10% Of Kids Victimized At School By Sexual Misconduct

[Kadie]

10% Of Kids Victimized At School By Sexual Misconduct
Victims Range From Kindergartners To High School Seniors

POSTED: 12:41 pm EDT June 30, 2004
UPDATED: 1:04 pm EDT June 30, 2004

WASHINGTON -- More than 4.5 million children are forced to endure sexual misconduct by school employees, from inappropriate comments to physical abuse, according to an exhaustive review of research that reads like a parent's worst nightmare.

The best estimate is that almost one in 10 children, sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade, are targets of behavior ranging from unprofessional to criminal, says the report for Congress by Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University's School of Education.

"Most people just don't think this can really happen," said Shakeshaft, hired by the Education Department to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in schools.

"We imagine that all teachers are like most teachers, in that they've gone into teaching to help children. Most do, but not all. We need to acknowledge that's the case and do something to stop it."

more... http://www.ktvu.com/education/3477726/detail.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Lumping inappropriate comments in seems a bit much.

Makes for a headline, I guess, but there's way worse things to be worried about.

[stinkeefresh]

2. bad poll

lumping a dirty joke in with rape? How do we know what portion of that 10% is what? Innappropriate comments from teachers are not cool, but being subjected to one comment in 10 years of schooling seems pretty minor to me. But that would qualify you as part of this 10%...

What I REALLY fear is that this mandated-by-NCLBehind poll is meant to be used as a launching point for a witch-hunt against America's teachers. It is a goal of the far right to get the liberals out of teaching. This could be the route they take.

[Momgonepostal]

3. I'm envisioning the resident libertarian...

...on another board I frequent posting this as evidence that the public school system needs to be abolished.

My questions would be then, what percentage of children in private schools have this experience? What percentage of children have this happen to them in their own homes? If the number is 10 or greater, which wouldn't surprise me, maybe schools aren't the problem.

[Trillo]

4. I don't think comparing private to public is valid

as a method of verification that explicit rule sets are not being followed. For instance, if both private and public have the same level of dysfunction, your method would assume everything is okay, no need to change anything!

What percentage of the general population has less than favorable opinions of their own education?
Why?

Identifying where these attitudes primarily come from is important in addressing them.

I don't see this article as being skewed against public education, rather, identification of an explicit rule set violation can help public schools better serve all the children in those schools, and over a long enough time period, our society as a whole.

Fixing the problems for future children does nothing to help those who were harmed in the past. Still, improvement for future generations is laudable.

[undergroundpanther]

5. Verbal

Humiliation and verbal abuse is dehumanizing and even though it lkeaves no physical marks it hurts,it can traumatize you. Not every abuse is physuical or sexual.Verbal abuse tears apart the spirit of a person just as bad as other types of abuses.
Bullies can and will use thier fists,sexual organs,"freinds" bystanders... and thier tounges to hurt talented ,sensitive,different,creative or gentle people they envy.

[mediaman007]

7. My observation

after 25 years of coaching in public schools, is that private school coaches more frequently push the limits of good taste. As a generalization, the parents of private school students are more willing to overlook teacher/coach misbehavior for a variety of reasons.

[donco6]

8. I second that

Private school coaches can get away with a lot more than we can.

[donco6]

6. This is goofy.

One in ten, sometime between KG and 12th grade is a "target" of behavior from unprofessional to criminal.

So frickin' what? What should the figure be? Should we really expect that at no time, in their entire school career, no child would ever hear an inappropriate remark? That's just stupidly unrealistic.

All this will do is work to turn schools into even more of a prison than they should be now. I can see requirements for closed-circuit TV in every classroom, with full-time monitors analyzing every move - ala Las Vegas or the cloakroom in your favorite dept. store. It's simple hysteria, masking any real attempt at identifying any real problem.

[Trillo]

9. In other words--everything's A-OK?

I think in assembly-line manufacturing, a defective rate of 2-5% is considered normal. What is the "defective rate" for students?

We must remember what this study is saying: that teachers, coaches, or other authority figures are failing to follow explicit rules. What happens to the students when they don't follow explicit sex-abuse rules? (also implicit rules?)

