<p>my mom is also freaking out about this...At</a> Milton Academy, threats of discipline fade after alcohol probe - The Boston Globe</p>
<p>I read that too... It was disconcerting, however I do not think Milton is the only school with such problems. At Groton a bunch of kids molested a student without repercussions. And so on...</p>
<p>Does it really matter? I think parents need to learn that kids are going in to high school. And no matter where they go, if they want, they can get alcohol and drugs in a second. And whoever sent the pictures must have had something against the people...or a miserable kid who wanted to get back at people who weren't miserable.</p>
<p>Facebook has aloooot of stuff, if I wanted to get half my class expelled from facebook pictures I easily could. But why not just talk to an adult about it without naming names and maybe have a school-wide announcements about off-campus parties or something. And if more pictures show up...then maybe take further action.</p>
<p>This is a thread topic that usually comes up at this time of year. Basically, now that you’ve gotten in to X school, it is time to deal with those “issues” that have been there the whole time…</p>
<p>First our anecdotal experience. Yes, there are plenty of kids using and subsequently getting kicked out of goaliegirl’s school for alcohol and/or drugs. Did the school environment cause the problem? No. How do I know this? From the data I receive (yes, mostly through goaliegirl) about 90% of the kids who get kicked out are in their first year at the school and most of them are gone before Christmas. What does that tell me? These kids already had an issue coming in. Perhaps unresolved issues in their life that led them to self-medicate (basically what drug use is). Most likely. Other kids pressuring? Highly unlikely because the ones who are caught are either alone, in pairs, or were invited to an off-campus situation - and I don’t think the kids were kidnapped to go off-campus to party. Now there are always kids who are vulnerable, insecure and wanting to “fit in”. And there kids who act out on their insecurity to get others to follow them into doing something stupid so they can feel empowered. And drug experimentation can be one of those stupid things. That is more likely the exception rather than the rule in substance abuse cases.</p>
<p>What to take from this? If your child is secure within himself or herself - s/he doesn’t feel the need to be validated as a person by their peers, you shouldn’t worry about substance issues at school. Mind you, your child also needs to have coping skills that also don’t include self-medication as an answer to issues.</p>
<p>If you don’t know your child that well, then perhaps you need to pull back until you do. I am surprised by the number of parents who think that Johnny or Susie is a happy, well-adjusted kid just because they had never been in trouble (got caught). They don’t know what J or S is doing with their friends at home. These are the parents whose kids get caught their first year at BS and come away thinking it was the BS that caused the problem. No, BS was perceived by the kid as a lower-risk situation to continue along the path they had started before they got there. The BS typically identifies a problem, not causes it.</p>
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<p>Actually, when I was in high school…quite a lot. As a matter of fact, it was more common with the smarter kids who didn’t really need to study to get A’s. But I think you will see this more at the upper extreme of giftedness. I think that for some profoundly gifted people, drugs are used to help them dumb down the rest of the world. For profoundly creative people, drug use was also fairly common. Unfortunately, of course, it also leads to their own destruction. What a waste. </p>
<p>Drug use among high acheives is much more common than one would think.</p>
<p>Well at my school (not trying to brag) I could likely be drunk/high 100% of the time and get As, I was wondering if this would be the case at top schools in which an A was difficult to get.</p>
<p>WEll it doesn’t matter how many A’s you get there if you get expelled before you graduate.</p>
<p>According to some articles, some schools are more lenient than they should be… But the media plays it in the worst ways.</p>
<p>Well lenient should they be? Is kicking someone out after the first time you catch them going to help anything? Or do some schools simply not want to take the heat from the media…</p>
<p>I’m not sure about that, all I know is that Milton (which is my one first choices, still) caught fifty people drinking/drunk and none of them got suspended or anything.</p>
<p>You want them to expel 50 kids because of a party off-campus that they saw pictures of through facebook? They should expel the ***** who sent them the pictures in my opinion lol. That’s just cruel and unnecessary, probably some lonely bitter kid.</p>
<p>^I agree with that. My point is that the should change the rules rather than have stupid rules and not uphold them. Their motto is “Dare to be True” anyway. I actually hope that kid gets expelled. Probably some guy who followed them to the party (cause no one would take him) and took pics.</p>
<p>Well the kid won’t get expelled lol. And many people take pics…No one really cares. Highschool parties are careless and then you put pics on facebook to look cooler. Its an unfathomable idea to many kids that something like that is even possible.</p>
<p>Yeah but some kid sent the pic just to get them in trouble. At least people can take comfort in the fact that these kids still end up in top positions, lol.</p>