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Sexual harrassment

The Boston Globe has suddenly discovered that teenagers use sexual slang and epithets to torment one another. Is this a surprise to anyone? Did they repress their own memories of being a teenager? The environment described in the article is the consistent with what I lived through 30 years ago.

Particularly striking to me is a statement by Fatima Goss Graves, a vice president of the National Women's Law Center in Washington (which may have been taken out of context, but probably not):

"Schools get too caught up in the label," she said. "If it's the sort of conduct that's interfering with a student's performance, it ought to be stopped."

Oh, right. It's not about doing what's right or ensuring that the people in our care aren't mistreated: it's all about their performance! God forbid those test scores would drop! Then we'd all be in trouble. Sheesh...