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Evil: Catherine Herridge Drops Jarring School Predator Stat - 17 Percent of American Kids Have Experienced Sexual Misconduct from a School Employee

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President Donald Trump would go a long way toward saving the republic if he could smash public-school teachers’ unions.

Better yet, raze the entire public education system to the ground and start over from scratch.

In a clip posted to the social media platform X, investigative journalist Catherine Herridge, formerly of Fox News and CBS, revealed that, according to the latest data, 17 percent of children in public schools experience sexual misconduct on the part of a teacher or other school employee.

That revelation came during an interview last week with attorney John Manly on Herridge’s “Straight to the Point” podcast. According to the Los Angeles Times, Manly represented victims of Larry Nassar, the convicted sex offender who once served as team doctor for the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team.

In the interview, Herridge cited the work of Charol Shakeshaft, professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose research interests include “educator sexual misconduct.” Harvard University published Shakeshaft’s 2024 book, “Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It.”

“The latest data is 17 percent,” Manly told Herridge. “Ms. Shakeshaft was the author of two studies commissioned by the Department of Justice.”

The attorney then noted that the 17 percent figure came from Shakeshaft’s 2024 book.

“Wait, 17 percent?” Herridge asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Manly replied. “In other words, 17 percent of students in this country who go to public schools will suffer some sort of sexual misconduct while at school by school personnel, which is a staggering statistic if you do the math.”

On a tangential note, thank goodness for X. The post above had more than 433,000 views as of Friday morning.

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Meanwhile, Herridge’s full interview with Manly, posted Feb. 19 to YouTube, had approximately 18,000 views as of Friday morning. Readers may watch the full interview below.

Of course, one struggles to account for Shakeshaft’s “staggering statistic.” The fact that one in five public-school children suffers sexual misconduct at the hands of a school employee defies belief.

Broader societal trends do help explain the epidemic. The extreme hyper-sexualization of American life in recent decades surely has something to do with it. So does the banishment of God from our schools.

As one X user noted, however, a similar epidemic once prevailed among Catholic clergy. And one would assume that priests, whatever their collective defects, do not suffer from a lack of opportunity to follow God.

The same X user also correctly observed that the establishment media has not scrutinized teachers as it did priests.

“I remember when libs would be hauling out every report of clergy abusing kids and rightly so, but why crickets when it comes to teachers?” the user wrote. “No 60 minutes exposé, no late night jokes about teachers, no CNN segments.”

At the beginning of his interview with Herridge (see full YouTube clip above), Manly gave us a partial answer.

“In public education, in most states, it’s next to impossible to fire a bad teacher,” the attorney said.

Hence, abusive teachers receive protection from their union and get reassigned to different schools. There’s even a term for it: “pass the trash.”

Having observed from inside academia what modern universities and education colleges prioritize, I often marvel that any good teachers exist. Those who thrive in public schools do so in spite of the system, not because of it.

Indeed, in light of the indoctrination, radicalization, poor education, and now, it seems, rampant sexualization of students, we would all be better off without public school teachers’ unions.

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Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.




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