Caught in the Act
Sex in the Classroom
By Daniel Muniz

Students of the Crockett Middle School of the Fort Bend County Independent School District in Sugar Land Texas near Houston certainly got an eyeful when they were sitting in class. When a teacher momentarily stepped out of the classroom, two eighth graders seized the moment and each other to participate in a sex act. The boy and girl did it right there in the middle of the classroom with the entire class looking on.

However, what happened afterwards disgusted quite a number of parents.

Principal Corliss Rogers immediately disciplined both students but the parents were not informed about the incident until more than a week later.

Naturally, some parents were outraged. A classroom of students witnessed a live sex act right in front of them but the educational leadership didn’t bother to tell anyone about it until much later. Parents expect to be immediately informed if something appalling or dangerous happens. And for an incident of this magnitude, school officials should have communicated it right away instead of spending time trying to find a way to “spin” it just right.
 

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And in a knee-jerk reaction, some parents criticized the teacher for briefly leaving the classroom unsupervised. It is disheartening and irresponsible to blame the teacher. This bad behavior originated from the kids and they alone are accountable for their actions although that is a tough concept for some people to accept. The school and the faculty are not at fault for what these two students decided to do.

Although outrageous behavior involving personal displays of affection is fairly commonplace in high school campuses across the country, having sex in a classroom while in full view of a roomful of students is pretty shocking. But for middle school kids to be doing this is truly disturbing but perhaps not all that surprising.

There was a time in which outrageous behavior was considered to be outrageous. But times have changed and such conduct is not only becoming the norm, it is now called entertainment. Although celebrities like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and others encourage lewd and lascivious behavior, it is the parents who allow their children to copy it. And the problem with being so permissive with teenagers is that much younger kids, the so-called tweens, then want to emulate it as well. And when that happens, elementary age children are not far behind.

For example, clothing manufacturers are already producing seductively laced pushup bras and sexy panties for girls as young as six years old. Why do little girls need lingerie?

In fact, critics blasted the retailers who marketed sexy Halloween costumes for elementary age girls. Somehow, parents thought it was cute for their little princesses to dress like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. How are these parents going to react when their little ones start behaving like these divas at a young age?

And in the age of the “Girls Gone Wild” phenomenon, teenagers are becoming more accustomed to exposing themselves to their peers as well as to total strangers. They are also becoming less inhibited in getting photographed and videotaped while they are taking their clothes off.

So perhaps there is no way to stop this downward spiral of lewd conduct but there are ways to try to limit it.

In previous generations, there was a whole set of unwritten rules involving common sense, etiquette, and respect. Today, there is a segment of children that have absolutely no idea of what is considered to be unacceptable behavior, especially when they have been indoctrinated by the antics of pop culture. Certain kids are simply unaware that there are actions that can get you expelled or even arrested. As a result, it is time for our education system to explicitly tell their students what is and what is not acceptable while they are at school.

Of course it sounds ridiculous to explain to high school and middle school children that having sex or performing sex acts on school property or during school functions is not allowed. Kids should know better but the truth of the matter is that an increasing number of them don’t know these unwritten rules of society and decency. They already know a lot about indecency because it saturates our television sets, our music, and the Internet. And as time goes on, this missing knowledge is probably going to be become much more prevalent in our youth.

In addition, plenty of teachers constantly complain that parents have gotten out of control. These parents have also never learned the unwritten rules of conduct for interacting with other adults such as professionals like teachers and school administrators. They simply do not know how to communicate in a mature responsible manner. Consequently, these same parents are not teaching their offspring how to behave in our society.

Perhaps that is why it is imperative for our education system to spell it out to our children in plain English the basic tenets of civilized society. Also, schools need to get better in informing parents right away. School officials erred in taking so long to formulate a response. This kind of foot dragging makes the educational leadership look bad and creates an atmosphere of mistrust between parents and administrators.

It is deplorable that an incident like this occurred but with the breakdown in civility and respect, what else does our future hold?

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