Second-Grade Girl Attacked. “Where Were the Adults?” Everywhere! ©

Today the news is flooded with reports; a second grade girl was molested. She is eight years of age. Her attackers, twelve boys, were between the ages of six and eight. Adults, nationwide, are in a tizzy. Interviews are being conducted with the principal of Columbia Accelerated Community Educational Center. Board members are being consulted publicly. Parents are speaking out. Neighbors are in an uproar.

In this north-side St. Louis school, 400 students, pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, were exposed to an awful crime; aggressions of the most awful sort were inflicted upon a young girl. There is much uproar and repeatedly the words are stated, “Where were the adults?”

Once this transgression was discovered, two teachers were dismissed. One instructor was easily eliminated for her status was only temporary. Legally, s/he was not bound to the system; s/he was a long-term substitute teacher. The other was asked to leave; s/he has been suspended. Investigations are pending.

The dynamics are feverously discussed. A playground, by its nature is difficult to view in full from any given angle. There are nooks, crannies, and blind spots. Children are can hide or become invisible. Buildings are barriers and there are other natural obstructions. That matters not. The clamor continues, “Where were the adults?” Why were the teachers not more vigilant? Why did the authorities not move about more quickly, carefully, or find a way to be in infinite places simultaneously.

As of yet, I have heard no calls to increase playground personnel, not that I think this would have truly made much of a difference. Yes, it would be nice if “adults” were more visible during playtimes. However, if there were more elders, I do not believe the attack would have been any less likely. Children can and do wait for a better time or for circumstances that are more amenable. If I had heard a discussion proposing the possibility of more supervision, I would feel the same disgust and distress I am experiencing now. It is the query that bothers me, “Where were the adults?”

The sight of an older individual does not deter thoughts that are already born. Our youth have seen elders all of their lives and it is the behavior of grown-ups, immature grown-ups, that stimulates aggressions such as these. Nevertheless, society is surprised and appalled by this event; and I wonder why.

For me the burgeoning question, “Where were the adults?” is a ridiculous one. They were everywhere. They are all about in a child’s life. The wise, weary, and wrinkled ones have ample influence, more than they know or are willing to accept. They, the elders teach the children through their actions and inaction. Grown-ups, with their fully developed minds [ha!] and bodies, teach our youth well. They model.

Children of any and every age see what older persons do, say, feel, think, and are; they witness the foolishness, the fetishes, and the all too familiar fanaticism of mature minds and they mimic. The young are well aware of seniors’ obsession with sex, violence, badgering, and bullying. They observe indiscriminate wars; they experience verbal, physical, and mental battles. They learn.

Young persons witness the wounds and weapons wielded by their parents, guardians, protectors, and heroes. They notice the pleasure adult people experience when inflicting pain. We, the “adults,” mold the minds of our youth. The precious brains of the naive absorb what they are exposed to. They soak up what they are shown; they are little sponges.

Each day, hour, and minute we teach the progeny what to do, say, feel, think, and be! They watch as we perform. I feel certain their dreams are filled with the follies of their elders. Wow, what a nightmare.

Children watch the boob tube. For many it is their constant companion and baby-sitter. They go to the movies, view music videos, play games, and are praised when they win. They are taught to beat the clock, the rest, and the best of them. Scores are being kept for what is tangible. Honorable acts or behaviors receive little no recognition.

Western civilized society instructs its youth to battle, belittle, besiege, at any opportunity. Tease, taunt, and tell everyone you are right and they are wrong, then you will be noticed. Children want to be noticed; so too do “adults.”

Diplomacy is but a dream. Empathy is a fleeting notion; evolution at present seems only a myth. “Where were the adults?” They were everywhere and nowhere to be found!

I offer the following articles for your review. Typically, I would incorporate them in the text. However, I do not want to preach. I long ago realized reflection, personal pondering is the best, if not the only way knowledge is acquired. Wisdom comes when we are ready for it, open to it, and searching.

I cannot force you to seek or discover; nor would I wish to. I have my own learning to do. I can only care, share, and hope that you will choose reflection and growth. I know that is a challenge. It has been mine. Here are some interesting assessments in answer to the question, “Where were the adults?” Read as you desire.

