[S.B.Nichols]

slightly off topic....I was watching Seinfeld last night and got to thinking about this teacher story, put two and two together, and suddenly realized how Kramer made his money.

[Epaphras]

Originally Posted by Ridley's Own

I think any job that is particularly open to these sorts of allegations needs an extra level protection. Lets face it, being accused of stealing a pack of salami from the grocery store you work at isn't exactly the same thing as being accused of being a child molester. Accusations that teachers, youth workers, etc. are open to are career ending. I'm going to say that again... The mere accusation, even if nothing can be proved, can be career ending. That's an altogether different situation, I think.

I understand, but either all these teachers have significant evidence against them and the system is just slow...

...or the mechanism is way out of whack. If all it takes is an allegation for a teacher to go from the classroom to the "bored-room", something is wrong with the system. There needs to be some system in place to balance teacher rights' (against student accusation) against students' ability to file a legitimate complaint and have it followed up on and dealt with in a swift manner. That system seems to be out of whack or non-existent.

It's too bad our culture is so biased against alleged child molesters. Real molesters are one thing, but it's not fair that a teacher can have his career ruined because some flaky 14 year-old bimbo got a C- on a test and alleged rape or abuse. There must be some way of resolving that that quickly sifts fact from fiction and exonerates the teacher in a swift manner but also deals with legitimate threats in a swift manner.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Originally Posted by Epaphras

]

It's too bad our culture is so biased against alleged child molesters. Real molesters are one thing, but it's not fair that a teacher can have his career ruined because some flaky 14 year-old bimbo got a C- on a test and alleged rape or abuse. There must be some way of resolving that that quickly sifts fact from fiction and exonerates the teacher in a swift manner but also deals with legitimate threats in a swift manner.

Have you looked at the stats on childhood sexual abuse lately? The stats are alarming. When you are looking at stats that put it from 15-25% for women, and 5%-15% for men, there is a real problem here. (wikipedia has sites for those numbers and they line up with the studies and classes I have had that referenced this)

How do you sift fact from fiction here if, say there is not physical evidence? It is not going to be quick or painless. The sad fact is, kids have not been protected, and the rise of the sexualization of kids has created a monster. (covering up loss of virginity by crying abuse is a very real threat as well)

If you can come up with a solution that safely does what you say there must be a way to do, I would encourage you to do a study on it, and campaign to change the laws because children need protecting, and so do teachers. I do not care that our society is biased against alleged molesters or murderers for that matter. Those are both horrible, evil crimes. However, I think there needs to be time in Juvie for false allegations as well.