I don't think your suggestion of more micromanagement is the answer, it leads to where you described. How about reducing the student-teacher ratio to 8:1? Everyone would be less stressed.

But how to pay for 4 times as many teachers as now is the big question.

[donco6]

11. Of course everything is not A-OK

So after reading this, your solution is to lower class size to 8:1.

Let's see, in my district we staff at 22:1 at elementary, with an average teacher salary of 48,000. Add benefits to come to 57,600. So for a school of 750 students, staff cost increase would come to about $3,456,000. Not to mention the need to add about 60 more classrooms at $60,000 a pop - add another $3,600,000.

And our state is going to cut K-12 even further next year. Yeah, I can see this class size thing working out real well.

All I'm saying is, if they want to do a poll, do one that will actually provide us with information that leads to some sort of workable solution. This info is just another hammer on schools that creates an impossible target.

[Trillo]

13. After reading this my blood boiled...children should not be abused.

Ugh, no, I did not just come up with this after reading this article. I understand that the optimum point for employees under supervision is 8-12 to 1. By having too many kids in classes, children are depersonalized, among other things. Further increases in the ratio will lead to more of the same. Today, we have a depersonalized society. A coincidence? Or a direct result of mass-market education?

The market today doesn't adequately compensate those of High School education. The ratio of their adult earnings versus those considered professional is roughly 1/4; the ratio of time spent in a classroom chair of the same two groups is roughly 13/21, about 5/8.

This means that for about 75% of the population, the school years never "pay off." One way to address this inequity is to reduce time spent in a classroom seat in pursuit of an HS education to about 5.5 years. Another way would be to increase earnings of HS graduates to about $20 per hour. (doesn't look likely)

The interesting thing about the 10% of students who are abused in school, reducing the number of years spent in education would decrease the likelihood that they would be preyed on by sexual improprieties. It also frees up teachers and buildings, potentially allowing such things as a less dense student-teacher ratio.

I absolutely hate it when I read stuff like undergroundpanther writes in post #10. He hated school. So did I. It was of worse than zero
value, because of the harm it did. There are apparently many people who feel similarly.

Yet, when faced with the ugly truth, some people just want to pretend those facts aren't there.


edit for clarity

[donco6]

18. I don't get you at all.

You know, I'm sure a 1:1 ratio would be IDEAL for public school kids. They'd all achieve their greatest potential possible. But that's about as likely as 8:1 or even 12:1. It's just not financially feasible unless all people in the U.S. are absorbed by pod people who are utterly devoted to funding public ed. Why even talk about it?

And who doesn't want higher pay for everyone!? I certainly do. But you yourself admit that $20/hr is not likely. We can work toward improving it, certainly, but won't see it in our lifetime, no matter what we do.

And don't even talk to me about what a hell school can be. I grew up gay in the middle of Kansas in a town the size of a postage stamp! You think I didn't get beat up every fucking day - first in Catholic School, then in public?

I just prefer to deal in the real world. Classrooms of 1:8 aren't on any horizon I can see, and this poll does nothing to help schools come up with workable solutions.

[undergroundpanther]

10. Hey,

In kindergarten,another kid started to knock over a purple pyramid of blocks I had just made,so
I yelled at him to stop wrecking my stuff ,So he hit me,and I hit him back,than the teacher,Mrs.Page ran over and whipped the crap out of me,I was crying I had welts she made me sit in the corner..She did nothing to the bully kid. But I guess later that day she must've felt guilty or thought about what If I told her boss or my parents,she made a crown out of the border taken from one of the bulletin board displays she was taking apart while all this occurred and measured it,cut it,and stapled it and put it on my head in front of the class. This mind fuck she did messed me up quite a bit. My home was abusive so I didn't tell my mom about it. Most if not all my years in school were total hell.
I was a very creative unconventional sensitive kid.I am the same way as an adult.I am cursed/granted(depending on your POV) with intelligence and creativity that brings me the pain of other's envy.

