand other works of art that depict the human form.”
The chair of the board of the school explained that children should see only parts of the statue, depending on their age.
“Showing the entire statue of David is appropriate at some age,” said Bishop.
“We’re going to figure out when that is,” he added. “And you don’t have to show the whole statue! Maybe to kindergartners we only show the head. You can appreciate that. You can show the hands, the arms, the muscles, the beautiful work Michelangelo did in marble, without showing the whole thing.”
Yahoos are gonna yahoo.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But don’t under any circumstances at any time tell anyone that Michaelangelo was gay! LMAO.
Say gay.
Don’t turn away.
Join the fray.
Today.
Michelangelo’s David is currently in the Accademia Gallery of Florence (Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze) in Florence. They may want to encase David in the most powerful bullet proof glass there is, because someone like Super MAGA-RINO Marjorie Taylor Greene may fly to Italy with a sledge hammer to pound David into marble pebbles.
Saturday Night Live tonight!
Quinta Brunson was great in her opening monologue. She closed with something like “value teachers, respect teachers, and pay teachers what they are worth.”
xoxox
Maybe to kindergartners we only show the head”
Which one?
What does this say about Hillsdale? (Serious question.)
An attempt to save face.
That may certainly be the case. Though there could be multiple motivations for this action.
Good question. Can’t say you’re classical and not like Michelangelo.
When I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s, my mother took my sister and I to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts on multiple occasions. My grammar school took us once as well. The museum had many examples of ancient Greek and Roman statuary, along with that of other ancient cultures. And there was nary a fig leaf or trigger warning to be found.
Some kids made jokes about the nudes, but then, these were little kids. It’s what they do. And almost all of them went on to matriculate and graduate from good colleges, still psychologically and morally whole.
I am not sure why seeing a naked statue is dangerous. What does it allegedly do to young children or adolescents? Why is it terrifying?
Because sex, and anything that smacks of sex, terrifies their guilt-ridden minds.
Something to do with an apple.
I am laughing as I read this. After I got married at the age of 24 in 1976, my wife and I went on an eurail pass trip through Europe and went through Florence. Florence has a religious air to it that we could feel on a beautiful summer day. We visited the Sistine Chapel where we were awestruck by Michelango’s paintings and visited the statue of David. The statue of David looked as if he was alive and could walk off of the pedestal at any time. It was miraculous. My wife became pregnant along the way with our first son. We named him David Michael Migliore after the statue of David. David has always been a piece of art. He became a fly fisherman as a young boy just like the main character in a River Runs Through It! He is an artist at fly fishing and fly tying who practices his art religiously most every day of the year in the waters around Ocean City New Jersey and all over our country. Funny, I just watched that movie a couple weeks ago. The art one leaves behind in this world lives forever. Thanks Diane and everyone for your classical art!
Thank you, Richard. Anyone who thinks the David is porn should stay out of museums. The Greeks and Romans they claim to adore were very deep into homoerotica and loved making statues or paintings of naked people.
YES! Thank you, Diane!
Thank you Diane and just for the record about Abbot Elementary and Quinta Brunson’s episode about charter schools, I am a member of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools and advocate for the best practices in public education. The charter school privatization movement in Philadelphia has been a dismal failure with just a very few exceptions. The parade of “Broadies” who have invaded our once Great School District have undermined our public schools and devastated our school district. Back before then all we ever argued about was how to best educate our schoolchildren. Our school board is continually closing charter schools for mismanagement and wasting millions of dollars on litigation doing so. Precious dollars which should be going directly to our schoolchildren. Please keep up the Great work that you do to inform the public about the truth.
Rich,
I wish someone in Philadelphia would write up the privatization story of the past 20 years and send it to me.
Diane, I will speak to my APPS colleagues about doing so. We have a few core members who are excellent reporters. We will get back to you on that. See our website —
https://appsphilly.net
Rich-
It’s the practice in media (and, at this blog, IMO), to separate out and omit the role of right wing religion from the campaigns against public schools (and, abortion and gay rights). The post’s story about Hillsdale, a school linked to right wing Catholics like Clarence Thomas, and evangelicals, appears to reflect the college’s strategic decision. They don’t want to trivialize their main goals through association with unpopular, reactionary responses to nudity.
You mentioned Philadelphia, an education advocacy organization formed in the city in 1980 has expanded itself into advocacy for school choice. The organization is Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools (BLOCS.org). It’s important for public school defenders and taxpayers who want control of their dollars to identify who the enemy is. Note the staffing level and demographics of BLOC’s team and past presidents.
