Posted on 12/16/2006 7:20:34 AM PST by Graybeard58
Last month, a 4-year-old Texas student was suspended for hugging a teacher's aide in what school officials called a case of sexual harassment.
However, most experts of psychology and law say a child that young cannot commit sex crimes usually reserved for adults.
"It's just ridiculous," said Jeanne Milstein, a child advocate for the state of Connecticut. "A 4-year-old has no idea what sexual harassment is."
A pre-kindergartner at La Vega Primary School in Bellmead, Texas, near Waco was given an in-school suspension after he allegedly rubbed his face into the bosom of a teacher's aide. The two hugged before he boarded the school bus.
The incident isn't an anomaly: There have been several similar cases in New England. In May, five Boston elementary school children were suspended after playing something called the "rape game" by choking, scratching and grabbing one another. A 6-year-old from Brockton, Mass., was suspended in January after inserting his fingers into a female classmate's waistband. In 2000, a group of Bath, Maine, third-grade boys, similarly, came close to prosecution after pinning girls to the ground and simulating sexual acts.
But local professionals who work with children say the youngest ones don't have the capacity to sexually harass or even understand the concept. By definition, sexual harassment involves superiority over another person, as well as sexual gratification.
They say a child knows neither of those things.
Clinical psychologist Lynn Marlow said for children most instances of so-called sexual harassment come down to experimentation or curiosity. More seriously, they might also be a child acting out abuse.
Feelings of attraction form by late elementary school, she said. Sexual orientation and other strong sexual feelings occur at the onset of puberty.
"It's not at all uncommon for children that age to engage in some "I'll show you mine if you show me yours' exploration,'" said Marlow, based in Cheshire. "They don't have a clear sense of what they're doing or why it might be inappropriate."
She said the proper reaction should be talking to the child and finding out why they did it. Give them guidance, she said.
More serious offenses should be referred to juvenile court, said Francis J. Carino, a supervisory juvenile prosecutor in the office of the Chief State's Attorney. There, the child would get assessment and evaluations.
"It's a legitimate concern when you see a child in this age group engaging in this kind of behavior," he said.
Still, reprimanding them severely won't help; nor will criminal charges, experts said. Both actions would undoubtedly terrify a child.
"The more you punish, the less available a child will be to learn anything from a specific incident," said Dr. Joseph Conrad, director of home-based family services for New Opportunities Inc. in Waterbury.
He said the rash of recent sexual harassment incidents involving children can be pegged to school tragedies -- the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado at the forefront.
In that instance, teens Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 fellow students and wounded 24 others before killing themselves.
Since then, school officials believe they should respond to every incident, no matter how small.
Instead, he said, they should apply a "zero tolerance" idea with a conscience, and case by case.
"We're talking about human behavior," Conrad said. "If anything, it is still quite unpredictable."
This is the real Clinton Legacy.
"He said the rash of recent sexual harassment incidents involving children can be pegged to school tragedies -- the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado at the forefront."
OK, so some loons murdering people disallows a 4-year-old from hugging a teacher. Gotcha.
Somebody convince me this country isn't done for. Please.
Jeez! More. They are equating a 4-year-old hugging a teacher to the "rape game".
"The incident isn't an anomaly: There have been several similar cases in New England. In May, five Boston elementary school children were suspended after playing something called the "rape game"..."
I want out of this circus.
Anyone who attributes sexual motivations to anything a 6 year old boy or girl does has,him/herself,serious psychiatric problems.
In general, GSC, I would agree with you. But unfortunately many kids are sexualized at an early age due to being molested, seeing adults sexually acting, or being exposed to sexually explicit material.
I know of a few such incidents. Lives ruined.
lib/dems (socialists) want it both ways.....they want to take children away from parents to start brain washing programming children in pre-nursery school ...so when the male child seeks a parental role model and hugs a teacher...immediately he is a sex offender!!!!
guess he needs more education!!!!
Ah, that explains why kids today know so much less than kids from 20-30 years ago. The school officials are responding to incidents instead of teaching the 3 R's.
Lock up and castrate the 4 year old pervert!
Protect our wimmen!
/ sarc
Agreed. Kids imitate what they see around them, i.e., their parents, other kids, etc.
Dozens of people from Kansas to New York and even Hong Kong were angered, responding by e-mail with attacks on the teacher's aide, the principal and the La Vega administration. Others simply called the allegations ridiculous.
However, News Channel 25 wasn't the only one to get the message. Many of the people have e-mailed the La Vega Independent School District directly. Some e-mails called for the teacher's aide to be forced into counseling or even harsher punishment."
Someone needs to take a long hard look at the teacher's aide.
Exactly. I wonder about the mental stability of someone who interprets a four-year-old's hug as "sexual harassment."
You are absolutely right. There is something seriously wrong with her to even bring this issue to the administration.
LBT
-=-=-
...yet when a teacher engages in extra-curricular activities with her young charges,well,that's true love.Unbelievable!
with this new congress, OJ Books, US Senator's visits to enemy countries and these lawsuits, I expect Rod Serling to pop up any day now.
They can write all the psychobabble they like. The fact remains, a four year old lacks the sophistication to sexually harass. Period.
Given the difference in height, the aide had to be either holding the child or kneeling down to get her nubs rubbed. Book the broad.
A half truth at best. To say that a four year-old does not understand "superiority over another person" can only come from someone who has never gotten out of textbooks and watched a kindergarten playground.
"More seriously, they might also be a child acting out abuse."
Actually, MOST SERIOUSLY, they surely could be "acting out" from the depictions of abuse they have observed in the media and the arts; because our "freedom of speech" Nazis have made everything "adult" available to children 24/7/365.
The whole point of 'zero tolerance' is to relieve administrators of applying common sense or covering the fact they have none.
We read about idiotic suspensions, arrests, etc. every day because of and a direct result of 'zero tolerance'.
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