People who are insensitive get threatened by me and they react,because they know I'm not like them and I am unashamed by this. The irony of those years was how teachers I thought who should have known that bullying hurts, became bystanders and cowed witnesses who did nothing to stop the repeated assaults,insults and abuses I faced day to day in school. Today I have dissociative Identity and PTSD. A lot of it was brought on from traumas at school in a time when allot of adult people knew how kids can be cruel and still thought that was "normal"or some bizarre 'rite of passage' like hazing and humiliation magically makes you become a better person,more mature or something.It was all so insane.
I was abnormal in this sick culture from the start I guess. In school I didn't seek to dominate my peers,I didn't try to to fit in or please anyone else.I just endured school and I said fuck the adults and the peers,and fuck all their mind games and their expectations and pressures early on. I paid a heavy psychological and "career based"price for my difference and insistence upon keeping my own soul..

Now,because I have struggled in my own self,to find out why.. I can see through allot of bullshit people do and say to each other,and I'm not intimidated by any people or their"authority" anymore.I have allot of hate inside for humanity,but when humanity shows it's beauty I am sometimes moved to tears with the innocence, grace,loving kindness,gentleness,exuberance and sheer creativity that is in humanity too..I have faced the worst crap a bully can dish out to a person,rape,torture,ect....It hurt it scars it wounds,but it cannot control me and make me sell myself out without my submission.

I'd rather die ,and suffer than ever submit,sell my spirit away and betray my own heart and give bullies the control of my inner locus of control because I know they terrorize me and exploit and brutalize. Fuck bullies,enablers,bystanders and fuck all their tactics too.I don't give a shit if the entire world thinks I'm a loser,I know I'm not a loser and that is what counts. I will never become dead inside my the heart like they make themselves.

This choice I make does not mean I can go out and abuse bullies for amusement. Abuse is not a fun pastime it's a dangerous sickness people are convinced isn't sick or dangerous to humanities well being together on this planet. I choose to resist the lure of power misuse. I disobey any request that hurts me and if necessary I will fight to do what it takes to stop an abuser from doing further abuse,even at my own expense.When they stop abusing and acting out,than we are OK for now. If no one chooses to stand up and tell the truth to an abuser or exploiter who is choosing to inflict pain,threats,steal,humiliate.lie or dominate than we will surely go extinct as a species. Allot of the problems we have with corruption in power today is because we as a culture do not tell the truth about what is hurting us,and we don't stand up and actively work against the abuses of power and corruption each other do for the sake of our own integrity.. WE wait around for someone else to do it,and no one does it,and to abusers of power this is permission to abuse granted by omission of complaints.

I am this way about abuse be it verbal abuse,or whatever...And I trust my own sense of justice and self knowledge before I trust anyone else or their advice,expert or not..If I do true wrong to someone,or I find out later I did, I feel it in my heart.This makes me sick with myself.And I expect to be held accountable,So I humble myself and learn not to react or assume. I am big enough to admit I am wrong sometimes and that I make mistakes.Fuck defending ego and saving my face.This kinda ego defensiveness shit is killing humanity's capacity for love and healing..I cannot stand the sick feeling self betrayal for the sake of pride,being correct,or keeping up appearances causes inside me when I go against my own standards of conduct and my own sense of right and wrong.
Some people have deafened themselves to this feeling because they thought they had to do it to survive.
I did it too. I stabbed a kid in the back with a fork in the lunch line in second grade. Up to the ends of the tines.A bully who flipped my tray and humiliated me in front of everyone for two weeks did not deserve to be stabbed because I did not think of a snappy reply.

He needed to understand he was doing wrong against the core of the human spirit,the good inside it.But how can a second grader articulate that in a culture where appeals to common decency are seen as "weakness". I know now there are proportional ways to demonstrate this situation to him.I just lacked the interpersonal skills to do it. Nowadays I would have done an entirely different response.

Adults are responsible for teaching kids bullying is not OK..
No adult taught me how to sharpen my interpersonal /relational or emotional skills,no adult showed me how to be comfortable and confident in being me,No adult showed me I did not have to put up with abuse or corruption in authoritarians or I can disbelieve what I was told was true..
I spent many years untangling the toxic emotional programming that was forced upon me by adults and peers alike so they could preserve their sickness at the expense of humankind and live in strife, ignorance and be controlled by conduct disorders or the avoidance of those with conduct disorders.

