More than 400 people have signed a petition for a school to remove The Simpsons from its curriculum.
Parent Joseph Reynolds is angry Kingsmead Community School in Wiveliscombe, Somerset is teaching the cartoon as part of its media studies course.
He describes it as the ‘Turkey Twizzler’ of the classroom – a reference to Jamie Oliver’s famous kitchen crusade – and has collected more than 400 signatures objecting to it.
He said: “I don’t think it’s strong enough content. The national curriculum actually lists a great number of authors we could use and The Simpsons is never listed.
“If you want to use The Simpsons once in a while as a hook to get kids interested in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or get them interested in some other stronger content, I think that’s great.
“There’s a big difference between that and actually teaching The Simpsons for six weeks and I think it’s a waste of the kids’ time.”
Mr Reynolds has called on education secretary Michael Gove to act and remove it but Kingsmead’s head teacher has defended the school’s decision to have America’s longest-running sit-com as part of its media studies course.
Head teacher Geoff Tinker said: “The governors have looked into this in great detail and rejected Mr Reynolds’ claim – a decision I completely endorse.
“The Simpsons is excellent for analysing the use of satire, parody, irony and humour – enabling students to become critical readers and analysts of complex media texts.
“We are one of several schools in Somerset who use The Simpsons as part of Key Stage 3 media projects”
The Simpsons has aired for more than 20 years and featured cameos from the likes of Ricky Gervais, Mick Jagger, Simon Cowell and Tony Blair.
Do you think children should study The Simpsons at school? Comment below
I am a student at Kingsmead Community School, and last year we studied ‘The Simpsons’ at school. For the six-week period of studying ‘The Simpsons’, I had not learnt anything about media or anything academic. waste of time