The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a disturbing pattern of sexually explicit behavior among young children attending Philadelphia public schools:

At one Philadelphia public school earlier this month, two boys were caught alone in a rest room, one atop the other, their underpants off and their groins in each other's faces.

They were kindergartners.

And it was no isolated case.

Dozens of Philadelphia School District police reports over the last year detail instances of youngsters' ordering classmates to perform sex acts, grabbing private parts, simulating sex acts on one another, and writing sexually explicit notes that sound like something out of a pornographic movie.

It's happening in classrooms and hallways, in rest rooms and on playgrounds.

The schools are arranging for children to be screened--with parental consent--for evidence of sexual abuse. The screening will also attempt to determine whether a child has been exposed to sexual behavior or pornography. The article notes that the situation in Philadelphia schools is part of a nationwide pattern, and ties that pattern to early exposure to sexually explicit material in the home and on the internet. "The more children are exposed to adultlike sexual behaviors, the more likely they are to try some of that on," said Thomas Haworth, who directs child and adolescent services at the Peters Institute. "The children with their faces in each other's groins, that's not something you would come upon in normal childhood. That's adult sexual behavior." "The stuff available at their fingertips - that is really going to change the development of a whole generation of youth," said Jill Levenson, who teaches human services at Lynn University in Florida.

Sadly, there's little teachers can do in the long run. The system is broken. Anyone w/the cojones to fix it, whether teacher or administrator, is axed as a troublemaker. Suspend the kids and the parents threaten to sue. The mere threat causes districts to back down, 'cause they can't afford a legal fight. Chaos ensues ever slowly....

My school just got back a gang member (middle school) who a bit over a week ago committed robbery (armed w/a fake gun). Why is he back AT ALL? (Maybe if the gun had been real he wouldn't?)