Markers worried pupils studying 'dark' films

NCEA English markers are disturbed that secondary school students are studying "very dark" films and literature and are warning teachers to be more careful about showing younger students films with R16 and R18 ratings.

Under censorship rules this could mean a $10,000 fine.

The markers' comments are published in NZQA's assessment reports from the 2007 English exams these annual reports are drawn up by the country's top markers and outline what students did well, what they did poorly, and how they could improve.

In a statement NZQA's deputy chief executive, Bali Haque, said: "Teachers are able to choose texts and films they consider appropriate for the curriculum level and their students but are reminded that these must have sufficient depth to allow students to answer fully in their assessments.

"Level 1 English requires students to show understanding, Level 2 requires analysis, and Level 3 requires a critical response from students."

The markers of last year's English exams said choice of text film, novel, play, poem or short story is critical to students' success, but many teachers are making poor choices.

Level 1 markers said they were concerned that lots of poems and short stories studied were "of a disturbing or brutal nature". Examples they gave were Miss Heroin, Opium for my Mother Black Cat and Victim.

At Level 2, markers were disturbed that some students "wrote inappropriately" on hard-hitting New Zealand works such as Apirana Taylor's short story In the Rubbish Tin, about domestic violence and neglect in New Zealand that focuses on a young girl being abused.

Markers were also "concerned with the preponderance of texts with very dark subject matter, and the study of R18 films by 16 and 17-year-olds". One marker reported 25 percent of all film answers nationally were about The Shawshank Redemption, an R16 1994 film about life in prison. This film was popular at all three exam levels.

R16 films Crash, about racial conflict in America and American Beauty, a dark look at suburbia, were also popular with students last year. No examples of R18 films were given.

But teachers were told to adhere to the guidelines set down by the Office of Film and Literature Classification regarding how films should be chosen and screened in schools.

The office's website says "Any teacher showing a restricted film to students under the age of 16, with or without parental consent, could face fines of up to $10,000 or be imprisoned for up to three months. The school could also be considered liable, in which case the fines could be up to $25,000."

It recommends teachers get parents' written permission before showing films rated M, R16 or R18.

Films that produced good marks included The Piano, Billy Elliot and Gallipoli, while Shakespeare and classics such as Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies produced good answers in the novel exams.

More modern books such as Tomorrow When the War Began and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, also gave good scope but Level 2 students struggled to get top marks studying blockbuster movies Bend It Like Beckham and The Matrix trilogy.

The markers said the following texts enabled students to give successful answers:

SHORT TEXTS: POEMS AND SHORT STORIES

War poets, Robert Frost, Hone Tuwhare, Maya Angelou, Ted Hughes, Katherine Mansfield, some Witi Ihimaera stories, Glen Colquhon, Kapka Kassabova, Karlo Mila, some Patricia Grace stories, Lauris Edmond, some Owen Marshall stories, Frank Sargeson, Apirana Taylor, Henry Lawson, Sylvia Plath, The Bath by Janet Frame, poetry by Brian Turner, Fiona Kidman, Grace Nichols, Sia Figel, Fleur Adcock, Alice Walker. Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker, Nothing's changed by Tatamkhulu Afrika, The Lanyard by Billy Collins, Lullaby by Rosemary Norman, Nettles by Vernan Scannell, I Spy by Graham Greene, Sea Fever and Cargoes by John Masefield, The Bay and On the Death of her body by J.K. Baxter, The Flea by John Donne, Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy and Blackberry Picking, Oysters, Mid-Term Break and Follower by Seamus Heaney.

WRITTEN TEXTS: NOVELS (*too simple for students at Level 2 or 3 - but works well at Level 1; **too difficult for some)

Shakespeare**, Tomorrow When the War Began, Looking for Alibrandi, I Am Not Esther, Chinese Cinderella, Whole of the Moon, The Wave, Z for Zachariah, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Krystyna's Story, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, Pride and Prejudice, Macbeth, Catcher in the Rye.

FILMS

The Truman Show, Remember the Titans,, Billy Elliot, Bend It Like Beckham, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Dead Poets Society, Rabbit Proof Fence, About a Boy, Romeo and Juliet, Schindler's List, Whale Rider, Heavenly Creatures, The Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Piano, The Ice Stor, Billy Elliot, In the Name of the Father, In My Father's Den, Life is Beautiful, Tsotsi, Gallipoli.

The markers said the following texts lead to less successful answers:

WRITTEN TEXTS: NOVELS

Jolt*, Thunder Road*, Water in the Blood*, Slide the Corner*, The Wave*, Autobiographies and biographies.

FILMS

Documentaries, Bend it like Beckham*, The Outsiders, The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta, James Bond films.

SHORT TEXTS: POEMS AND SHORT STORIES

Poetry by Blake, Sylvia Plath, Donne, Joyce, Shelley, and Shakespeare**, poetry of seven lines or less, The Sniper, The Last Spin, On the Sidewalk Bleeding, It Used to be Green Once, A Game of Cards, Big Brother Little Sister, Lamb to the Slaughter, Eight Dozen Beer and Nothing to Do, Snakes, Bats, animal poetry by Blake, Heany, Tennyson and Hughes, short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Roald Dahl short stories, Evan Hunter short stories, some Patricia Grace short stories and Witi Ihimaera's early stories.

SHORT TEXTS SINGLED OUT FOR DISTURBING AND BRUTAL CONTENT

Miss Heroin, Arohanui, The Closer, Opium for my mother Black Cat, My Leanne, Redemption, The Hills, Victim.

SOURCE: NCEA assessment reports from the 2007 English external assessments, at Levels 1, 2 and 3.

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