WASHINGTON, D.C. – We’ve been wondering when the national media was going to finally acknowledge what so many experts have openly admitted  – there has been a startling increase in recent years in the number of teachers arrested for having sex with underage students.

Now we finally find something published about this troubling topic, but it’s far from what we expected.

A recent editorial by Betsy Karasik in the Washington Post actually suggests that we decriminalize sexual activity between teachers and underage students, and even allow the offending teachers to eventually return to classrooms if “they prove they have completed rehabilitation.”

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We wonder how many parents of teenagers agree with Karasik’s suggestion?

We at EAGnews have learned quite a bit about this topic over the past few years. Our curiosity was originally stirred by the daily parade of stories we encountered from across the nation about teachers being arrested for sexually abusing students.

We responded with a four-part series called “Sextracurricular Activities.” The title of our series may have been tongue-in-cheek, but we were dead serious about the subject matter.

While no national statistics appear to exist, virtually everyone watching the situation agrees that the number of teachers molesting students has risen significantly in recent years. Experts believe much of it is due to the use of modern communication options like Facebook, email and texting.

Suddenly teachers and students can communicate in private, away from parents and peers. All too often these situations get out of hand, and teachers and students become sexually involved.

Nobody wins when this happens. And more and more teachers are landing in prison because they can’t keep their hands to themselves.

As an editorial published by NewJersey.com put it, “It seems that barely a week goes by without us hearing of new allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of some teacher or coach.”

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Have these people lost their minds?

It’s bad enough that teachers unions frequently defend predatory teachers, and many school administrators send them quietly on their way with letters of recommendation, so they can molest again in other schools.

Now Karasik is suggesting we should wave the white towel and accept the fact that some teachers and students are attracted to each other, and there’s little we can or should do about it.

Check out her words:

“When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, the sexual boundaries between teachers and students were much fuzzier,” Karasik wrote. “Throughout high school, college and law school I knew students who had sexual relations with teachers. To the best of my knowledge these situations were all consensual in every honest meaning of the word, even if society would like to embrace the fantasy that a high school student can’t consent to sex. Although some feelings probably got bruised, no one I knew was horribly damaged.

“The point is that there is a vast and extremely nuanced continuum of sexual interactions involving teachers and students, ranging from flirtation to mutual lust to harassment to predatory behavior. Painting all of these behaviors with the same brush sends a damaging message to students and sets the stage for hypocrisy and distortion of the truth. Many teenagers are, biologically speaking, sexually mature. Pretending that this kind of thing won’t happen if we simply punish it severely enough is delusional.

“If religious leaders and heads of state can’t keep their pants on, with all they have to lose, why does society expect that members of other professions can be coerced into meeting this standard?”

In other words, if politicians and priests screw up, what the heck, let’s just declare a sexual free-for-all and allow an open season on young teens.

Is this woman out of her mind?

The worst part is that Karasik doesn’t seem to be alone in this dangerous school of thought.

There was the case last week in Montana, where a judge sentenced former high school teacher Stacey Dean Rambold to a mere 30 days in jail for having sex with his 14-year-old student.  The girl took her own life at age 16, and her mother says the sexual abuse had a lot to do with her tragic death.

Perhaps the worst part of the sentencing came when Judge G. Todd Baugh suggested that the young girl was “as much in control of the situation” – and therefore deserved the same degree of blame – as the teacher.

Is the judge out of his mind?

Then there was the recent case in West Branch, Michigan, where a teacher was convicted of having sex over a number of years with a young male student. The parents of the victim and many in the community were stunned when seven teachers from the school district wrote to the judge prior to sentencing, seeking leniency – meaning little or no prison time – for their former colleague.

The convict’s wife, herself a teacher in the district, might have caused the most waves when she wrote to the judge that “I have seen many delightful students who have been damaged by horrible events in their lives. While I acknowledge that Neal’s conduct with [the victim] was wrong, I do not believe he was damaged by Neal’s actions and I base my opinion on my personal interaction with [the victim], both before and after Neal’s actions.”

So a 14-year-old boy suffered no mental anguish after being coerced into sex by a grown man who had been his trusted teacher? Is this woman out of her mind?

Teachers who violate trust deserve what they get

What people seem to forget is that teenagers are still very much children. They may be physically mature, but emotionally they remain in need of adult supervision and leadership.

Teachers have a sacred responsibility to serve as counselors and role models for the kids in their care. That means they must be the adults in the situation and somehow manage to overcome their lust.

That judge was stupid to suggest that a 14-year-old student is just as capable of making responsible sexual decisions as her middle-aged teacher. Fourteen-year-olds tend to think like 14-year-olds. That’s why they’re not allowed to vote, drive, get married or drink alcohol. They’re not ready for the adult world yet. They’re still discovering themselves.

We hire teachers to help guide our children through the awkwardness of adolescence. That’s best done when teachers keep a friendly distance and serve as advisors and friends. Teachers who take sexual advantage of confused kids are nothing more than predators serving their own selfish desires.

That’s why lawmakers in all 50 states have drawn hard lines regarding teacher conduct with students. Children and their parents must be able to trust the people who staff the local schools. They deserve the comfort of knowing the teachers are there to help children grow, mature and prepare for life.

Teachers who betray the sacred trust placed in them deserve all the punishment they get. And that should always be far more than 30 sorry days in the county jail.