At-Risk Children and Early Signs of Sexual Misconduct
By: Joel Eisenberg
Tags: Schools, Prison, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Rape

For a 10-year period I taught severely at-risk children and young adults within both the New York and California school systems. Though my Bachelor’s degree in Special Education formally allowed me to specialize in Mild to Moderate Disabilities, as opposed to Moderate to Severe, I learned quickly those were only labels, and ineffectual labels at best. I was a man in a field that hired predominantly women at the time. Though my two-and-a-half years of prerequisite course work in the field of Abnormal Psychology proved relatively meaningless, I was a commodity to my schools by virtue of my sex.

And so most of the rough students, invariably as a matter of profiling, came to me.

The first point I want to make is until you work with some of these students, you simply cannot know what their lives have been like.

Reading online about the history and upbringing of rapists informed this article. I related to some of that information through my students who have lived it.

I taught predominantly high school-aged kids during my tenure. Some of the male students before and/or since have been arrested for sexual misconduct issues. Some of the female students before and/or since have been arrested for sexual misconduct issues.

Most of these students were born into violent families. Several of these students witnessed murder within those families. Most did not have either a positive father-figure or a mother-figure. Many belonged to street gangs. My students to whom this applies were Caucasian, African American and Hispanic.

I was assaulted by a student; you can read about that story here. In that same story, which focuses on another student of mine who died in a shootout with cops, I delve more into the psychology behind some of these kids.

I left the field permanently in 2005. I stayed in touch with a few students for a time until I had to file a cease and desist against one for email fraud and phone threats. On a call this student once made that I answered, he boasted of having impregnated “someone against her will.”

I reported it all to the authorities, all those years since I left the field. I looked back and all the signs were there. I have also kept in touch with friends still in the profession, who have informed me nothing has changed.

The following are true-life examples of former students of mine who either did not make it or were not expected to make it. I will not use their names in this piece.

N, a male, was diagnosed manic-depressive with suicidal ideologies. He was institutionalized in his early-20s for beating his father, eventually returned home and threatened to rape his grandmother. From there, I lost my point of contact.

R, another male, loathed women. He described himself as bisexual, though he believed he could only trust men. “If I want to fuck a woman,” I overheard him once say to another student, “I’ll take her.” I filled out an incident report and met with the school officials. The student was later suspended for an incident where he was caught trying to act on his threat.

P, a male, was the ringleader of an orgy held at night in the principal’s office. The school was outdoors, on a ranch, and most of the students lived in group homes. The morning the teachers arrived to work, we were beckoned into an emergency meeting and told what had happened. Condoms were strewn about the office; some furniture was broken. P was suspended and never returned to school. I have no idea what happened to him. The others were suspended, cooperated in an investigation, and were allowed back after two weeks.

M, a female, raped — with a device — another female student who admitted to encouraging it. As they were both under 18, “rape” is accurate. They both said they enjoyed it, and afterwards became a couple.

I can go on.