Well folks, I _REALLY_ hadn't wanted to start a flame war, honest! It does seem as though it has devolved that direction in some ways.
Before I say what we decided I'd like to point out a few things to people, not to be an a-hole or anything, just to explain why some suggestions and points of view simply don't work out.
- _I_ didn't decide to do the project! This is something that the department decided to do long ago. I'm stuck with it, like it or not.
- There _IS_ actually a reason for the diorama. Part of the whole special ed- ucation concept is that some students simply don't have the writing skills to do a good report. If it were a group project perhaps the diorama wouldn't be so important. But we want to provide for the kids who can get an idea across through an ability other than written/verbal skills. We want to make sure that they understand the concepts they are being taught.
- My job might be on the line. And if I get fired at this school, will I ever be hired again? The educational system of the US is firmly rooted in local values. What may fly in one town may be an absolute taboo in the town five miles (11 or so Km for you foreign blokes) down the road. Although I support the kid doing what he wants, I have to consider my career, perhaps. And if the one student's project goes over like a lead balloon, perhaps the whole project will be cancelled next year. I have to continue to work with the people who thought it up!
- There's more to this than just a 'truth is beauty' kind of arguement going on here. There's careers, potential letters to the editor, people being called into the superintendants office, and poopie rolling downhill fast. All of this has to be taken in to consideration when making this decision, that's why we were so he- sitant to make the call quickly on it. How will the student's work fit into the local value system?
So...
We decided to have the student's parent come in for a conference with my- self and the student. I explained to the parent what the project was, what the student wanted to do, heaped liberal amounts of praise on the child because of both his knowledge and appreciation of history, and then explained the criteria of the project. We are going to let him do it. (I hear thousands of cheers going on in the background here...) I stressed strongly to the student and to the parent that it _MUST_ have a 'G' rating! That's what we decided to go with as far as determining whether it was acceptable or not. There is to be absolutely no blood shown, no corpses, nothing which would be considered to be offensive by the community at large. I aksed him if he believed he co- uld do the assignment with those criteria in mind, he agreed that he could. I stressed to the parent that if it starts to appear at all questionable then it should be changed.
The next day he told me that he was going to have the diorama show the US troops lined up and the SS troops about to fire, I said that was acceptable. He now has a week+ to complete it, I asked him how he was going to bu- ild it and he said he's going to be using Hasegawa and Esci/Italeri figures with some added detail. The snow is going to be a combination of talcum and powdered sugar with dulcoat sprayed over it. The base is going to be celluclay and he's going to be using a couple of Hasegawa armor kits for the SS troops to have around them.
Hope this settles everything.
Flames to \dev\null