HOW PORNOGRAPHY IS DESTROYING YOUR CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Defender Ministries is committed to helping churches, families, schools, and students to fight the damaging effects of internet, media, and pornography – as well as sexual issues.
In a suburb of a major American city, a group of middle school students would get together ever morning at one house. Their parents were gone for the day – to work, to run errands, to take siblings to school. In this community, middle school classes started over an hour after high school and elementary classes. So these middle schoolers had time to kill. They would get together, get on the internet, watch pornographic materials, and then reenact what they saw. This went on for quite some time until one of the parents accidentally discovered it.
We hear horror stories like this all the time – how kids are being confronted with sexual imagery on an increasing level. We hear how they are losing their innocence at younger and younger ages. In fact, we hear about it so often that it becomes somewhat surreal – and we become numb to it all. There are so many “shocking” stories about teens that a person can hear until it is not shocking any more.
Sex itself is a good thing – created by God as a wonderful element of marriage. But it has been twisted and cheapened. Satan has offered a counterfeit version that is actually tainted with lust to our world. And the most victimized group of all is students. They are constantly confronted with sexuality. One of the videos that we at Defender Ministries produced was a series of sexually-charged images that could be seen on the way to and inside a mall. The kicker was that a fifteen-year-old and his mother helped us to get the photos and make the video. Our students do not have to hunt down these images. They just have to go about their daily activities. They will be confronted by sex on television, on the internet, in the mall, in the clothing worn at school and church. In fact, it has become many times more difficult to avoid these images than to find them.
With the introduction of the internet, this problem has gotten far worse. Instead of having to go to a bookstore or seedy movie theatre to find pornography, a teen can find it 24/7 in the privacy of their own home. And – contrary to what the porn industry says – it is entirely possible to find a whole world of sex online without ever having to enter a credit card number or provide age verification. Teenagers and students are bombarded with sexuality. It is estimated that NINETY PERCENT of all teens have visited a pornographic website. Parents are usually overmatched in trying to protect their students online. If the parent is savvy enough to use content protection, most students know how to get around it.
Is this a problem in your school? The answer is yes. It does not matter where your school is located, how wonderful the students are, what a superlative staff you have compiled. The fact is that sexual activity and pornography ARE problems in your school. If the statistics are right – or even CLOSE to being right – there is no way that you can believe that it is someone else’s problem. Pornography does not become a $12 BILLION industry by being someone else’s problem. Dr. Chap Clark of Fuller Seminary says that ministers need to just start assuming that any of their student leadership in high school or college that have been in a relationship have had oral sex. He feels it has become just that common and that accepted. As an educational leader, the questions that you should be asking regarding this issue are 1) How much is this issue affecting my school? and 2) What is my responsibility about this issue?
First of all, just how much is this affecting your school? Consider these points as you think about that question:
The question of whether or not this is your responsibility is a far more difficult one to answer. What is the school held accountable for compared to what the family or church is accountable for? That debate has been raging for decades. Regardless of where you stand on that argument, the fact remains that you are going to be called into account by God about whether you did everything you could to help those students in your charge become the best adults they could be. That may be academically – but there also is an element of teaching them how to succeed socially, financially, and morally. And there are ways that you can help your students and their families to start fighting this battle.
Know that whatever efforts you make, you are not alone. Defender Ministries wants to be a tool at your disposal. We would love to be a part of your school’s efforts – and can help you on any of the four suggestion listed above. We can help develop lessons for individual classes that will help to start a dialogue. We can train your staff, leadership, parents, and teachers about pornography and sexual issues – and some of the new ways students and adults alike are finding porn. We can help you find quality accountability software and people who can protect your school network. And we can help set up accountability and support groups with you – as well as establishing safe outlets for your students and teachers. Our calling is to help people fight this battle – let us help you.
Defender Ministries is committed to helping churches, families, schools, and students to fight the damaging effects of internet, media, and pornography – as well as sexual issues.
In a suburb of a major American city, a group of middle school students would get together ever morning at one house. Their parents were gone for the day – to work, to run errands, to take siblings to school. In this community, middle school classes started over an hour after high school and elementary classes. So these middle schoolers had time to kill. They would get together, get on the internet, watch pornographic materials, and then reenact what they saw. This went on for quite some time until one of the parents accidentally discovered it.
We hear horror stories like this all the time – how kids are being confronted with sexual imagery on an increasing level. We hear how they are losing their innocence at younger and younger ages. In fact, we hear about it so often that it becomes somewhat surreal – and we become numb to it all. There are so many “shocking” stories about teens that a person can hear until it is not shocking any more.
- Students who wear different LiveStrong-style bracelets to show what sexual acts they have performed
- Students having parties where they pair off and try sexual acts
- The rampant amount of oral sex on the average middle school and high school campus
- Elementary school students forcing preschool aged children to performs sexual acts
Sex itself is a good thing – created by God as a wonderful element of marriage. But it has been twisted and cheapened. Satan has offered a counterfeit version that is actually tainted with lust to our world. And the most victimized group of all is students. They are constantly confronted with sexuality. One of the videos that we at Defender Ministries produced was a series of sexually-charged images that could be seen on the way to and inside a mall. The kicker was that a fifteen-year-old and his mother helped us to get the photos and make the video. Our students do not have to hunt down these images. They just have to go about their daily activities. They will be confronted by sex on television, on the internet, in the mall, in the clothing worn at school and church. In fact, it has become many times more difficult to avoid these images than to find them.
