I grew up as a Catholic in New Mexico. Fortunately, I did not know until I was grown and had left the Catholic church that the Catholic hierarchy had repeatedly used New Mexico as a dumping ground in which to reassign priests who had been accused of sexual abuse. Obviously, it wasn’t happening to everybody, because I grew up without knowing about it. However, I actually attended one of the churches in New Mexico which eventually became famous for sexual abuse, so it wasn’t far from me. New Mexicans knew about the sexual abuses perpetrated by some members of the Catholic clergy 15 years before the rest of the country began talking about it.
Unfortunately, there is a similar scandal within our school system, primarily within the public schools, but also even in Christian schools. By some estimates, the sexual abuse of students by teachers in our schools is 100 times more frequent than anything which ever happened in the Catholic church. Outside of home schooling, there is no absolutely safe place for conscientious parents to hide their children, and home schooling isn’t practical for everyone.
Nothing has bothered me more in recent weeks than reading an article called “The Big List” on the worldnetdaily.com web site. The article details approximately 100 allegations, and the legal results thus far of those allegations, against 100 female teachers. Very few of these cases eventually lead to a jury trial and a conviction, for various reasons. The students range from high school students down to fourth graders, who are really not in a position to testify in a courtroom about what has happened to them.
Part of what’s disturbing about this is that so many perpetrators these days are female. Sexual physiology being what it is, since men become sexually aroused much more quickly than women, I feel certain that women are only a small part of the total problem. When women, including some up to age 50, who should be having hot flashes, are instead introducing boys to sex, one has to ask some serious questions.
For one thing, if there are so many Mrs. Robinsons among us, what is Mr. Robinson up to? Though none of this is new in human history, it does seem that we are producing more and more sexual predators. Isn’t this the direct result of deliberate choices our collective society and we individually are making every day? Isn’t one predator too many?
In fact, let me point the finger at myself for a minute. I ride public buses back and forth to work. I try not to object to the music the bus drivers listen to, partly because it sometimes results in arguments with other passengers who actually like what they’re playing, and partly because the bus drivers spend a lot more time on the bus than I do. This morning, a female bus driver was listening to a station which I always find disgusting, but I decided to try to tune it out. They had a promotion which claimed that if someone would listen to their station for an hour, they would probably be in a much better mood. Immediately after that, they played a song called “Nasty Boys” by Janet Jackson, which, as the title implies, is a complete piece of filth. But I was almost at my destination by then, so I didn’t say anything. It is absolutely impossible for people to view and listen to erotic entertainment from morning until night without being affected by it. Until we drive pornography out of the mainstream and back into the closet (not that it even belongs there), we will not be able to do any better than the following examples. I left the names out because I want to forget them.
“Minister’s daughter from Laurens County, S.C., was a second-year teacher at Bell Street Middle School in Clinton, S.C., when she was fired Feb. 28, 2007, for allegedly having sex with at least five boys. Some of the purported victims, ages 14 and 15, were students at her school. Authorities say the married woman had sex with the boys not only on campus, but also at a motel, in a park and behind a restaurant.” She didn’t learn that in church. But come to think of it, I’ve been a Christian for a very long time, and I’ve heard very few sermons about sexual misconduct, even though there is ample biblical material for them. Since she’s married, couldn’t she consider having sex with her husband, who she exchanged wedding vows with. I wonder how much Janet Jackson she has been listening to.
“Education technician was arrested in January 2006 after a 15-year-old boy at the alternative education school in Warren, Maine, told police he had an ongoing sexual relationship with her. Flirting allegedly eventually led to an estimated 200 sexual encounters. In December 2006, she received three and half years in prison, with all but one year suspended, and four years probation.” Let’s see, 365 days in jail for 200 sexual encounters. That’s less than two days apiece. We sure taught her a lesson.
“Woman, age 50, Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-old former student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship with the boy’s father. In a deposition, the boy’s father said he had the same sort of sexual relationship with her that ex-President Bill Clinton had with Monica Lewinsky.” That one really begs for a sermon. In fact, Leviticus would call for an execution. We think we’re too enlightened for that, but perhaps we’re just overly fond of our perverts.
“A former Colorado social-studies teacher, who also happens to be married to the principal, was charged in November 2006 with having had sexual contact with a 17-year-old male student during an overnight school camping trip. The instructor, who also coached cheerleading, pleaded guilty April 24, 2007, to felonies of tampering with physical evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of unlawful sexual contact with a minor. She was not expected to serve any jail time.” The principal’s wife? That’s just too sad to comment about.
“Parker, Colo., English teacher at Elizabeth High School was arrested in December 2006 for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old football player the day after her divorce was finalized. According to the arrest affidavit, she and the teen had sex on the floor of her hotel room while her two children, ages 4 and 8, and their 17-year-old babysitter slept on beds in the same room. She was charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, a Class IV felony.” There’s got to be some special corner in hell for people who do this in front of children.
“Grand Rapids, Mich., teacher at South Haven’s Baseline Middle School pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female student she “married” in a pagan ritual in June 2004. She is also accused of touching the girl’s genitals while camping in public parks.” At least 14 of the 100 cases in the article involve lesbian relationships, and we’ll see a lot more incidents like this if we codify gay marriage.
“Teacher at Holley Elementary School in Sylvester, Ga., charged with performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy in April 2005, allowing students to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students. Though she originally pleaded not guilty, she changed her plea to guilty just before trial, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for aggravated child molestation.” I wonder if her lawyer claimed that a chemical imbalance in her brain caused her lapses in judgment.
There are about 93 other similar examples in the worldnetdaily.com article. These are just a few, which illustrate how sick these crimes really are. I don’t know how to turn the society around, but we have to shut every door to sexual temptation in our own lives, and we have to speak up against the oversexualization of everything in our culture every time it comes up. I failed to do my Christian duty on the bus this morning, but I can’t afford to fail anymore. These are difficult times, because hardly anyone is as conservative as I am. I would rather listen to Lawrence Welk than Janet Jackson, but he isn’t on the radio anymore. I am surrounded every day by people who insist that Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” was no big deal, but I think it’s a very big deal. Sodomy U.S.A. is driving me nuts. I have more to say about this subject, which I will post some other time.
