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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (29208)	2/16/2005 12:26:51 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

What do you think about the power disparity aspect of a teacher having sex with a student? I think it's unwise and inappropriate, at least in part because it interferes with the proper student-teacher relationship. When I was teaching I had several students who would have engaged in sexual activity with me if I had chosen, and I was quite clear that it was not and could not be an option. But that is my personal judgment, and my personal moral value set. I don't automatically assume that my moral values should govern everybody else's life. If it had been my son involved, and I were persuaded that she had seduced him, I would want her head, and I don't guarantee that she would have made it to trial unscathed. If it had been my son involved and I were persuaded that he had pursued her, that she had resisted him at first but finally had fallen to his blandishments, I don't know how I would feel. I would be upset and distressed, no doubt, but would I have felt she deserved punishment for it? I simply don't know. What's interesting to me, and something not discussed here yet, is that her initial sentence was actually quite light -- six months or so as I recall. That seems to suggest that the court didn't see it principally as an evil adult preying on an innocent child, but recognized some complexity in the situation. What got her nailed was going back to him, against the court's order, after she got released from her first sentence. That's when the court threw the book at her and made sure she would stay locked up until he was a legal adult. I'm not sure what all this means, but I do think it means something. The Court was in the best position to know all the facts, and if it treated the initial offense lightly, I do suspect there was a reason for that.