Without diminishing the seriousness of the clergy sex-abuse scandal, I have to ask where is the outrage over a new report that says 1 in 10 children have been the victim of sexual misconduct in public schools? That’s 4.5 million current schoolkids, not 45,000 over the last 50 years.
Okay, any minute now I expect to see lawsuits filed against school systems, charges of racketerring and collusion, long newspaper series, and questions about fundamental educational doctrine. Is it okay if we question teachers’ moral authority? Can we talk about criminal charges for administrators who shuffled abusers from school to school and school system to school system? Who wants to start a pressure group called Voice of the Educated and start handing out “teachers of integrity” awards while questioning educational orthodoxy?
Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. The NEA is a liberal bastion and the Church is the real enemy. Don’t count on it.
Seriously, the 30-month-and-counting enema of the Church has been a blessing in disguise because it allows us to get the rot and sin out into the light of day. But I don’t pretend for a moment that most of the media doing this have the Church’s best interests at heart, especially most of the anti-Catholic pundits gleefully using the Scandal as an excuse to undermine people’s faith and to question the Church’s teachings.
Dom—1 in 10 children, not schools.
Christine, maybe it’s a coincidence, but in the same issue of the paper, an AP story:
http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/159171-1582-102.html
I don’t know—maybe this stuff is FINALLY going to come out in the open. I sure hope so.
Thanks Kelly. Slip of the fingers.
There was a local case here in San Jose where a teacher, a known convicted sex offender, was still allowed to teach in the classroom. I believed that he has now been dismissed but I recall the union put up a fight even though he was convicted.
There was another incident in the area this past winter, where a teacher lost her job and was convicted of sexual misconduct with minor girls. Though one parent of a victim, described the teacher as a sexual predator, she only received probation.
What was interesting locally about this case, is the story about this woman teacher was buried in the back pages of the local section of our paper. Meanwhile, the same local paper placed as front-page news a story about an EX-priest who was facing new accusations. The man was defrocked 30 years ago when the local diocese found out about his wrong doing with minors. Guess with the current scandal, more victims have finally come forth.
The diocese took action 30 years ago when it found out about his behavior, yet today the paper feels it deserves front page coverage.
Maybe we could get a grassroots denunciation movement going against the NEA…a couple of lawsuits would be novel…we need to get creative.
One way I look at this is: Think of the standards to which most public schools are held vs. the standards to which the RCC is held.
If you’re held to very low standards on your key mission – academic development of students, teacher performance, etc. – why should a peripheral issue like widespread sexual abuse be a huge issue for you? (I mean that very sarcastically, of course).
On the other hand, if you’re held to a very high standards (like the sacred vocation to act in persona Christi, the salvation of souls, being responsible for teaching morals and morality, etc.), the bar is (rightly) much higher, and the outrage (rightly) much greater, when the standard is violated.
So I see the page D4, Column 6 treatment as kind of a backhanded acknowledgment that the Church really does have more to say to society on important matters than the public school systems do.
A final thought: Could this be an opening to do something – anything – about the ghastly and destructive practice of teaching “sex education” in the public schools?
The petard may have more than one use. I certainly hope so.
“On the other hand, if youCDATA[peter wilson]]>
peterwilson1@lycos.com
68.60.218.79
2004-07-04 02:49:38
2004-07-04 06:49:38
Democracy is government by the uneducated and aristocracy is government by the badly educated…g.k.chesterton………..guess we’ve got both.