Saturday, April 07, 2007

5th graders out of control

Yikes, I just read about this incident. I'm trying to think back to my own life as a 5th-grader. I remember hearing about a guy from my class going on a date with a girl from another class. She had left her purse at his house, and he gave it to her in class. I remember being surprised to see this happen.

I wasn't exactly part of the popular or more "mature" crowd. There was definitely socializing among the girls and boys. Naturally there were crushes and flirting going on, but nothing obvious came of them.

I remember buying a book in 6th grade called, "Figuring Boys Out." I really didn't understand the dynamics between boys and girls. (And, I still feel clueless some days.) The one story from the book that I remember is about a girl who bought this cool skirt. It had a zebra pattern with faux suede tassles. She was excited to wear it to school. Unfortunatley, a couple of boys made fun of her skirt at school that day, and she was devastated. Her mother was furious because her daughter refused to wear the skirt ever again. It was only in hindsight that she realized one of the boys who teased her like her. This example was to demonstrate that boys use teasing to get the attention of girls they like.

While I understand this to some extent, I still don't understand how to discern between someone who likes you and someone who has malice towards you. I still think there are people out there who would do that to put you down to make themselves feel superior. What's the difference?

Anyhow, I ramble...

It's just really frightening what kids come up with these days. No doubt the idea came from kids who have been watching to much television. Sex and violence are so intergrated into every form of media these days, it's hard to avoid. No doubt these kids saw something on the Internet or on television showing the "fun" and "popularity" resulting from sex and decided to experiment. It's really scary to think about how difficult it is to protect children from such situations. Life seemed so much simpler and more innocent twenty... oops, I mean thrity (ouch!) years ago.

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Authorities: Fifth-graders posted lookout, had sex in class

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Five fifth-grade students face criminal charges after authorities said four of them had sex in front of other students in an unsupervised classroom and kept a classmate posted as a lookout for teachers.

The students were arrested Tuesday at the Spearsville school in rural north Louisiana, authorities said. Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year old boy were charged with obscenity, a felony. An 11-year-old boy, the alleged lookout, was charged with being an accessory.

"After 44 years of doing this work, nothing shocks me anymore," said Union Parish Sheriff Bob Buckley. "But this comes pretty close."

Authorities said the incident happened March 27 at the school, which houses students from kindergarten through 12th grade. A high school teacher normally watches the fifth-grade class at the time, but went to an assembly for older students and the class was inadvertently left unattended, Buckley said. (Watch authorities try to determine if a crime was committedVideo)

The class, which had around 10 other students, was alone for about 15 minutes, he said.

"When no teacher showed up, the four began to have sex in the classroom with the other elementary students in the classroom with them," he said.

It took a day for authorities to find out about the incident. A student who had been in the class told a high school student about it the next day, Buckley said. The student told a teacher, and school officials notified the sheriff's office. Detectives began questioning students Thursday.

School officials did not return calls seeking comment.

The students, who were not identified because of their age, were released to their parents after their arrests, Buckley said. They will next be arraigned in juvenile court.

A message seeking comment from the district attorney was not immediately returned.

Buckley said it was unclear what penalties the children could face.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

1 comment:

shan said...

this is really disturbing :(