Klarinet Archive - Posting 000206.txt from 1999/12

From: "Jim Youngman" <youngman@-----.au>
Subj: [kl] re: playing the Clarinet from behind the student
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 14:53:19 -0500

Here in Victoria, Australia the law is quite clear. A classroom teacher
cannot touch a student in any way. To do so leads to the possibility of
assault charges.

There have also been a number of cases in Australia where a teacher has been
jailed on the basis of sexual assault charges, later proven to be false. In
the meantime, who knows what punishment the teacher endured in a prison
where child molesters are not highly regarded. In at least some of these
cases the teacher had done nothing stupid, he (I know of no cases where the
teacher was female) had simply made himself unpopular by not supporting some
student desire, or reporting some behaviour to parents. Kids clubbed
together and supported one another's perjury in court.

I was once a teacher (mathematics) and saw it happen to other, fine,
teachers. Unfortunately, I also know of cases where the charges were in all
likelihood well founded.

If it happens in Australia, I am sure it happens in USA and the UK as well.
I don't have any statistics. The frequency is probably quite small in
relation to the total number of student-teacher interactions, but the
results would normally be devastating for all concerned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Youngman
19 Portsmouth Street, Heathmont VIC 3135, Australia
Phone: +61 3 9893 1029 Fax: +61 3 9870 0636
mailto:youngman@-----.au
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teenei te tangata puuhuruhuru
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