(Randy Bauer) wrote in message m...
(LeModernCaveman) wrote in message ...
Okay, now say the teacher asked a female student to stay after class,
without any reference to sex.
Should the FBI be able to send a lookalike agent into the classroom posing
as the girl based on what the teacher did?

Since we've been running through so many of the bad forms of argumentation in
these Sherzer threads, I guess it was just a matter of time until we got a
big juicy example of reductio ad absurdum.

credo quia absurdum (evidently misattributed to Tertullian)

Dear Mr. Bauer,

'Reductio ad absurdum' from LeModernCaveman? Surely, you jest! :-)

Can we kinda sorta stick to realistic possibilities of the ramifications of
Internet or similar sting operations? I'll admit they are worth discussing,
but trying to draw parallels between a 32 year old trolling the Internet for
conversation with "beautiful" 15 year olds on topics of life, love, and all
points in between and a teacher engaged in their normal duties is, well,
absurd.

Or a potential subject for a postmodern drama. :-)

Mind you, I am not saying that there aren't teachers who cross the line with
students, and they too should be investigated and, if their conduct warrants,
disciplined/prosecuted.

'O tempores, o mores!'

In 1913, while teaching at the Ferrer Modern School in New York City, Will
Durant (age 28) married one of his students, Ada (or Ida) Kaufman (age 15),
who became known as Mrs. Ariel Durant. Will and Ariel Durant collaborated
in writing the eleven volumes of 'The Story of Civilization' (1935-75).
The couple described their long life together in 'A Dual Autobiography' (1977).
Perhaps appropriately, neither of them ever had to endure a long period of
grieving after the other one's death. Ariel Durant died on 25 October 1981;
Will Durant died on 7 November 1981.

How should Will Durant's relationship with his inamorata be regarded today?

However, suggesting that a teacher asking a student to stay after class,
without exigent circumstances, would warrant FBI involvement is, well, you
know, fill in the blank.

Perhaps, to enforce the USA Patriot Act, the FBI agent might be investigating
which books had been checked out from the school library? :-)

'What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?'
--Tertullian

--Nick