Reply to Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^^one other point: the Whitman crew parent's defense of "we just couldn't imagine it" is like what Joe Paterno said in defending his continued support of Jerry Sandusky well after he knew about the allegations.  That is, he just couldn't conceive as possible.  And again: if you are a parent with oversight of children, *it is your job* to educate yourself and to force yourself to consider these kinds of scenarios.  Mandated reporters don't get to say they just couldn't believe something could happen, so they ignored the signs.  Ignorance is a poor defense.[/quote]
Thank you. I really appreciate these excellent follow-ups. It does sound like it has the potential to be a great sport at its purest.

There have been some very thoughtful posts on here the last couple of days that I want to think about more. A couple posters have discussed how predators are everywhere, and they work in insidious ways. That’s very sadly true, and we’ve all heard about similar happening in every sport and many schools. But it seems that crew has built-in features that make kids more vulnerable to predation. Others have talked about how many parents at Whitman or similar schools in communities with affluent, highly-educated parents  “drink the Kool-Aid” and believe their kids can only succeed in life if they end up at top colleges. This is very true, as anyone who has spent time on the college forums can tell you. I think there is a lot of potential danger to kids in communities like this anytime you have a guy like Shipley serving as a gatekeeper to opportunities that kids and parents are very focused on/gunning to obtain.

One thing that really struck me from the Post article was the fear of retaliation that kept many of the worried silent. Re the parent who kept trying to get the board and school to act—

“She’d pushed the board to take action against him, but ‘no one wanted to say anything. No one wanted to challenge Shipley. It was always the same thing — he’ll retaliate against our kids. I was always the one saying, ‘But we are paying the money, so why shouldn’t we be the ones that are in charge?’ ”

If you are afraid of retaliation by a coach or teacher, you need to recognize that you have a very bad situation on your hands. 
[/quote]

You're welcome, PP!  I'm enormously grateful for the opportunities I had through rowing.  It's one of the best things I've done in my life, hands down.  I feel fortunate that I didn't have coaches this abusive (one was pretty insulting, but he was also brilliant in his way, and I could tolerate it until I couldn't, at which point, I left--the benefit of being older).

I completely agree with you about the retaliation.  It's always worth asking in that case: what's the worst that can happen?  I realize it could mean the loss of scholarships or complete social ostracization, which can be profound for teenagers, but man.

And your point about crew being a breeding ground for a particular kind of abuse is well-taken.  I've rowed in clubs that didn't have that elite sense, and then it really can become one of the best sports out there.  But if you buy into your idea that it's your ticket to a golden life (by way of the Ivy League), that's something to take note of and avoid.[/quote]

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