Male Volunteers Disappear

Glenn Reynolds sez:

ATLAS IS SHRUGGING. "Perhaps men are merely acting rationally. They’ve assessed the risk of volunteering to work with children, and want no part of it."

I've worked with children - I spent some years coaching summer soccer - and I found it to be rewarding work. But the AYSO people did tell us to avoid being alone with a child.

After all, who wants to be up on "inappropriate touching" charges? Even when such charges are false, they're hard to live down.

As a matter of fact, there's an old high school teacher of mine, James Connelly, now in his 70's, who finds himself in exactly such a situation. Even though the charges were unfounded, St. Ignatius refuses to hire him back unless "he agreed not to be alone with students while at the school, to tutor students only in public areas and not to talk about the case."

A lot of my fellow alumni fault the school, but I fault the legal environment.

Once accusations are sounded,
Even though proven unfounded,
The innocent victim is hounded.