Adult On Adult Aggressions With Sexual Overtones, Authority Figures Involved
• Torture At Abu Ghraib By Seymour M. Hersh. The New Yorker. May 10, 2004
A fifty-three-page report, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba about Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse was not meant for public release. Yet, The New Yorker magazine was able to obtain a copy. The document was completed in late February 2004. This study reveals what those “adults” in positions of authority can and did do.

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

• Homeland Aide Faces Cyber-Sex Charges CBS News April 5, 2006

A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department was put on unpaid leave Wednesday after being charged with preying on a child through online sexual conversations with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

• Why Duke's Response Was So Slow By PaulCuadros/Durham. TIME Magazine

Duke University officials were slow to respond to the rape allegations against members of the lacrosse team because Durham police officials doubted the accuser and grossly underestimated the seriousness of the allegations, according to a report released on Monday by a special committee formed to examine the administration's role in the incident.

Adult On Adult Aggressions . . .Waging, Wanting War
• Bush Wanted War, By Richard Cohen. Washington Post Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bob Woodward says in his book, "Plan of Attack," that not only was Bush fixated on Iraq, but by Thanksgiving of 2001, he already had told Don Rumsfeld to prepare a plan for the invasion of that country. "Let's get started on this," the president said, cautioning the defense secretary not to tell anyone"

. . . what was in Bush's gut -- not his head, mind you, but that elusive place where emotion resides. It was there, in the moments after 9/11, that Bush truly decided on war, maybe because Saddam had once tried to kill George H.W. Bush, maybe because the neocons had convinced him that a brief war in Iraq would have long-term salutary consequences for the entire Middle East, maybe because he could not abide the thought that a monster like Saddam might die in his sleep -- and maybe because he heard destiny calling.

• The Coming Wars, By Seymour M. Hersh, January 24, 2005

Bush has an aggressive and ambitious agenda for using that control—against the mullahs in Iran and against targets in the ongoing war on terrorism—during his second term.

Adult On Adult Aggression . . . Bullying, Badgering, Belittling
• U.S. policies toward immigrants unjust, By Shiva Bhaskar. Daily Bruin University of California-Los Angeles. May 30, 2003
• Police Sexual Abuse of Teenage Girls By Samuel Walker and Dawn Irlbeck June 2003

Police sexual abuse of women includes a disturbing pattern of police officer exploitation of teenage girls. The majority of these cases, moreover, involve girls who are enrolled in police department-sponsored Explorers programs designed to give teens an understanding of police work.
• Rodney King reluctant symbol of police brutality CNN News

Adult on Adult Aggression As Related To Competition, Cheating, Corruption
• Pressure for good grades often leads to high stress, cheating, professors sayBy Barbara Palmer

According to Denise Clark-Pope, a lecturer in the School of Education . . . "In every class where a test was administered, there was cheating." Students feel as if their life success depends on getting the top SAT scores and the highest grades, she added. The students "know [cheating] is wrong; they tell me they wish they didn't do it," she said. "But they feel like the most important thing they do is get the grades, by hook or by crook."

Reality Television With Violent Tendencies
• Survivor
• Fear Factor

Adults Influence on Child Development
• The effect of adult influence on children's preferences: compliance versus opposition. By Brehm SS

The present study examined the effects of adult influence on the choice preferences of first and fifth grade girls and boys. It was found that when the adult directed the children as to which choice alternative to choose, all children (both grades and both sexes) preferred that alternative advocated by the adult. When however, the adult's influence attempt was followed by another adult's stating that the child should choose whatever he/she wanted, first graders displayed oppositional behavior (preferring the alternative not urged by the first adult), while fifth graders continued to comply with the first adult's influence. These results suggested that oppositional behavior in first grade children may occur as a function of conflict between adults regarding adult control over the child.

• The Effects of Electronic Media On A Developing Brain
• Frontline Examines Impact of Television on Society in "Does TV Kill?"
• Television, Violence, and Children
• Children, sex, and the Internet By Heather Little -White, Ph.D., Jamaica Gleaner Sunday, May 7, 2006
• The Influence Of Music and Music Videos American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Posted by Betsy L. Angert on May 10, 2006 at 03:53 PM in Adult Influence on Children, Columbia Accelerated Community Educational Center, Education, Emotional Decisions, Psychology , School Days, Teach The Children, “Where Were the Adults?” | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack