Teachers Training to Kill: What the Must Watch reviewers think
Must Watch reviewers Scott Bryan, TV Editor at Buzzfeed, and Hayley Campbell, journalist and critic, share their thoughts on Teachers Training to Kill on Channel 4.
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(Photo: Sundog Pictures/ Production Company)
Hayley says: "It's a good documentary but it is utterly terrifying"
"This is a new documentary on Channel 4 about the debate on school boards in America seriously considering arming their teachers so they can - theoretically - protect their students in the event of a school shooting.
"It was terrifying. It's a good documentary but it is utterly terrifying.
"It's got training camps in Ohio with maths teachers and science teachers who spoke to the camera wearing tea-towels over their faces because they want to remain anonymous and they don't want to become the target of a school shooting.
"It's really bizarre.
"They interview the county sheriff who wears a cowboy hat and was a warm up act at a Trump rally. He's like a cartoon cowboy and he's in charge of the city.
"The logic is that if this happens, the teachers can protect their students by shooting back.
"They speak to both sides - the people who are pro-guns, and the people who are not. One of the people is a principal in the district who does not want to arm his teachers. His argument is that the teachers are there to help - they don't want to 'do violence', they want to 'do maths.'
"There's also a 16-year-old kid who was shot in a school shooting two years ago. He said, 'anyone can have an unhinged moment - teachers are human too.' He was speaking the most sense - he's begging the school board not to let this thing happen.
"This was like a Louis Theroux documentary without Louis in it. It's got the same 'planet-from-outer-space' feel that you get from watching a Louis Theroux documentary."
(Photo: Sundog Pictures/ Production Company)
Scott says: "I found it a bit too intrusive"
"The problem I had with this documentary was that it's quite an extreme version - it goes to one particular place in the USA, in Ohio, where there's a lot of pressure to arm teachers.
"As an outsider to the issue, who only really knows about this issue when it comes up on the news, I didn't know how widespread this was in different areas. It felt like they were going to an extreme point.
"It raises questions more than it answers [them].
"It starts with a very, very disturbing opening sequence. It's very provocative, and it's directly after the 9pm watershed - I found it a bit too intrusive."
Teachers Training to Kill is available now on All 4.
