Honorable Profession

What happens when a teacher is unjustly accused of the crime of child molestation? Their lives are stripped bare. Secrets, which we all harbor - those personal, sacred things we choose not to share - become public and shine an ugly shadow on us. It's hard to maintain one's dignity and go forward. This novel deals with an ordinary man who must examine his ethical and moral fiber. No better or worse than most of us, once accused, his actions are viewed from a different perspective. He is guilty until proven innocent. Even then, people will never look at him in the same way as prior to the allegation. "He got up in the morning - every day in January, February and March - and prayed to survive the day's insults and ridicule and contempt, and he endured it somehow, with kids looking at him funny, watching his crotch sometimes, flirting with him to catch him out. Nothing was beneath them. They would say anything, do anything, to expose him further, to see him raw". (P. 360) This is a book that has staying power. It is one that you will remember years after reading it. It is an amazing and all too true novel.

I thouroughly enjoyed this novel, fast-paced and blunt about the sexual politics of a suburban high school, between both faculty and students. Focussing on the sexual ambiguity of popular English teacher Miles Bannon, "An Honourable Profession" exposes the homophobia in our institutions, our children, and ourselves. With a complex network of vivid characters surrounding him, and an ever-widening scandal involving a lockerroom rape, suspected pedophilia, alchoholism, promiscuity, and suicide, L"Heureux's tale balances a fine line between crass sensationalism and sober depiction of real problems. I was tempted at times to write him off as a homophobe, but the story must be read to its conclusion to appreciate his motives in exposing homophobia,its prevalence and insidious acceptance in the rearing of teenagers. But this is a plot driven story, not at all a polemic. It reminded me of the great novel "Staggerford" by John Hassler with its understanding of the dynamic between teens and their teachers and of the sometimes desperate politics of the teacher's lounge. I read this novel in three days and was very satisfied.