Nowadays I understand my own heart and mind more..So I'm not trying to ram pencils through my head to disable my emotions so I can become as ignorant,oblivious,petty,desensitized and rude as my so called peers.I'm not trying to kill myself to get away from a life filled with abusive jerks,I am conditioned to think are "normal people" Nor am I trying to help or offer my kindness over and over to those who disrespect me in return and wondering why.. when I give of myself freely to them. Nor do I heap guilt upon my own head for doing whatever it is I have to do when it concerns my desire for the "well being" of others when confronted by those who try to bully me I do whatever it takes to respect and honor my own integrity and identity that is deep inside myself,that has nothing to do with what others think,day or believe..
This confidence comes from honestly looking at my own experiences and my own hearts desires.. which is to love,create and live among others freely without being harmed or manipulated or seeing others being broken..
All morality standards people have are either society imposed or it is self generated and crafted from learning from one's own experience,thoughts,desires,will and observing what happens when choices are made while interacting with others in life.This learning process never stops. I have one absolute standard inside myself,That is I will not become a bully,a torturer,a manipulator,liar ,or a sadistic callous asshole. That means I will not abuse people and teach myself derive pleasure from from abuse by desensitizing myself to it in real life.Fantasies because I am frustrated must never be acted upon.I will not ignore,deny, excuse,rationalize or enable bullies of any kind using anything to abuse me or anyone else when I am around.I will not minimize how bad abuse hurts. I give every bully a fair and clearly worded warning that their choices offend and hurt me,after that they own whatever problems their choice to be an asshole around me or to me creates in their life.
With my locus of control firmly inside me and when I live up to my standards within,I notice bullies tend to stay the hell away from me,because I do not let their choice to abuse.. go unchallenged and excuse it.

[donco6]

12. All I can say is,

Get some help, dude. If you can remember a slight from kindergarten, you've got lots more to do than waste your time on this BB.

[undergroundpanther]

16. Umm that wasn't a "slight"

The teacher beat me in front of the entire class, for NOTHING,and put a paper crown on my head after wards.If this ain't physical and psychological abuse I dunno what is. That kindergarten teacher had no business teaching kids until she worked out her own emotional crap first. She had no right to take it out on me and then pull some kinda shit like a paper crown to cover her ass when she realized she could be in deep shit if I told.Your kind of response is exactly what abusers want enablers, bystanders to say,in the defense of abusers. Abusers say this sort of crap too.Comments like yours keep the kinds of sick social environments that keep bullies enabled,and getting away with abuses, in a culture that minimize other people's pain.
And yes I can remember kindergarten. Not every minute but I do remember a few things.
Maybe the reason you can't remember your earlier years is because you are able to call a teacher beating someone else's kid in class a "slight"
Do you even know what trauma is?
So since you call a physical altercation in a public school a "slight" how can you have enough empathy in you for my situation, to even begin to claim to know what hurts me or anyone else? You can't feel for others,you are not me, so your opinion of how I *should* feel or how much I'm "supposed " to remember about my own past is moot .And I can spend as much time as I want to anywhere I go.I will hang on these boards until I'm ready to go..
not when you get discomfited at what I say and you decide to say a wisecrack..
That comment about my past you made to me is on your part was callous. Were you aware that it was insensitive to say that to someone else?

[donco6]

19. So you mean to tell me,

that this event that happened when you were five, has so wrecked your life that you can't resist dredging it up at the slightest provocation? I don't get it.

[undergroundpanther]

24. no,

Many incidents happened to me than that one, in my life.Some were much worse.
but what make you assume that this was the *only* incident I ever faced. Bullies narcissists are a problem in society in general,in school it's worse. For me school was hell.Home was hell.And that hell was made through people who were bullies,narcissists or authoritarians and did not have enough empathy to control themselves or create so they sought to dominate diminish,and silence others they envied.
Bullying and sexual abuse/degradation can harm kids deeply for years.
And you never know how a kid will process what happened to them.It could come back years later and cause problems for them. Sometimes it doesn't cause big problems. So why risk future problems in individuals and society just so a bully can abuse people for "amusement"and think he can just get away with it ?

