Judas, who?

I teach smart kids, National Merit Finalist, Harvard-bound kind of smart kids. But, a conversation happened in class yesterday that leaves me wondering about students.

We were watching a clip from Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (the Sidney Poitier version not the P Diddy version... someone should have told Sean Combs there are just certain things you don't touch; it would be like someone trying to outdo Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch. But, I digress). In it, one of the characters references thirty pieces of silver. I paused the film to make sure my students understood the reference. Here's how it went down:

Me: "So, you guys get the thirty pieces of silver reference, right?
Class: silence
Me: "No, really. Can someone explain the reference?"
Class: silence
Me: "If I say 'Judas,' does that help?
Class: silence
Me: "No, really. Judas Iscariot?"
Class: silence
One student: "Is that the guy in Pirates of the Caribbean?"

I died. Needless to say, I started some cultural literacy training today. We're going to cover important people in literature, mythology, the Bible; today's lesson: Job. I wrote his name on the board, but I made sure I supplied a pronunciation key, as I didn't want my Harvard-bound students at a cocktail party talking about the guy in the Bible who experienced terrible hardship and fake friends but had a cool name that rhymed with sob. Or lob. Or mob. Or cob.