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We arrive at English class and sit in a circle around the room. Everyone pulls out their book.

In the past week,Ìýwe had begun reading the fictional story of a woman who was drugged and raped in the woods. As we begin to discuss what took place in the previous night’s reading, a girl on the other side of the circle mentions how unfair it is that the character was branded an improper woman by her society because of what happened to her.

The boy sitting next to me responds that this woman was partially to blame. “It takes two,” he says.

I look across the classroom, waiting for our teacher to say something, to tell the student he is wrong. Instead, the teacher opens up the book and continues reading the next chapter.

It’s not uncommon that the subject of rape comes up in high school classes. With novels like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” and “Beloved” as required readings at many schools, rape has become an unavoidable topic for discussion. With each conversation comes an opportunity for teachers to translate these lessons into changes on our school campuses.

It is crucial that we address rape in educational environments. By bringing the conversation into the classroom, educators are able to impress upon students the harsh reality of rape culture.

Although literature covered in English classes often lends itself easily to discussion, addressing rape can be done by teachers of any subject at all levels of secondary and higher education. Math classes can examine the statistics behind sexual assault. Psychology classes can explore the roots of rape culture, or the trauma inflicted on survivors. Philosophy students can discuss the fundamental immorality of rape; while history students can study historical incidents of rape and its continuing effect on society.

High school students are at a developmentally appropriate age to understand the problem, and they are at a point where it is still possible to prevent them from becoming part of that problem. The hope is that by consistently and systematically facing rape, we can put an end to it.

By remaining silent, teachers do more than simply miss a teachable moment. After all this boy, now a senior, may very well graduate without the capacity to empathize with a victim of sexual violence nor the ability to place blame where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the rapist. A lack of action can be just as harmful as supporting the practice of victim-shaming.

Is it not an educator’s duty, above all else, to inspire within us the values that allow us to contribute to the world we students will one day inherit? To ensure that we will not grow up to be the kind of people who pass off this kind of behavior as locker room banter?

No institution is exempted from the pervasive culture of rape, no matter how esteemed. The 2016 trial of rapist Brock Turner, then a Stanford University student, is proof of that. At Punahou, where I am a student, there is no denying that there are victims among us.

Let me be clear: it does not take two. To say otherwise disparages victims of assault. The belief that anyone subjected to abuse is to blame is dangerous, untrue, and absolutely intolerable.

We will never be able to eliminate rape culture unless Hawaii’s students and administrators are entirely united in doing so. After all, a condom with a hole in it serves no purpose.

We can challenge the way the world looks at rape. We can show support and compassion towards those who have suffered such exploitation. But, if we hope to confront any of this, the change has to begin in our own classrooms.