Stupid and perverted? Not a good combo!

Andail · Sat 05/04/2008 10:09:19

So the other day in school, one of my pupils approaches me in the corridor. She seems to have something urgent on her mind, and some meters away, a little group of girls follow her closely while they whisper nervously amongst eachother. We're talking 12-13 year-olds here (I teach kids from 12-16 currently).
She starts telling about how her two friends - two of the bystanders - have had MSN-contact with a young male teacher for about a year now (already at this point, I probably raised my eye-brows a bit) and how his behaviour during these chat-sessions had gradually increased in intimacy. Some week ago, it had culminated in pure sexual harassment on his part, and the girls had ceased all Internet contact with him. I was rather shocked by now.
So I take the two girls in question (after having thanked my own pupil for being so brave and wise to bring this up with an adult) to the student health counsellor, and bring the head teacher, and some sort of emergency meeting takes place where the girls are properly interviewed one by one. It turns out he had also been mildly physical with them in the corridors; hugged them a bit too often, approached them a bit too enthusiastically.

After this I'm sort of off the case and return to my daily teaching chores.
Some days later, the young male teacher - whom I had only met occassionally and never really spoken to properly - is interrogated and apparently confesses. He's suspended from his job and the police takes over the case.

I'm left rather puzzled. At first I had accepted the possibility that it might be a very vicious conspiracy - not that I mistrust the kids in question, but because kids in that age, over all, aren't very conscientious witnesses, and often fabricate or add to their stories afterwards. But these particular kids left very straight and credible testimonies without any contradictions whatsoever.

My other impulse was that a person this careless might be calling for help. I mean, everybody now has heard of web-paedophiles getting caught, and everybody knows that chat records will be saved and that IP-addresses can be traced. And even if you can't control this urge...why pick kids at your own school? You're bound to get caught.

Lastly, I can't help but wondering how far this scum would have gone, had he not been revealed. The victims themselves weren't really about to tell anyone (except some close friends), they just thought it enough to block him from MSN.
I'm very satisfied that my own pupil had enough confidence in me to choose me as her channel for this. I must have done something right there

Anyhow, quite dramatic. Like things you read about in the papers.

auriond · Sat 05/04/2008 11:06:13

As a teacher as well, I think I'd have much the same reaction as you, Andail. But I think the male teacher probably just let his urges get the better of him. It's lucky that he expressed his urges online, in a way - all too often these cases tend to result in actual molest.

Vince Twelve · Sat 05/04/2008 11:47:47

As yet another teacher, I think you handled it exactly right. It's a tricky situation, because on one hand, as you said, the testimony of a 12 year old can be untruthful and allegations of this nature can ruin a life even if they're proven false. But on the other hand, doing nothing could have even worse results. A teacher is an important role to the development of a young person, and being taken advantage of by someone in that position is permanently and seriously damaging. Someone very close to me was molested in a similar fashion when they were twelve, and more than thirty years later, the memories, long repressed throughout a perfectly normal and successful life, came flooding back and hospitalized this seemingly strong and stable person. Really awful.

I have to say, the real hero of this situation was the girl who came to you. I don't think there are many kids out there that age with the strength to do what she did for her friends. Who knows how brave or how stupid this teacher would have gotten if it had gone on much longer? It really says a lot about you, too, that she trusted you enough to come to you with such sensitive information. Well done, Andail.

Edit: As a side note, this kind of person is really affecting the way teachers think and act nowadays. I somewhere read a comment recently by a teacher in Italy who said that if he were walking down the beach and saw a school-age girl alone and crying, he would turn and walk the other way for fear of losing his teachers license or worse. And I can completely understand what he's talking about. It's a bad situation.

Oliwerko · Sat 05/04/2008 15:50:08

Andail - you behaved in a very mature way, I see. I know like hundred of people who wouldnt do anything about it. Man, you just saved (at least) psychical health of these kids! Dramatical indeed.

