Rated R Movies in Education??

This is a topic I simply choose-most of the time- to avoid like the plague! Every one seems to have their own opinion about whether or not a person should or should not watch rated R movies. I'm sure that you have all heard both sides of the coin. I have another question on this topic that I'd like to address:

What do you think about watching rated R movies in an educational setting ?

Today I did something I have only done (that I can remember) once in my life. I actually walked out of a school class that was showing a rated R movie. I didn't realize until we were actually in class and the lovely rated R thing popped up that it was rated R. I quietly walked up to my teacher, asked if I could be excused and how long the movie would be so I could come back when it was over. My teacher was very understanding and I left. That was it.

I'm pretty sure that she didn't know what to think of me--a social worker in training--who refused to watch a simple rated R movie. The thing is the movie wasn't a documentary, it wasn't something that I needed to see in order to understand the topic we were learning-it was to enhance our experience. So I decided that I would just do something in the place of the movie-if my teacher requested it. Like read an article or book on the subject or find a comparable movie that wasn't rated R. Most likely she won't ask me to do anything and I'll get the summary from a classmmate.

I know that not every clip I watch in grad school is rated, not every topic fits into what I would deem "appropriate", and not all media is needed or necissary. At the same time there is power in media, movies, documentaries, films, songs. This type of medium speaks to the emotions like none other. I recognize that I will be experiencing real life as a social worker but does that mean I need to watch things, by choice, that are harmful to me?

So I guess I'm just posing the question to see what some of you think about this subject. Not about what you think about watching rated R movies in general but about school and rated R movies??

ps I originally wrote this blog in the time between when I left the class and when I returned. Most of my classmates didn't even know I was gone but a few asked where I was. I just responded, "I left" to which they just moved on.  Two different girls, however, when class was over came up to me and said they wished they would have not seen the movie. They didn't know that there were going to be some explicit sex scenes having nothing to do with the topic of the class.