This is a post that has been rolling around in my mind since the Penn State scandal broke. I do not want to focus solely on Jerry Sandusky terrible crimes. I want to get people thinking. Why don't we protect children; why don't we care? Now, before anyone jumps down my throat, please visit my Disagree With Me page. This is a subject about which I feel passionately. I know myself. I will make several declarative statements. Do not stoop to criticizing me personally or minimizing this issue. Tell me what you believe. Let's keep this about the children.
First of all, I want to throw what my high-school English teacher would call attention grabbing statics out there. One in five or 15.5 million kids in the US are impoverished. Those kids are five times more likely to endure physical, emotional and sexual violence.(Smith, 2010) Experiencing these things, of course, leads to a hire risk of partaking in criminal activity later in life. Three out of every five people in jail or prison now, were living below the poverty level when they went in. (Street,2008)
That is what makes Jerry Sandusky's actions so unforgivable. He knew children living in poverty would cling to structure and a roll-model who had "made it", he created a charity in order to take advantage of that, and fed the sick urges of his pedophilia. It is one of the most premeditated crimes about which I have read. The scariest part is,to call him an anomaly would be totally incorrect. The exposure of Catholic priests is another probably the most famous example, but there are plenty of men and women who target "at risk" children to molest. There are plenty of bullies who pick on poor kids, because their parents are too busy working to defend them. Those parents are demonized for raising their children in the exact environment that they were raised in , because it is almost impossible to get of, and they are undoubtedly scared by their childhoods, psychology if not psychically.
So in the most privileged country in the world, kids get ignored, go to bed without food, see shootings in their streets, often idolize the wrong people, grow up do whatever they can to make money because they are intelligent enough to recognize poverty and as the route of their problems, and America incarcerates them. Does that make sense to anybody? It makes absolutely no sense me. Especially because after those people get out of jail or prison, it is very difficult to become employed, so many of them fall back into their original lifestyle and have trouble staying outside.
What can we do? I can give my opinion, for what is worth
We can stop worrying about the careers of adults and start worrying about the minds of our future. We can thank employees for exposing corruption instead of calling them whistle-bowlers or tattle-tales.
We can stop picking on impoverished, single mothers. Good things will happen if we acknowledge that they are doing their best, stop insulting them for taking charity help them become employable, and put the stigma on the men who leave them.
We can make class-sizes smaller so that the teachers who spend seven or more hours a day with our children can more easily recognize signs of abuse.
We can stop treating prison as a rehabilitation center, and make rehab affordable. We make it easier for people who are rehabilitated to become productive members of society by not allowing companies to hold minor offenses that they committed a decade ago against them.
We can keep sex education and self-defense in schools. Yes, it would be ideal if parents handled these areas but not everybody has involved parents and not every involved parent has time. Ignorance about any topic, makes in frightening and taboo. Making sex frightening and taboo only makes kids more likely to hide abuse.
We can stop prattling on about how none of the aforementioned facts matter, because some poor or abused children do end up rich, educated, happy and/or successful. When a person is celebrated, as they should be, for beating the odds, it is because the odds are against them. It is unspeakably difficult to fight poverty and most people lose. This in unfair to kids. We need tell them, we are mad for them and we WILL fix this. And then, obviously we need to fix this.
First of all, I want to throw what my high-school English teacher would call attention grabbing statics out there. One in five or 15.5 million kids in the US are impoverished. Those kids are five times more likely to endure physical, emotional and sexual violence.(Smith, 2010) Experiencing these things, of course, leads to a hire risk of partaking in criminal activity later in life. Three out of every five people in jail or prison now, were living below the poverty level when they went in. (Street,2008)
That is what makes Jerry Sandusky's actions so unforgivable. He knew children living in poverty would cling to structure and a roll-model who had "made it", he created a charity in order to take advantage of that, and fed the sick urges of his pedophilia. It is one of the most premeditated crimes about which I have read. The scariest part is,to call him an anomaly would be totally incorrect. The exposure of Catholic priests is another probably the most famous example, but there are plenty of men and women who target "at risk" children to molest. There are plenty of bullies who pick on poor kids, because their parents are too busy working to defend them. Those parents are demonized for raising their children in the exact environment that they were raised in , because it is almost impossible to get of, and they are undoubtedly scared by their childhoods, psychology if not psychically.
So in the most privileged country in the world, kids get ignored, go to bed without food, see shootings in their streets, often idolize the wrong people, grow up do whatever they can to make money because they are intelligent enough to recognize poverty and as the route of their problems, and America incarcerates them. Does that make sense to anybody? It makes absolutely no sense me. Especially because after those people get out of jail or prison, it is very difficult to become employed, so many of them fall back into their original lifestyle and have trouble staying outside.
What can we do? I can give my opinion, for what is worth
We can stop worrying about the careers of adults and start worrying about the minds of our future. We can thank employees for exposing corruption instead of calling them whistle-bowlers or tattle-tales.
We can stop picking on impoverished, single mothers. Good things will happen if we acknowledge that they are doing their best, stop insulting them for taking charity help them become employable, and put the stigma on the men who leave them.
We can make class-sizes smaller so that the teachers who spend seven or more hours a day with our children can more easily recognize signs of abuse.
We can stop treating prison as a rehabilitation center, and make rehab affordable. We make it easier for people who are rehabilitated to become productive members of society by not allowing companies to hold minor offenses that they committed a decade ago against them.
We can keep sex education and self-defense in schools. Yes, it would be ideal if parents handled these areas but not everybody has involved parents and not every involved parent has time. Ignorance about any topic, makes in frightening and taboo. Making sex frightening and taboo only makes kids more likely to hide abuse.
We can stop prattling on about how none of the aforementioned facts matter, because some poor or abused children do end up rich, educated, happy and/or successful. When a person is celebrated, as they should be, for beating the odds, it is because the odds are against them. It is unspeakably difficult to fight poverty and most people lose. This in unfair to kids. We need tell them, we are mad for them and we WILL fix this. And then, obviously we need to fix this.
Works Cited
Smith, R. (2010, May 1). Child poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childrensdefense.org
Street, P. (2008, December 5). History in Jail. Retrieved from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/streeracpripo
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