Sunday, October 21, 2007
If only school teachers could marry...
We hear so much about the cause of the The Scandal in the church being due to the fact that priests can't marry. The lament goes something like this - "If only priests could marry they wouldn't be tempted to abuse young boys."
What I want to know is this: if mandatory celibacy is the cause of all these priests abusing young boys, then what's causing it among school teachers? Aren't they allowed to marry?
And what's going to happen to all those principals and superintendents who shuffled these teachers from school to school?
And how many school districts are going to go bankrupt to pay for all the lawsuits?
(AP) -- A young teacher in Iowa sheepishly admits that he fondled a fifth-grader's breast. But he doesn't lose his teaching license until one persistent victim and her family go public -- 40 years after the first accusation.
Gary C. Lindsey was forced out of a teaching job after admitting he'd fondled a fifth-grader, a trial revealed.
A middle school teacher in Pennsylvania targets a young girl in his class and uses the guise of love to abuse her sexually.
A teacher in Michigan, who'd already lost his license in another state, goes to prison after he films himself molesting a boy.
These are only a few instances of a widespread problem in American schools: Sexual misconduct by the very teachers who are supposed to be nurturing the nation's children.
Students in America's schools are groped. They're raped. They're pursued, seduced and think they're in love.
An Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions from bizarre to sadistic.
There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims.
Most of the abuse never gets reported. Those cases reported often end with no action. Cases investigated sometimes can't be proven, and many abusers have several victims.
And no one -- not the schools, not the courts, not the state or federal governments -- has found a surefire way to keep molesting teachers out of classrooms.
Here's the link to the full article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/21/teacher.sex.abuse.ap/index.html
Posted by Matt 6:00 PM