Thursday 27 September 2012

Authority and Ignorance

Why do people in positions of trust and care feel they are superior to those they caring about?
My issue I. This blog post is in regards to the 15 year old girl, Megan Stammers, who, last Thursday, ran away with her Maths teacher and her school, despite knowing something of their relationship, did not intervene when they had suspicions. On a school trip to Los Angeles, Megan's friends had seen her and the teacher, Jeremy Forrest, holding hands through the flight and reported it to teachers. These teachers however have clearly did not encroach upon this topic with Forrest or Stammers, allowing them to continue their 'relationship' despite constantly being informed of the relationship . Now in a school where there have previously been sex offenders working and teaching, surely it should have been their number one priority to investigate into concerns being raised by Megan's fellow students. However, it appears not. To me, it looks as though the school's staff clearly had too much pride and were too ignorant to believe the students' issues thus allowing the affair and grooming to continue. While the school claims they were investigating Forrest and Stammers' relationship, I feel it should have been their utmost priority to suspend the teacher on the grounds of safety for other students but also trust the students raising these concerns and treat the reports with seriously and professionally.
I have personally felt incredibly inferior to teachers when wanting to raise an important issue but chickened out for fear of being made to feel stupid by the teachers.