A few examples that should be on the radar-
Some state Catholic Conferences have co-hosted school choice rallies with the Koch’s AFP. The bio of the Executive Director of the Colorado Catholic Conference shows an example of the Koch/Catholic church connections. Media reported the VP of EdChoice Kentucky is the associate director of the Kentucky Catholic Conference. An article in a Catholic community newspaper in Indiana gives credit to Catholics, likely Republican, for initiating and passing school choice legislation in the state.
63% of White Catholics who attend church regularly voted for Trump in 2020. It’s highly probable that the politicized Church energizes votes for Republican politicians, especially in the central states. Thank you for your attention.
From BLOC’s site, “The Archdiocesan schools constituted the 8th largest system at the at the time in the U.S.”
Rich and his colleagues at appsphilla.net should read, “The new official contents of sex education in Mexico: laicism in the crosshairs” (Scielo site, 3/3/2021). They would have a clear understanding about the right wing goal and plans. The content of the research is broader in scope than the title indicates. The US is referenced.
The folks who are offended by the David should just be glad that classical Greek and Roman sculpting which Michelangelo was emulating tended to minimize the member.
A David sculpted today would need a marble pedestal as support lest it break under its own weight.
Forgive me, SDP, but how do you know this amazing “fact”? If it is a fact.
https://www.iflscience.com/why-do-ancient-greek-statues-have-such-small-penises-66304
Fascinating!
This article says that the size of penises has not changed. Prudery is always there, ready to put fig leaves on genitalia or literally castrate the statues.
I visited Florence before the pandemic and toured the major museums. Penises abounded.
The statue is in imitation, ofc, of Greek and Roman models.
I wonder if a similar scenario accounts for the modest chest endowment of Greek statues.
What has increased since Greek and Roman times is not the actual size but the emphasis.
The Greek and Roman artists did not consider the unit to be the measure if a man.
Today’s David would undoubtedly employ his unit to deliver a knock out blow to Goliath.
Oh, yeah? Well these folks explain it like it is. https://www.theonion.com/michelangelo-david-is-porn-florida-parents-explain-why-1850278570?utm_source=TheOnion_Weekly_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-04-01 And, look at those great solution. Really, a “life guard” for the “safe rooms” and whatever else is dreamed up in this alternate reality. https://wavefire.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/David-Lifeguard_poster.jpg
Florida is going to end up adrift from the rest of the country with their bizarre dictates.
Maybe parents shouldn’t have as much say as they’ve been given. Suggestions yes – Policy Decisions no
Tallahassee Classical Academy students, a suggested family weekend trip to a museum!
“St. Augustine, Florida: Full-sized Replica of Michelangelo’s David
“Supposedly one of only two exact copies made of the famous nude statue. Perfect in every detail, so there’s no need to ever go to Italy.
“Displayed outside Ripleys Believe It Not! Museum. On the north side of the building, out front next to the parking lot. You can see his head from Hwy 1A/San Marco Ave, but his naughty bits are shielded behind a modesty hedge.”
A recent local article noted that the first Tallahassee Classical board meeting since the David brouhaha was largest-ever & lengthy, mainly comprising parental criticisms of board, with some calling for Bishop’s resignation.
Barney Bishop III—who offered Principal Hope Carrasquilla resign-or-be-fired– is of course not a “school board member” as loosely reported in the press. He’s the head of the board of Tallahassee Classical Charter. The guy is a businessman with no prior experience in education; the other 4 comprise 2 lawyers, a parent/ employee of FP&L, and an acct whose only ed connection is handling finances for an ed-reform think tank.
Bishop’s many comments to press show where he’s coming from—here’s what he said to Slate: “Parents choose this school because they want a certain kind of education. We’re not gonna have courses from the College Board. We’re not gonna teach 1619 or CRT crap. I know they do all that up in Virginia. The rights of parents, that trumps the rights of kids. Teachers are the experts? Teachers have all the knowledge? Are you kidding me? I know lots of teachers that are very good, but to suggest they are the authorities, you’re on better drugs than me.”
Kinda reminds me of what we’ve always said about charters: one of the [many] drawbacks is, parents give up voice, i.e., choice in locally-vetted, competitively-elected school board.
All that coursework, degree requirements, and continuing ed that we have to go thru to be an educator and this guy still thinks teachers are glorified babysitters