So,
Who are you to say who's pain is worthy of speaking about and who's isn't worthy of a voice that is heard? Just because you didn't like what I said gives you no right to say if it did or did not hurt ME emotionally.I said what I experienced here and you act rude to me in reply and minimize what I said and try to set me up to look like I am somehow irrational or holding onto a single incident long ago and trumping it up. That is manipulative attacking my character like that.The fact this game entered you mind tells me what your starting points are considering other people's pain.Looks like you want people to shut up about certain aspects of their lives and you want to control who gets taken seriously and who isn't,and you are using manipulative language to paint a picture of me that is not true to do that..

When I posted the incident originally it was a personal way to agree with the poster's topic that school abuses do go on and sometimes it's not what you expect.. and I wanted to reinforce the notion that this abuse in schools is a problem that can hurt *your child* too in a way that was more human and personal. When I relate to people about the problem with bullies and denial about this bully problem shoot the messenger/fear of 'weakness' that has way too much credence in our culture is harmful too,it makes folks uneasy,especially those who are callous about other people's pain.
I used my past as a personal way to say, how this is a serious issue in our culture and to say the authoritarian social games that go on in schools carry some of the blame for what happens to kids there and what it might mean to someone personally. Statistics are impersonal,under the numbers there are people. Certain personalities would rather keep the numbers of abuse statistics faceless it's less to be in denial of how many people get hurt because some people have the kinds of personality flaws that make them think it's OK to choose to abuse others.

[donco6]

25. Oh brother.

So, because I disagree with the methodology of this dubious "study", I'm in "denial about the bully problem," "callous to other people's pain," blah, blah.

YOU'RE the one who introduced the personal anecdotes, and in light of the shaky nature of the study, you can only imagine what sort of light I hold anecdotal evidence in.

I simply want a study that - rather than stirring schools into hysterically running circles trying to combat a problem that isn't even clearly identified - actually identifies specific problem areas that can be attacked systematically. We know about bullying; we know about sexual harassment and abuse. But to make a conclusion that "in elementary schools, the abuser is often one of the people liked most by students and trusted most by parents." I mean, really. What possible use is that? Do we now have to investigate popular teachers because they MIGHT be child abusers? It's utterly worthless.

So if you feel abused by me, a simple solution is to put me on ignore. It won't hurt my feelings in the slightest.

[undergroundpanther]

27. Umm

And I'm not supposed to think you are minimizing when you are using words like hysterical?

If my kid came home saying some jerk fondled her or a teacher called my kid a prick,I'd be really pissed and ready to remedy the situation and protect my kid..

A teacher is in a position of authority,like a parent.An authority irresponsibly calling a kid a prick dehumanizes the kid and teaches kids it's OK to call people you don't like pricks as long as you are in a position of power.It's sick group dynamics and sick authoritarians.


I'm not saying YOU are the problem with abuse in schools.That is impossible. I'm saying peoples minimizing attitudes are a problem and you were exhibiting it with your choice of words..
Just look at the language you are choosing and if you empathize with what you are saying,step out of your POV and you may understand how what you say sounds like to others.


It is interesting to me,that you assumed I am calling *you* THE problem.
I was actually saying I have a problem with your choice of words and the attitude those words convey minimizing my pain and defaming me personally This is what your chosen words created in my perceptions of what you said.
In reality I have no clue who you are
And likewise you don't know me. All you know is what I say on line.
Yet you tried to claim I am holding onto an abusive incident in kindergarten as if that is the only bad thing that happened to me, why are you doing that if not to invalidate my story?

You are not discussing the issue of school abuse you are attacking me for saying my experiences with abusive people that happened in school..

Are you aware of how your words could be taken by others?
Sadly alot of people aren't aware of manipulation in language.

If you are aware of how calling abuse a "slight" is insensitive,minimizing,and discounting than you are manipulating perceptions. I do not let manipulative language go on not confronted.

