Oh dear gawd! I think that would be a smart thing to do! Maybe they can give the retailers a heads up in the area that they plan to do this too! I just can’t wait to see how this all plays out! LOL.

Hey, at least they weren’t assigned to produce a trailer for American Psycho.

I underestimate this kid.

The order of events.

1) He talked with the principal this morning and explained the project in detail. The principal said this sounds doable. Let me call my old buddy the Marshall, he said.

2) The Marshall said he would allow it as long as the principal provided a letter on school stationery outlining the project and what mock weapons would be used and his approval of it.

3) Mom has to come in and talk to principal and vice-principal to make sure we are all on the same page with permissions and understanding of what the project is about.

4) Vice Principal gives the lad early dismissal and we head for the Marshall’s office with letter in hand.

5) Marshall makes us wait a half an hour while he finds just the right police officer to accompany the kids and keep watch over proceedings.

6) Said police officer turns out to be the one who ran with the cross country kids every day. He knows them all really well.

7) They are, at this moment, terrorizing the downtown with everyone’s blessings.

Call me amazed!

Hot damn!

Instead of supporting a candidate for mayor, maybe he should have been one.  At least one 18-year-old won such an election this year.

Oh, you know, that’s kind of a scary thought. But it’s true, since he was little, I’ve always joked that he’d grow up to either be an accomplished crook or politician because he has a gilded tongue, a wink, and a killer smile.

I heard an interview with that 18 year old mayor. He was impressive not only for his maturity and vision, but his ready acknowledgement that he doesn’t know enough on his own and is putting together an able group of advisors who will help and teach him as he goes. That’s pretty cool!

Any chance of getting the film clip on the web so it can be seen?

I’m impressed with the “work the system” skills this young man has, too.

(Sheesh.  Talk about dystopian--the captcha word is “goodbar.” Paging Judith Rossner!)

Wow.  Paintball guns require a permit to carry around here.

I heard once that Michael Moore had run for a school board position, got all the teens 18 and over to vote for him, and then ousted his own principal.  That could be an urban legend though.

Linkmeister—I’ll have to see what the lad thinks after the trailer is finished. I saw some of the scenes they shot today. It was surprisingly good. The young lady playing Jennifer Government was terrific. The obvious outtakes were a hoot, though. I hope it turns out really well for them.

Hi Joann—apparently it’s not an urban legend according to Wikipedia and Yahoo and the AskMen.com site that provides in bios of famous people. Also, apparently, Moore not only got the principal to resign, but the vice-principal, too.

There isn’t a permit requirement for paintball guns here, though the kids are supposed to be 18 years of age to purchase one (unless parent or guardian is present at sale) or use one (without adult supervision). That’s easily gotten around by playing on private land.

I get to see it either way, right? 

Well Of Course.  

Well, I have to say I’m skeptical of the educational value of these kinds of teaching stunts. Yes, it gets the kids more involved in the story, and it did give the Lad practice at dealing with the “authorities,” but I suspect these activities are just larks for the students rather than enriching educational experiences. Of course, I could be wrong.

I tend to agree with you, Pablo. But there are arguments for multiple intelligence learning styles so we have these alternative learning style projects. I’ve had the same complaint in the last couple of years when major projects involved all sorts of media presentations. They are a lot of busy work, to be sure, and I suppose in this world of technology, it doesn’t hurt to know how to do power point presentations and digital video presentations.

But, I also think it would be very useful if these kids were taught how to do a term paper. So far, there has not been one term paper assigned. They have written small papers of three or four pages, but nothing that requires in depth synthesis and analysis. Term papers, I believe, help teach critical thinking skills. I’m not exactly sure how multi-media presentations teach the same skills. I don’t think they do.