Statement on Child Abuse in Schools

  For some time, I have felt there was something missing from this page,
and today it finally dawned on me.
  For too long, I have read and heard the advice to "contact school
officials" in cases of suspected child abuse. Yet seldom have I read of the
epidemic of abuse inflicted BY school officials. Not by all school
officials, and also not by "just a few". Public schools attract the
mentally ill, those who are so insecure that they feel a need to inflict
pain on someone or something weaker than they are, not to mention the
downright psychotic individuals who find refuge in the school system.
  What better place? Volunteer organizations are at least questioned as to
their screening techniques, and efforts are being made to help ensure that
the pedophile and the sadist are denied this bonanza of victims.
  Not so the school system. It's a multi-billion dollar a year industry,
with a good propaganda campaign, and as a result, most people hold the
school in a revered, almost God-like respect.
  Worse still is the ignorance related to even "simple" abuse in schools,
that which is known as corporal punishment. In any other setting, with any
other group of people, it has another term. Assault and battery. And yet,
this country is still full of the ignorance which is best summed up in that
old phrase "They hit me in school and it never hurt me none". Or the notion
that beating up defenseless children "teaches respect".
  Well, these half-wits are half right. It teaches. It teaches violence,
hatred, shame, guilt, all of those things which our good "Christian"
society holds dear.
  That said, I hope to include more of the "Voices in the Wilderness",
those enlightened souls who see this vulgar rape of the minds and bodies of
children for what it is.
  One further note. If these statements offend you, I suggest you go
somewhere else to mouth pious platitudes about being interested in the
welfare of children.
  You're only fooling yourself.
  To those who understand what I'm talking about, I would appreciate any
help you can offer in this area.

     Stephen Stocker
     October 7, 1997

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