I'm trying to get people to observe how choices of words craft perceptions.Words that you used that devalue me, that minimize my story,and make your attitude appear callous are said for reasons. If you choose words that look like you are trying to defame my character,than it looks like you are trying to defame my character. If you don't like appearing callous on this thread ,than don't use words that are pejorative like hysterical and slight when describing how people respond to abuse situations. Abuse situations are traumatic and painful and they create alot of cognitive dissonance and denial in our society that keeps the cycles going..

Your choices of words can do alot to create the appearance of manipulative callousness or sensitivity and warmth..in the people's perceptions when they read what you write. Choose carefully and respectfully and perceptions become more accurate to what you really mean.

If you want to,you can choose better more empathic language that expresses what you wanted to say clearer,and more sensitively. Try to do this if you want to be seen as sensitive to others and understanding of the painful reality of abuse dynamics and denial.
I can do a better job of watching what words I choose too. I
I think everyone can try to be aware of what they are saying and why,and observe and how the listener might hear what they say.We all choose our words for a reason.

I will not pretend language that is manipulative, insulting or minimizing is something else other than what it is when people get defensive. I mean what are they defending themselves from if they didn't just deliberately use language in a counterproductive way?

[donco6]

28. ummm . . . nah.

I've re-read all my posts and don't have anything to retract - certainly not my use of the word "hysteria." And since this conversation has flung far afield of the original post, which you don't seem to follow at all, I bid you adieu.

[JohnLocke]

14. They're combining sexual jokes and rapes? What the Cheney?

[Trillo]

15. "Hostile environment".

I think there's a quite a bit of correlation to be made with sexual jokes in the workplace and their part in creating a hostile environment. Check the search engines if you haven't heard of it.

Why should children be exposed to a hostile environment in compulsory education?

[undergroundpanther]

17. Hostile environments

Encorage obedience to "authority"
Hostile environments create conditions of social conformity and it teaches kids to look to authority figures as images of sucess.It fosters a reward and punishment mentality.It encourages competition instead of cooperation.It sets up kids tohave the mindset of obedience or "mastery" and it gets them conditioned to think there are no other ways to interact..
Lastly it grooms kids for a life at a job,it takes away thier self directed curiosity and crrativity and replaces it with seeking grades from authorities and keeping up appearances to please others.
Eventually the kid loses it at adolescence and rebels,until he is convinced his idealism is futile and he settles into the workday world and puts his life and loves on hold until retirement.
If his family is rich or hehas an overweening ambition,dumb luck or "hits the market with a good idea and an even better marketer, he might get to escape some of the life sentance imposed upon him by the seekers of profit before he is too lod to ever be a menace to the hierarchy dominating him from cradle to grave . But most don't.

[Trillo]

21. Thank you for your answer.

Your wisdom was evident to me in post #5 and #10, too bad others didn't see the intelligence behind the bad experiences you shared. I really have no disagreement with your explanation; it makes a lot of sense. What really blows me away (with the thoughts you've expressed) is that they know exactly what they're doing, and are doing it deliberately to obtain compliance. The Catholic Church and their pedophile problem, where it's just a few lowly priests(?), seems quite similar to this. It explains the staunch resistance to regular folk and the unwillingness to accord overt acknowledgement of the validity of anecdotal experience.

Story has been with us for as long as we have been here.

It occurs to me that training of some sort is always going to occur during the early years of human life. It always has. I believe psychology has mostly concluded that positive intermittent reinforcement is the most effective training method. Punishment really has no place in that system.

School is an extension of the state, the hierarchy, something that can be used for either good or bad. Too often it appears to be the later, while the rulers proclaim its the former. Maybe we need a round table instead of a pyramid.

The whole experience of at least the last several thousand years suggests that in the heart, the masses of humankind are cooperative. Small groups have successfully manipulated the masses for their own selfish reasons for at least that long, if not the entire agricultural period.

Now with the Internet, people who'd never communicated their thoughts outside of a small circle of friends have the chance to share their experience and knowledge. I guess, at least in that respect, it really is "the end of the world as we know it." There are still language barriers between some. . . .

