Priests vs. Teachers!!

Picture of School Miramonte Elementary School 

Not long ago, there were many controversies about Catholic Church Priest molesting younger children during holy meetings in preparation for their first communions while recently an LAUSD Elementary schoolteacher was accused for lewd conduct involving 23 students at Miramonte Elementary School. This case involves photographs of current and a former student blindfolded and being spoon fed what critics believe, is the teacher’s semen.  This is not the first time, teacher Berndt, has been associate with lewd conduct towards minors. In 1993, state officials reported a girl accusing her teacher, Berndt, of attempting to touch her genitals to her mother soon after several months watching an episode in the “Oprah Winfrey Show” about “good and bad touches” (LA Times, Winton). Surprisingly the teacher was still able to continue teacher elementary students after his accusations. There should have not been a doubt about immediately dissocializing this teacher from elementary school students. On the other hand the girl allegations support one of Erik Erikson’s stage of psychological development. The girl falls in the stage of Trust versus Mistrust because she did not know whether to report her incident about the teacher to her mother. Hopefully, by serving time in a total institution (i.e. jail) the teacher allows himself to think about his past actions and resocialize again.

By: Stephanie Romo

 For more information visit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/mark-berndt/