In Kentucky and elsewhere, teacher sex with older teens not illegal - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Gurkha · #1 12-02-2007, 04:37 AM

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1129teacher-sex1129-ON.html?&wired

J.R. Gray was disturbed to learn that teachers break no criminal laws by having sex with students, as long as the student is at least 16 years old and a willing participant.

That scenario played out in Gray's hometown of Benton last month when a band teacher was accused of having an affair with a teenage student. Gray, a Democrat from western Kentucky, says he now plans to file a bill as soon as next week that would make it illegal for a teacher

or anyone else in a position of special trust to have consensual sex with someone under 18

There goes the schools.

POS · #2 12-02-2007, 09:29 AM

I need to go back to school.

TwitchKitty · #3 12-02-2007, 09:47 AM

In 2003 I was surprised to see an article in the paper in Maine that said they had just changed the age of consent to 16, from 13.

t walgamuth · #4 12-02-2007, 09:59 AM

A teacher is holding a position of trust. No matter what the law says about ages, it is wrong for them to have a sexual relationship with a person in their trust.

It is equivalent at least to sexual harrassment of a boss having sex with an employee who feels beholden to them but much more serious since you are not dealing with adults.

That said, I know of two folks personally who lost their teaching jobs here in Indiana because of such behaviour and both are now married for a long time to the ladies whom they had sex with as children students. (One is in fact my first cousin!)

Tom W

Tom W

Gurkha · #5 12-02-2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

A teacher is holding a position of trust. No matter what the law says about ages, it is wrong for them to have a sexual relationship with a person in their trust.

Tom W

Tom W

Very true, problem is that once they become teachers they seem to forget all that.

raymr · #6 12-02-2007, 10:23 AM

People don't see the consequences for bad behavior anymore. If a thief gets caught he gets sent through the justice system, but his victims, and the public at large, might never even know about it. He gets quietly sent to jail and the lesson to others gets lost. Coincidentally, the US jail population is enormous.

These teachers are entrusted to do the right thing, but if nobody seems to care one way or another, they will sometimes take liberties. It's definitely a grey area though, as the age of consent varies from state to state. Still, public shame and humiliation for those found clearly guilty would be a great deterrent.

Gurkha · #7 12-02-2007, 10:28 AM

What is alarming is that there are those who sympathize and justify this sort of despicable behavior, believe it or not.

kerry · #8 12-02-2007, 11:40 AM

Interesting. Common in ancient Greece for teachers to have sexual relations with their students (homosexual ones).
bell hooks wrote an article some years ago arguing in the context of the discussion of sexual harassment in college, that her college education was improved by sleeping with her teachers.
What interests us sexually can also interest us intellectually. It wouldn't surprise me at all that what we learn in a (relative) state of sexual excitement gets stored in the brain in a different, possibly better way, leading to more ready recollection of the material. It might account in an evolutionary sense for the usefulness of the connection between sex and power. The old and powerful are attracted to the young sexually and the young gain knowledge from the relationship. Seems to have been a beneficial exchange since its been going on for milleniums.
There is definitely evidence that attractive teachers are rated by their students as better teachers. This may not just be 'bias' but might be an indication that sexual attraction enhances learning.
Not sure what this means for teacher/student relations except that the situation is not simple.

t walgamuth · #9 12-02-2007, 11:46 AM

When I was on the school board here, we had some discussions about similar issues. A teacher can (or at least ten years ago could) be dismissed for behavior that the community would find immoral.....such as open homosexuality.

So that would enable the school corp to fire someone for having sex with kids even though it might be illegal.

I believe the age for consentual sex in Indiana is 16 but only if the person having sex with the sixteen year old is less than 18.

I know of two young men who actually did time here for having improper relations with under age girls....one of them I suspect may not have actually had intercourse with them. In both cases the young men were acting as assistant coaches and were not teachers.

Bottom line is...jail bait is still jail bait no matter how well developed they may look and how provacatively they are dressed!

Tom W

Gurkha · #10 12-02-2007, 11:48 AM

Its a unfortunate common occurrence in colleges where girl students would sleep with the professors to get favors. Its not only unethical in every sense, its also grossly unfair and I know many incidences where rank stupid girls with no talent made it all the way to the top using this approach.

raymr · #11 12-02-2007, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurkha

Its a unfortunate common occurrence in colleges where girl students would sleep with the professors to get favors. Its not only unethical in every sense, its also grossly unfair and I know many incidences where rank stupid girls with no talent made it all the way to the top using this approach.

It's unfair to the ugly girls, for sure.

Gurkha · #12 12-02-2007, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymr

It's unfair to the ugly girls, for sure.

And how bout those who study hard for entire year?

mgburg · #13 12-02-2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwitchKitty

In 2003 I was surprised to see an article in the paper in Maine that said they had just changed the age of consent to 16, from 13.

I think what's more surprising is that fact that as parents, we are responsible for the action, and welfare, of our children UNTIL they are 18 and out on their own...yet some, in our own state governments, have decided it's OK that some perv can have sex (with all the related STDs-HIV-AIDs crap out there) with our children, starting at ages of 16, or younger.

Now, how dangerous could raising the age of consent to 18 be?

How many of us, ourselves, had sex before we were 18?

HUMMMMM?

Once you decide that the age of consent "...should be XX years of age...", then you have to decide if "<18 on <18" is a "gray area" or not...or if two persons, that had been "dating" since they were 14/15 or 15/17 are "gray area" material when one turns 18 before the other does...

Too many variables to leave the states to figure that one out...again, looking back to TwitchKitty's post that one state moved age of consent UP to 16 from 13?

WHAT THE H3LL IS GOING ON IN THAT STATE THAT THEY FINALLY FIGURED THAT ONE OUT????

Until we decide, as a nation, that our children deserve to be children until they're 18, we will continue to have turmoil in the home and on the homefront.

With Hillary in the Senate...why hasn't SHE brought this up and gotten some action on it?

Because she's in it for the power...the children NEVER meant anything to her or her ilk.

They, like everything else that's being stained by her campaign (healthcare et al) is nothing more than an empty promise to be solved by someone else...she only wants to be president. Let someone else deal with it...

And, BTW, I don't see ANY candidate for president solving any problems...that's the job of the House of Representatives and the Senate...and it all trickles back to you and me...we elected those lumps.

That's were the power really lays...in our laps.

And if we don't stand up for what's right...then the problems stays in the lap.

Going nowhere...really fast.

And teachers (the 1%'s) will continue to molest our kids and becoming fodder for the late-night talk shows' monologues...

mgburg · #14 12-02-2007, 01:27 PM

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