Posted by
Waski_the_Squirrel on Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:18:35 PM
In the wake of the recent Foley scandal, I wandered over to Worldnetdaily.com and saw two articles about teachers abusing the trust that parents (and students) have placed in them. What the Foley scandal shares with these stories is an abuse of power and a gap in age.
The gender of those involved, while perhaps exciting to some people, is not important. Conservatives particularly like to work themselves into a lather over homosexual abuse. However, a male teacher abusing a female student (or a female teacher abusing a male student) is the same thing.
Foley (at least as far as we know now) was guilty of shockingly bad judgement. Teenagers think about sex a lot. We like to deny that, but it's certainly true. One of the jobs of a teacher is to teach them that there is a time and a place for that sort of thing. Anyone who teaches junior high certainly hears more than it is comfortable to hear. Foley took advantage of this characteristic of teenagers to get some sort of vicarious thrill from discussing it with them.
Teachers (and those in authority, especially with kids) are expected to be above reproach. It is similar to being a pastor of a church. Teachers should avoid questionable topics of conversation, questionable situations, and, in general, keep their private life very private.
In our classrooms we have many kids desperate for a stable adult in their lives. These particular kids are sometimes susceptible to manipulation by predators. Others, because of momentary lapses of maturity or a hormone-driven decision, could be led into a bad decision. These kids need to be protected from themselves.
While it is true that the vast majority of students would not be susceptible to this, these students still need to know that they can trust the authority figures in their lives.
Because of this, I found it very shocking that parents would
defend a teacher who ran a website related to cannibalism of children and descriptions of violent torture of children. He may very well be good with children and may not have taken part in such activities (beyond the realm of fantasy). However, I cannot believe that anyone would be comfortable handing their child over to such a person.
A child molester is often very charming. People are generally shocked by who turns out to be a child molester. The charm is the tactic they use to get close to their victims. Although the creepy man in the trenchcoat is the common image, he will actually frighten off most people. It is more likely to be the very nice man (or woman) who the kids seem to love and who the parents are pleased to hand their kids to.
For example, a special ed teacher on
Long Island was recently arrested for possession of child porn. His colleagues were shocked. This isn't because they stuck their hands in the sand or because they secretly support him. It's because of his nature as a charming man.
One last example I found was of a
high school basketball coach who was sleeping with one of his female students and recording it on video. Since this was a recent event, there were few details available. However, does anyone seriously think he was creepy and scary in his demeanor. Obviously, he had that side to him, but kept it well hidden except from his victims, once he had sucked them in.
A lot of abuse goes unreported, and I have no answer for that. I also do not know how we might screen teachers for this sort of thing. What I am trying to say is that teachers need to be above reproach. No one is perfect, and we need to understand that, but we also need to be aware of what is going on with other teachers and students. Often it is innocent, but, at times, it can be tragic.