With the introduction of the internet, this problem has gotten far worse. Instead of having to go to a bookstore or seedy movie theatre to find pornography, a teen can find it 24/7 in the privacy of their own home. And – contrary to what the porn industry says – it is entirely possible to find a whole world of sex online without ever having to enter a credit card number or provide age verification. Teenagers and students are bombarded with sexuality. It is estimated that NINETY PERCENT of all teens have visited a pornographic website. Parents are usually overmatched in trying to protect their students online. If the parent is savvy enough to use content protection, most students know how to get around it.
Is this a problem in your school? The answer is yes. It does not matter where your school is located, how wonderful the students are, what a superlative staff you have compiled. The fact is that sexual activity and pornography ARE problems in your school. If the statistics are right – or even CLOSE to being right – there is no way that you can believe that it is someone else’s problem. Pornography does not become a $12 BILLION industry by being someone else’s problem. Dr. Chap Clark of Fuller Seminary says that ministers need to just start assuming that any of their student leadership in high school or college that have been in a relationship have had oral sex. He feels it has become just that common and that accepted. As an educational leader, the questions that you should be asking regarding this issue are 1) How much is this issue affecting my school? and 2) What is my responsibility about this issue?
First of all, just how much is this affecting your school? Consider these points as you think about that question:
- Point of crisis for students – When a student is revealed as participating in sexual activity or pornography, usually they are removed from campus. When students get kicked out for inappropriate behavior, the entire student body begins to wonder why. Rumors fly and students have it reinforced to them that they cannot be open about their struggles.
- Law of diminishing returns – The Law of Diminishing Returns states that it takes more and more of an object to keep the same satisfaction level. When applied to this topic, a person with a pornography problem will not stay in the same place forever. They will need more titillating media to get the same excitement. So they rapidly move to more usage, more graphic materials, and more risky behavior. A person involved in sex will do the same thing. As a student or teacher slides down this slippery slope, it rapidly becomes more and more likely that it will become a very public problem for your school – and a very damaging outcome for them.
- The sin effect – When a Christian continues in a sinful behavior long-term, it begins to affect their life as a whole. They do not want to pray or to study the Bible. They feel uncomfortable in religious settings. They chafe against authority – especially spiritual authority. And even though this is a school, and not a church, those people will still see it the same when it comes to these behaviors. The students have chapel and Bible classes. There is a spiritual element in everything your school does. When a person like this begins to feel these negative feelings in church, they stop going. When it is towards a school, where they cannot stop attending, it manifests itself in more disruptive ways – for the student and the school.
- Family situations affect school performance – This is an undeniable truth in our education system. Students do not leave their homelife at the door when they attend school. What goes on at home has a profound effect on their school performance. As sexual sin and pornography infiltrates a home, the intimacy there is broken. It may be between mother and father; it may be between child and parent. This leads to a lack of security and confidence. If it reaches the point of infidelity and divorce, that almost always adversely affects academic performance. Teachers all around the world bemoan the damage done to the family unit in recently decades. It makes it harder to teach – because it makes it harder for students to learn, behave, respect, receive guidance, receive affirmation, receive support. Sexual issues are a catalyst to this destruction of the home. In turn, it affects your students and your school
The question of whether or not this is your responsibility is a far more difficult one to answer. What is the school held accountable for compared to what the family or church is accountable for? That debate has been raging for decades. Regardless of where you stand on that argument, the fact remains that you are going to be called into account by God about whether you did everything you could to help those students in your charge become the best adults they could be. That may be academically – but there also is an element of teaching them how to succeed socially, financially, and morally. And there are ways that you can help your students and their families to start fighting this battle.
- Incorporate the issue of pornography and sexuality into classes. This allows for a more organic discussion on the topic. In a computer class, include a discussion on computer porn, how to protect yourself from it, how to utilize filters and accountability software – as well as a discussion about new technologies, internet abuse, and computer ethics. In a biology class on the brain, include lessons on the chemicals that lead to all sorts of addiction. In Bible class, address the issue of sexual purity – including pornography.
- Offer a training class for parents, teachers, and administrators on technology and internet porn. As a service to your school, offer training on new technologies and the dangers they bring with them. This will help parents and teachers who are not techno-savvy to have a fighting chance in today’s rapid innovations. Also cover internet pornography – its scope and scale, what is really going on online, how parents can protect their families, what steps the schools are taking.
- Offer accountability software to the school family. Talk to a company like Covenant Eyes about creating a school account so that anyone involved in the school can get the software for free or a severely cut cost.
- Make the school a safe place. Students have to be able to talk to someone about the addiction without the fear of expulsion or suspension. They hide their struggles because they know they will pay the price for them. The school needs to establish someone or somewhere the students can go without fear of reprisal.
Know that whatever efforts you make, you are not alone. Defender Ministries wants to be a tool at your disposal. We would love to be a part of your school’s efforts – and can help you on any of the four suggestion listed above. We can help develop lessons for individual classes that will help to start a dialogue. We can train your staff, leadership, parents, and teachers about pornography and sexual issues – and some of the new ways students and adults alike are finding porn. We can help you find quality accountability software and people who can protect your school network. And we can help set up accountability and support groups with you – as well as establishing safe outlets for your students and teachers. Our calling is to help people fight this battle – let us help you.
