I agree with you 100%.
News stories about teachers who have sexual relationships with their students or who abuse students, are very common. As this story points out, there have been more than 2,500 proven cases of abuse over a recent five year period. That is 500 cases per year. Yet, the media consistently treats these cases as isolated incidents and not as symptoms of an institutional problem or defect.
Contrast this with the way that the media handled the clerical sex abuse crisis. 4,400 priests have been accused of abusing children over a 52 year period. This number represents 4% of diocesan priests and 2.7% of religious priests. Moreover, the bulk of the accusations were made between 1975 and 1990. That is, the majority of these alleged incidents of abuse occurred more than seventeen years ago; only a small number of cases concern abuse that was committed recently or currently. Yet, the media has treated these cases not as isolated incidents involving a small percentage of the clergy but as
a widespread, institutional problem caused by the Church’s hierarchical structure and its requirement of clerical celibacy. The reaction of the press, of victims’ rights advocates, and of lawyers to this scandal has been nothing short of hysterical. And the enemies of the Church have seized upon it as “proof” that the Church itself is evil.
The fact that these same people seem to be completely unconcerned about the prevalence of sex abuse in the public schools is proof that they are not as concerned about the protection of children and young people as they are about bashing the Church. What hypocrites.
I'm hardly one to defend the press, and I freely admit the public schools have problems. But, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are almost 49 million children in the public schools currently. I'd hardly call 500 cases of abuse per year prevalent.