So Teachers Do Have a Grooming Problem

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Michael
This entry was posted in education, teacher and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to So Teachers Do Have a Grooming Problem

  1. Dhay says:
    April 14, 2022 at 7:24 am

    Here’s a BBC News article, “Orpington teacher struck off for actions towards two girls”, which starts:

    A teacher [head of science] in south east London has been struck off after “sexually motivated” actions… A string of allegations from late 2019 were both admitted by Ms Melvin and, separately, found to be proven by a professional misconduct panel after two pupils came forward. …
    She … pushed pupil A up against a wall, fed her a biscuit, and shared alcohol with her. The … teacher told the girl: “‘If you ever tell anyone about the wine, I’ll kill you’, or words to that effect and/or wiped student A’s lips to remove the wine.” …

    The panel found Ms Melvin’s behaviour was “sexually motivated” and showed she was “in pursuit of a sexual relationship”, as well as exhibiting “controlling behaviour”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61007857

    She wasn’t to blame for her actions (said her advocate), appealing to the “It wuz overwork and stress what made her do it” defence:

    In her defence, Ms Melvin’s representative said the teacher had been “acting under extreme duress” because she was working five days a week as the head of a department and also on a two-day contract working on a separate science learning partnership. Feeling she did not have enough time to complete her work, the representative said, “Ms Melvin increasingly found comfort in spending time with pupils”, especially Pupil A and Pupil B.

    Nobody made Melvin work seven days a week, the two extra days were an optional, paid, second job. I have always hated people who ask for an explanation then call whatever you reply an excuse but yes, this is not an explanation, it’s definitely an excuse. Or an attempt at one.

    Something I hadn’t realised before, but it’s obvious once pointed out (by “A Training Guide for Administrators and Educators on Addressing Adult Sexual Misconduct in the School Setting” linked in the Tweet (large pdf, Page 8), is that abusers not only groom children, but also how they groom their own adult peers:

    At the same time, the perpetrator is also testing the adults surrounding the child or school, including those who work at school, individuals in the school community, and the child’s family or guardian(s). It is not uncommon for the behaviors to be done publicly so that the perpetrator can gauge reactions; share information (true or false) to manipulate how the behavior is interpreted by the adults; and further control the child victim. For example, a teacher may lead their colleagues to believe the parent has provided consent for them to drive a student home because the parent needs help. In response, the perpetrator receives accolades and gratitude from their colleagues, and has begun the process of grooming peers as well.

    As the target is groomed, and as the adults are groomed, the perpetrator gradually progresses to engaging in sexualized behaviors, often using threats and intimidation tactics with the child to keep his or her sexual misconduct secret.

    I detect such grooming of adult peers in:

    There were 11 references submitted attesting to Ms Melvin being a “highly thought of and well liked” colleague, with one adding she was “trustworthy and reliable in both babysitting and tutoring”.

    Abusers get away with it as long as they do by projecting the image of being ‘not the sort of person who would never do that, I can’t believe it of them.’

    I have an instinctive distrust of charming people. Perhaps it is rational as well as instinctive.

  2. Dhay says:
    April 28, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    “Croydon Catholic school closes due to strike over LGBT book talk” is the headline of a BBC News article about a Roman Catholic Voluntary Controlled (RCVC) school where

    Teachers at a Catholic school have gone on strike over the cancellation [of a talk by a children’s author whose books feature gay characters. Governors of the John Fisher School in Purley, Croydon, in south London, voted not to cancel Simon James Green’s visit, contrary to the Archdiocese of Southwark’s recommendation. Two governors subsequently resigned and the archdiocese sacked the rest.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61245078

    To clarify, it was the archdiocese that cancelled the visit:

    Simon Hughes, Diocesan Schools Commissioner, had recommended the school leaders cancel the book-signing event. In a statement on 3 March, Dr Hughes said: “From time to time materials or events emerge for consideration that fall outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school. “In such circumstances, we have no alternative but to affirm our unequivocal and well-known theological and moral precepts and to act in accordance with them.”

    The archdiocese’s objections to the visit are contained in the archdiocese’s “Responses to Questions about the Situation at the John Fisher School, Purley” (pdf), in which the author’s two books are quoted to show they contain passages that are obviously pornographic:

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj5mvzV87b3AhVNUcAKHQAlAzgQFnoECAwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fst-aidans-parish.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F04%2FJF-Archbishops-statement..pdf&usg=AOvVaw3wk9IlLqCeEFW_SGklXs6q

    Christian Today also quotes:

    In Noah Could Never, Green celebrates a teen world drenched in the flippantly, ironically erotic. For example, in Chapter One, we get the blow-by-blow description of an orgasm:

    ‘Uh, uh, uh, uh…’ ‘Come on, come on… that’s it…’ … ‘Harder! Harder!’ ‘Ah, ah, ah, ah…’ ‘YEAH’ …’OH YES! OH YES!’ … For Noah, ‘Yes, they were sounds of pain. But a sort of pleasure-pain. Almost like … like the person making the noises wanted to be in searing agony. Like they were enjoying it.’

    Similarly, in Noah Can’t Even, the Lord’s Prayer becomes blasphemy:

    ‘Our Father, who art the gay boy? Noah be his name … He makes Harry come. He gives him one. On earth as it is in heaven … And lead him straight into temptation. Right into a gay bar. For Noah is a gay boy. Who likes to suck cock. For ever and ever. He’s gay.’

    Is such content appropriate ‘literature’ for 12-year-old lads to read, and Christian schools to promote?

    https://www.christiantoday.com/article/when.good.intentions.go.bad.lgbt.teen.fiction.and.the.church/138353.htm

    No, I’d say it’s age-inappropriate. What are teachers thinking of, sexualising children of that age?!

  3. Dhay says:
    April 28, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    The BBC News article includes a Tweet from the cancelled author, who says:

    Today @NEUnion members from John Fisher school are striking over my banned school visit and their sacked governors. They’re standing up for LGBT students everywhere who need to see the reality of their lives in books. Please show them how much support they have.
    [Picture of strikers]

    http://www.twitter.com/simonjamesgreen/status/1519586617564045312

    The above-quoted snippets from said books show the reality of the lives of LGBT students aged 12-14? Really!

    What squalid lives.

  4. nihilist2christian says:
    April 29, 2022 at 4:21 am

    “Our Father who art in heaven, Sex be thy name” is what it should have said.

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