2 hours ago
By Antoinette Radford BBC News
In an elementary and junior high school in Florida, USA, when a teacher showed a sixth grader a picture of the statue of David by the Italian Renaissance writer, Michelangelo, one parent protested and the principal was forced to resign.
The full length statue of David, which appears in the Old Testament, is 5 meters and 17 centimeters long. This sculpture by Michelangelo is one of Europe’s most famous works of art and is on display at the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.
At the Tallahassee Classical School in Tallahassee County, Florida, the statue of David was recently presented to a class teaching Renaissance art to 11 and 12 year old students. The school is an accredited school which emphasizes its own history and classics education.
One parent protested to the school because it did not contact parents before showing the statue of David to students every year, but did not do that this time. Two other parents complained to the school that they wanted advance warning.
In the same Renaissance art class, Michelangelo’s fresco “The Creation of Adam” and Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” were presented.
Tallahassee Classical School principal Hope Karasquila told the Tallahassee Democrat on Tuesday that she resigned after the school board told her to choose between resigning or being fired. Principal Karasuila said he did not know why he was asked to resign, but said it appeared to be related to complaints about a Renaissance art class.
According to reports, Karasuila has been in office for less than a year.
In an interview with Slate, the school’s chairman, Bernie Bishop III, said last year that parents had been notified to show students the statue of David, but they didn’t do it this year.” When schools teach their children about controversial subjects and images, parents always have a right to know,” he said.
“We don’t show David’s full body to kindergarteners. We don’t show him to second graders. There’s an age when it’s appropriate to show David full length. We’ll see what that age is.” “I will,” said the chairman.
On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called on the state board of education to extend the state’s ban on sex education and gender identity education in public schools to students graduating from high school. Teachers who breach this will be subject to suspension or revocation of their teaching licences.
Michelangelo created the statue of David between 1501 and 1504. After its completion, it was called a masterpiece, and the contemporary artist Giorgio Vasari praised the statue of David as superior to any previous statue.
In 1857, Queen Victoria gave a copy to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) in London. When the queen first saw the replica, she was so shocked by the nudity that a fig leaf sculpture was made to cover the statue’s genitals.
