I Take An Unpopular Position

The only vaguely pro-peace entity on earth is the Catholic Church. At the time of the invasion of Iraq, the "priest-sex abuse" scandal erupted. Since 'sex-abuse" claims are today's witch hunt charge, I was suspicious of the timing, especially since the charges were nothing new, and the Catholic institutions were less offenders than so many others.

While I was attending a poor school where supposedly this stuff is rampant, Bill Gates was up the road at a world class private school that had a Superior Court judge as a part time teacher, and apparently full time child molester. For 25 years. And many in law enforcement knew it. And after he was outed he committed suicide, and yet still 600 leading Seattleites attended his funeral. Why no lawsuits there?

I transferred out of the Christian Brothers school because I flunked Latin and did not want to spend the summer with a particular teacher. No way. So I went to a public school where the violence was appalling and the counselor i was suppose to meet with did not show up (he was a VP, a union chief, and was eventually arrested soliciting boys in public toilets). Why no lawsuits there?

For some reason the stories are emerging again. Does this mean we are headed for war? Having spent over 16 years being educated in Catholic schools, I know the charges to be largely false, or so willfully mischaracterized that they constitute false testimony.

Yes, some abuse happened, but no where near what is reported. This is from the BBC regarding the Christian Brothers of Ireland, a group that taught me for 2 years. I agree with these government findings:

Abuse report - At a glance

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established in 2000 to investigate allegations of abuse at Catholic-run children's institutions in Ireland. The main findings were:

* Physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of the institutions.
(Features? Well, yes... they were schools... this is a feature of all schools)
* Sexual abuse occurred in many of them, particularly boys' institutions.
(Indeed... like any other school...)
* Schools were run in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and even on staff.
(Indeed... because we were the rejects from the other schools... the school I attended had a contract with Seattle Public Schools to take students Seattle could not handle...)
* Children were frequently hungry and food was inadequate, inedible and badly prepared in many schools.
(Yes, we were poor... that sucks... still true in poor district schools today)
* Many witnesses spoke of being constantly fearful or terrified, which impeded their emotional development and impacted on every aspect of their life in the institution.
(Yes, I was fearful and yet we still locked the teachers out of the rooms, farted loudly in class and did anything else we could to annoy the teachers... I think we impacted some of the young teachers emotional development...)
* Prolonged, excessive beatings with implements intended to cause maximum pain occurred with the knowledge of senior staff.
(Yes, in the hallways so the whacks would echo throughout the school building and all would hear... I earned five for tormenting a kindly Latin Teacher.)
* There was constant criticism and verbal abuse and children were told they were worthless.
(Well, what are the facts? We disrupted class, didn't do our homework and fought in the lunchroom. You think it is better to put all the kids on Ritalin?)
* Some children lost their sense of identity and kinship, which was never recovered.
(Schools cannot do that, only families... this charge doesn't stick...)
* Absconders were severely beaten, at times publicly. Some had their heads shaved and were humiliated.
(Yes, I took my worst beatings at school.. and at least ten times teachers lectured class while cutting my hair... you think I am making this up, but I have at least 30 witnesses, and I was not alone.)
* Inspectors, on their occasional visits, rarely spoke to the children in the institutions. (Inspectors? There were inspectors?!)

We knew the pederast teachers and although man/boy relationships are wrong, the boys are rarely, if ever, unwilling participants. The situation is more complex than just black and white.

In any case, this is a problem that cannot be solved. It is wrong for a family to send kids of for the day to be taught by strangers. The solution is a combination of homeschooling and tutors or other short term instructors. Predators and others will have to find other sources of victims.

There is already big business in supporting homeschooling, and most major universities have recruiters for homeschoolers since as a group they perform far better academically than their disadvantaged government school peers. If good comes oout of this, it might be that mnore people homeschool.

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