paid more money than teachers. Mr. Chen gave the usual answers—
greater responsibility, training staff, handling administrative matters. The
assistant principal disagreed: “Bill, they pay you more because they know
you will lose faith in humanity.” The assistant principal was a bit of a
pessimist, but at this time in Mr. Chen’s life, he understood exactly what
he had meant.
Mr. Chen’s mistake was feeling it was his responsibility to take care of
matters in his own school. Wasn’t the regulation for very serious allega-
tions? Didn’t a principal have some authority to make judgments? The
whole issue of sexual misconduct did not really become clear to Mr. Chen
until two years later at a principals’ retreat. After a day of meaningless
workshops, several of the principals from the district retreated to a water-
ing hole and shared experiences and stories.
Mr. Chen was aghast at the stories told by several of the female prin-
cipals regarding their own high school experiences that included outright
sexism, misogyny, and verbal and physical advances from both students
and a small minority of staff members. No one did anything; no one even
complained because they knew nothing would happen. He could appre-
ciate the purpose of the new regulation in a historical context. The pen-
dulum, which had been all the way toward a system of silence, had now
swung all the way in the other direction. Perhaps, this is necessary until
a proper balance can be struck. Needless to say, in the future, Mr. Chen
called in all allegations. Fortunately, there were very few.
As you can see, this whole incident dragged on for a long time. By the
time the recommendation for Mr. Chen’s misconduct came to the superin-
tendent, three years had passed since the original allegation. There was a
new superintendent. The new investigator in the case had been let go. Mr.
Chen had build up credibility as an educator with the staff in the district
office. All these factors combined to let him off the hook.
Mr. Chen enjoys regaling listeners with another story that provides a
humorous and ironic twist when another allegation surfaced a few years
later. A very upset first-year young male teacher, Mr. Blue, came to
Mr. Chen to discuss an issue regarding a female student. He was visibly
troubled and embarrassed as he told Mr. Chen how a student in his class
had told him that another female student was spreading rumors about him
and even writing letters to her friends (this student among them). Mr.
Blue showed Mr. Chen the letter in which the student described how this
Stay within the Box and Remember—Life Is Unfair 175