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	Using Power of Connectivity to End Abuse Daily Texan October 23, 2007 http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/10/23/Opinion/Using.Power.Of.Connectivity.To.End.Abuse-3049606.shtml Last Sunday, The Associated Press reported a seven-month investigation found sexual abuse in schools is widespread and the system for dealing with it is stacked against the victims. According to the report, academic studies show one out of 10 students don't report sexual abuse. Those who do often find themselves being a target of speculation in which communities take sides for or against their case and, in many instances, the administration either does not take action or simply foists the abusive teacher onto another school district. Viewing sexually abusive educators as deviants assumes that taking these people out of the educational system will solve the problem. However, given that these incidents are more prevalent than previously thought and most of them go unreported, addressing the structure of the school system and how it tackles issues of abuse might be more fruitful. In many cases, a one-to-one or one-to-many hierarchy system leads to any form of abuse. The Roman Catholic Church, in which priests oversee a large number of churchgoers, has a startling number of sexual misconduct accusations. The National Center on Elder Abuse reports that most abuse occurs when an adult child abuses an elderly parent who either lives in total isolation or only with that adult child. Trade agreements between countries follow a similar pattern - the U.S. trades with a large number of countries, while some smaller countries trade the majority of their products with the U.S. If 2 percent of America's exports go to a small country, yet 50 percent of that country's exports go to America, there cannot be trade on a reciprocal basis. That country is more dependent on America's whims than the reverse. To compare this with abuse in school, many teachers accused of sexual abuse happen to be very popular teachers. A student may report abuse, while the rest of the students fight on behalf of the teacher. In that way, the one-to-many system works against the victim of abuse. The rarer many-to-many system has certain benefits not found in the other systems. For example, a progressive view on global aid takes the idea of microfinance to a new level. Microfinance seized the idea that giving small loans directly to a large percentage of the population would be more beneficial than giving a large loan to a central government or other organization. However, that is still a one-to-many hierarchy system. If the sole lender for a particular region has certain religious or political beliefs, that lender has the potential to impose beliefs upon others through monetary means. If many lenders engage in microfinance, that is a many-to-many system. In theory, people who take out loans can choose between lenders, and are thus not nearly as constrained. A many-to-many school system follows the old wisdom that it takes a village to raise a child, and potentially lessens the likelihood of educator abuse. It would perhaps contain two or three co-teachers and a number of assistants who all interact with students, rather than a lone teacher who lectures to a group. This model of education is little-considered because it is perceived as costly, yet the benefits would extend far beyond deterring abuse. The power of this model is not the number of teachers in the system (the cost) but the number of connections between people (the benefit). The human brain is an excellent example of the power of the model. The power of the brain is not contained within the number of neurons, but within the number of connections between those neurons - Einstein's brain was the same size as everyone else's. The many-to-many model divides power between multiple people while keeping a class from descending into chaos. A common concern of school administrations, that students will complain about trivial things such as getting an unfavorable grade, leads them to make the process to file abuse claims difficult for students. In a co-taught class, grades would be decided by consensus, and students would realize the grade they received was most likely legitimate. Therefore, any abuse claims they filed against one particular teacher would be more likely to be legitimate as well, and hopefully the administration would be more receptive to them.
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