Friday Write 2

This year, the Federal Way public school district banned showings of former Vice
President Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, to its students (see excerpts
from the article below), saying that it presented unproven opinion as fact. Science
teachers across the district protested. Would showing the film to students qualify as a
moral action when measured against Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative?

This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-
grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert "An Inconvenient
Truth." After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex
education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed
what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film.

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher,"
said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is
14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of
what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that
perspective isn't in the DVD." Hardison's e-mail to the School Board prompted board
member David Larson to propose the moratorium Tuesday night.

"Somebody could say you're killing free speech, and my retort to them would be we're
encouraging free speech," said Larson, a lawyer. "The beauty of our society is we allow
debate."

The Federal Way incident started when Hardison learned that his daughter would see
the movie in class. He objected. Hardison and his wife, Gayla, said they would prefer
that the movie not be shown at all in schools.

"From what I've seen (of the movie) and what my husband has expressed to me, if (the
movie) is going to take the approach of 'bad America, bad America,' I don't think it
should be shown at all," Gayle Hardison said. "If you're going to come in and just say
America is creating the rotten ruin of the world, I don't think the video should be shown."

Scientists say that Americans, with about 5 percent of the world's population, emit about
25 percent of the globe-warming gases. Larson, the School Board member, said a pre-
existing policy should have alerted teachers and principals that the movie must be
counterbalanced.

The policy, titled "Controversial Issues, Teaching of," says in part, "It is the teacher's
responsibility to present controversial issues that are free from prejudice and encourage
students to form, hold and express their own opinions without personal prejudice or
discrimination."

"The principal reason for that is to make sure that the public schools are not used for
indoctrination," Larson said.
Friday Write II

For schools to show the movie An Inconvenient Truth to their

students would qualify as a moral action when measured against
Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative.
An Inconvenient Truth is a film directed by David Guggenheim
and narrated by Al Gore about global warming and dangerous CO2
emissions. In 2006, the film’s underpinnings were questioned as being
exaggerated and overblown, but now, three years later, scientific
weather data has shown Gore’s theories and environmental trends to
be quite accurate. Gore references the Keeling Curve, a trend-line
which measures CO2, and the annual average temperature records
from 1880 up until 2006. The Associated Press interviewed numerous
climate researchers and scientists and asked them about the film’s
veracity, and all 19 who had seen the film asserted that it was an all
respects scientifically accurate.
David Larson, a member of the Seattle School Board, asserted
that for students to watch the film would essentially be to
“indoctrinate” them. Indoctrination is defined as
“inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a
professional methodology.” The difference between indoctrination and
education is that the person who is indoctrinated does not critically
question the ideas they are being taught. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient
Truth does not force anything radical onto its viewers. Rather, AIT
presents a pressing current issue to its viewers and challenges them to
live their lives in more environmentally sound ways. The last twenty
minutes of the movie consist of Gore asserting that “The solutions are
in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it
happen. We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions,
everything but political will. But in America, the will to act is a
renewable resource.” Nothing about that remotely resembles
“indoctrination.”
Kant’s categorical imperative has two steps: the universality test
and the “means to an end” test. First, a person must ask themselves
whether society would still function if everyone performed the action in
question; second, a person must ask themselves whether performing
said action would use any involved person(s) as a means to an end. If
every student was allowed to watch An Inconvenient Truth, and did so,
the youth of America would be significantly more educated on an
important topic. Additionally, if every student was to watch IAT, they
would not be somehow fulfilling Al Gore’s fiendish plot to take over the
world or make money. Yes, the film was the fifth-highest grossing
documentary in American history, but that’s not the point. Both
parties are essentially a means to an end: Gore spent time, money,
and resources into making the film to educate people about the very
real issue of global warming, and, ideally, the viewer watches the film
and becomes more cautious about CO2 emissions and whatnot. The
viewer is not being taken advantage of whatsoever, or being used as a
means to an end.
Frosty and Gayla Hardison, the parents of a student in the
Seattle School District, asserted that the purpose of An Inconvenient
Truth is to essentially scold America. Gayla, in an interview, stated that “If
you're going to come in and just say America is creating the rotten ruin of the world, I
don't think the video should be shown.” Well, unfortunately, America is contributing
significantly to the “rotten ruin of the world” and it is necessary to educate people about
the dangers of global warming.
The only issue Kant would have with An Inconvenient Truth is that it
intertwines Gore’s life story with the focus on global warming, which may be an attempt
to gain intimacy with the film’s viewer. To restate, for schools to show the movie
An Inconvenient Truth to their students would qualify as a moral action
when measured against Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative.
9/10