Well done I say!

brokenbutterfly · Sat 05/04/2008 17:35:49

It's good that everything ended well

you're also a young teacher yourself Andail, how young was the other one? In college I had a teacher who looked like she was one of us students, she had a hard time making herself respected $:-\$

Quote from: Vince Twelve on Sat 05/04/2008 11:47:47
Edit: As a side note, this kind of person is really affecting the way teachers think and act nowadays. I somewhere read a comment recently by a teacher in Italy who said that if he were walking down the beach and saw a school-age girl alone and crying, he would turn and walk the other way for fear of losing his teachers license or worse. And I can completely understand what he's talking about. It's a bad situation.

I agree with Vince Twelve, you can't be too safe nowadays. In other situations I've read about, students would indeed lie and claim they've been sexually harassed by a teacher just to get back at him/her for giving them a bad mark or something along those lines.

Andail · Sat 05/04/2008 17:50:39

Yeah the other teacher was just some 2 years younger than myself, which makes it almost strange that they chose to go to me instead of some older, mother-like teacher...maybe they hoped I'd go and punch him in the face.

brokenbutterfly · Sat 05/04/2008 17:57:12

And you should have done that, if you wish to apply at the unemployment office afterwards

I would've punched him, and that's exactly the reason why I don't become a teacher even though my friends urge me to, because I'm much too irresponsible and hot-tempered

You did the sensible thing! Go you! I'm sure your pupils are glad to have you as their teacher. Good teachers are hard to come by.

InCreator · Sat 05/04/2008 18:13:25

12-13 year olds? You did the right thing.

Evil · Sat 05/04/2008 18:42:18

Back when I was in middle school, there was a science teacher that was sexually harassing girls in his classes. They all called him on it, but because there was no evidence against him, and it was all on the testimony of a few girls, they couldn't do anything about it.

Eventually, all of the girls in all of his classes requested to be transferred to another class because of this harassment. You'd think that would be enough to get him investigated, right? Well, he had tenure and his wife was on the school board or something, and he's still teaching at that school. It's madness that for something that apparent, they can't or won't do anything.

You did the right thing. If you hadn't taken action, they're story would probably been just ignored.

Becky · Sat 05/04/2008 19:33:36

From personal experience:

This:

Quotethere was a science teacher that was sexually harassing girls in his classes

Is infinitely more common than this:

Quotestudents would indeed lie and claim they've been sexually harassed by a teacher just to get back at him/her for giving them a bad mark or something along those lines

My secondary school was an all girls school, and there were a number of male teachers that harassed the students - one memorable occasion is when my English teacher was calling someone in our class "Sexy Legs" instead of her name when he called the register. He did eventually leave the school.

CodeJunkie · Sat 05/04/2008 20:03:33

When I was a pupil in secondary school (age 12-16) the head teacher was told by two pupils around age 14 in our year that a teacher had asked to take indecent pictures of them. Shortly after being suspended while investigation was underway the teacher committed suicide.

Most pupils talked about how he was a dirty paedophile, and his name would come up in insults and jokes. I don't know if there was any evidence apart from the pupils' words against him, but as I've matured I can't help feeling unsure about what had really happened. There's always a possibility that these pupils were being malicious but regardless the teacher's career and life was ruined, driving him to suicide. I hope he was guilty, but it's one of those things we will never know.

Anyway, good work handling such a sensitive issue Andail. Your pupils must be proud to have you.

Fee · Sun 06/04/2008 00:38:41

I fire up pretty quick on subjects like this.
If i knew they werent lieing, i probly couldnt help myself and confront the bastard, but thats probly not the best way to do it.

Especially since you were unsure.
IMO you did the right thing. Good Job.

Nikolas · Sun 06/04/2008 08:46:20

Andail,

You know you did the right thing!

I've no idea what I would've done, personally, since I only teach students... (thus above 18 year olds) in the uni... :-/ Still I was "taught" that there is some kind of ierarchy and you take it higher until the problem is resolved, maybe even to the head of department (this is 3 levels up from a lecturer for example).

But anyways, good call. Well done on you!

As for the idiot, indeed he sounds a twat...