School `Edits' Movie -- `Schindler's List' Nude Scenes Blocked

SHERWOOD, Ore. - A school-board decision to block out two scenes with sexual content during a video showing of "Schindler's List" at a high school has set off a wave of protest from students and parents.

Sherwood High School teachers on Friday fast-forwarded past a sex scene involving the lead character, Oskar Schindler, then put a piece of paper in front of the screen for a few seconds during a scene in which a naked woman appears in a Nazi commandant's bed.

Outraged students said scenes that repeatedly show people being shot point-blank in the head were more damaging.

"We can see people getting their heads shot off, but no naked people," John Mize, 17, news editor of the school newspaper, said at a school-board meeting. "Like if we see naked people we're going to be corrupted for life."

But school officials equated the movie's sexual content with pornography.

School officials did not object to full-frontal nudity in scenes where Jewish prisoners were herded through concentration camps.

Teachers last year showed the movie to sophomores as part of a two-week study of the Holocaust in 10th-grade Global Studies and English classes.

Students had to have permission slips signed by a parent or guardian to view the movie.

But this year, concerns surfaced after school-board chairwoman Peggy Stevens received calls from a few parents who did not want their children to see the movie.

Kathy Dull, a parent who spoke at the meeting, said the permission slips gave teachers sufficient leeway to show the entire film.

"The `R' rating means nudity, violence and language," she said. "For parents who didn't know that, they should have asked."

After the viewing, students cited gory, murderous scenes as the most memorable.

Senior Crystal Grant, 18, said she agreed with the school board; she said students got the educational benefit without the nudity.

"This is a public school, so they shouldn't show nudity and sex," Grant said.