Maybe it's the beginning of a more circular organization between all humans, but the masters who love the peak of their pyramids and who've been exploiting us for some 6000 years now won't give them up easily.

[TheWraith]

20. This is a scare statistic, nothing more nothing less.

It's designed to get attention, get funding for more studies, get people to tune into the news, and generally make people afraid not to hang on every word out of the 'experts.' I bet that if you looked at the core data, 95 out of 100 cases would be something like a teacher referring to an obnoxious youth as a 'little prick.' It's not that this isn't important, but this 'study' blows it far out of proportion.

[funnymanpants]

22. bad poll

I have taught in public schools for 10 years.

One teacher, who can be conservative, but is generally open-minded, heard a student bragging about Hillary Clinton. She said "Why do you look up to Hillary when she got to the top by lying on her back? Why not look up to someone like Madeline Albright?"

We might object to her bashing Hillary Clinton. But could her comment be construed as sexual harrassment?

The study is xso vague as to be absolutely worthless.

I didn't read the article too closely, but it didn't give very man examples at all.

[donco6]

23. So much troubles me about this "study"

This quote for example,

"Among those <meta-analysis studies>, the best estimate of misconduct came from surveys in 2000 of students in grades eight to 11, Shakeshaft said. That research, commissioned by the AAUW Educational Foundation, found that nearly 9.6 percent of students had been sexually harassed or abused by school workers. Shakeshaft reanalyzed the data and said it could be applied to the broad school population, meaning more than 4.5 million students could be affected."

So this researcher took one study, analyzed it for transferability, decided it made sense to apply it to the entire country, and ran the numbers. We don't know what schools were actually surveyed, what situations it breaks down into, who was involved, etc. It does nothing to help us to solve the problem. Is it mostly language? We could deal with that. Is it true physical abuse? We could deal with that, too. But to make this huge blanket statement with absolutely no differentiation is just worthless.

And then there's this:

"Greg Lawler, an attorney for the Colorado Education Association and author of "Guilty Until Proven Innocent," a book that deals with school employees who have been accused of sexual assault, said the national figure of one in 10 children is probably high because the definition used in the study is so broad.

'If a teacher tells an offensive joke to a student, that's a problem, but it's certainly a far less problem than a sexual conduct with a student,' Lawler said.

Allegations, he said, range from comments about the way a teacher hugged a student, to fondling a student or worse.

'I probably get a half-dozen allegations of inappropriate contact, and maybe one or two a year turn out to be something,' he said."

I agree with Lawler. There should have been more differentiation in the results.

Oh, and this is great - let's get out the ducking stools for this one:

"In a particularly troubling finding, the report says that in elementary schools, the abuser is often one of the people liked most by students and trusted most by parents."

So if you're well-liked, you're also most likely to be a child abuser? Good lord, this is just a ridiculous witch hunt.

[undergroundpanther]

26. Hmm..

Some socialized sociopaths are popular, some narcissists are very charismatic,glib and "fun".
Some popular people are popular because they are liked..
Some are popular because they are charismatic.
This charisma puts people into"leadership" positions"
How a person handles that power shows their character.
A bully has no character yet he has charisma and is popular and visible for reasons that are sick. Bullies create false appearances about who they are.

A true leader does not belittle others he builds their self esteem up.
A truly popular person does not see competition when another person becomes popular around him too.A truly popular person is liked because he likes others,and enjoys them for who they are.

A bully tries to control others,manipulate them into being someone else he prefers.He uses his popularity to dominate and form a posse of sycophants.This is not true popularity,but it looks like popularity on the surface if you are unaware of how sick group dynamics occur among people.The bullies popularity is an illusion, it is only possible when the social dynamics of abuse are present in the individuals who manifesting the bullies illusions of popularity in a "cluster of relations" holding the bully in a position of power.
A bully cannot stand being one popular person among many popular people.That's the difference between simply a likable person and someone with a pathological social charisma and a dependence upon maintaining popularity and has addiction to power.

Likable people don't dominate those they like,and who like them.
They don't take their popularity for granted.

Bullies dominate anyone they can.
And they cling to power.

Both kinds of people can appear "popular".