<p>As a side note, I have to agree with berryberry61. Just by looking at OP’s language he seems rude and irresponsible. Not only that, he gets angry when someone doesn’t agree with him. </p>
<p>That food fight would be the least of my worries :).</p>
<p>I agree with berryberry61 as well. From the first post, the OP was trying to evade responsibility (“fluke”, as if it was something that fell on him from the sky). And telling many of the posters to F— off; well, I think that tells us exactly just how much he’s learned from this. Walking through required punishment is not the same thing as accepting responsibility. </p>
<p>Grow up, OP. When you behave badly, bad things are going to happen to you. You may not always think the consequences are fair, but guess what – you don’t get to make that decision. And Mommy will not always be around to fight your battles for you. So understand before you decide to do something stupid that you may not like what happens after.</p>
<p>BTW, we do not know the whole story. We do not know the OP’s history; perhaps he has been an instigator before this. Or perhaps there was a recent disturbance at the school and the administration was on high alert. Perhaps there is a history of food fights and there were explicit warnings about it which the OP and others ignored. In any case, as amusing as the concept of a food fight is to students, schools CANNOT tolerate it. It signals a breakdown in authority which must be quick and firmly re-established. If the admnistration had been less than serious about this, they would have invited further incidents.</p>
<p>I find this amusing. I come back on to find numerous people calling me reactionary, while at the same time, accusing me of all manner of things that I didn’t do… take a look at yourself. lasma, none of that is true. the severity of my punishment comes simply from the schools effort to, as you said, take the event seriously. that’s why I was only one out of mre than 20 suspended.</p>
<p>my comment to the other posters has nothing to do with evading responsibility. it was a defense agains completely unwarranted attacks. </p>
<p>to clarify, neither me nor my mom “yelled at the school” in any way, shape, or form. we asked for an appeal (which is standard process) and when it was denied, we accepted it.</p>
<p>Punishment did not fit the crime. </p>
<p>When we punish our children the ultimate goal is to prevent them from behaving badly in the future, but also have them believe we did it because we care about them. Whenever we are too heavy handed, we lose credibility. So many adults are hypocrites, we forget what we were like when we were young. Technically, “stealing” food trays to sled down suicide hill on the first snow day is illegal (but it’s still of my fondest memory from college). How often have our kids, while working in the kitchen, started a mini food fight. I have made them clean up, but I didn’t ground them. When I found out my older daughter was drinking at a sleep over, did I ground her and take away a lot of her favorite toys, absolutely.</p>
<p>My kids are probably the most law abiding students in high school and college, and I could remember a handful of times when I’ve had to ground them or even yell at them. Punishment we hand out is usually well thought of, not out of anger or revenge (yes, parents have been known to give out more severe punishment because they don’t like a particular kid or just pi*ssed). At the end of day, kids need to feel punishment is fair and just. When they don’t, they will stop trusting us, and it’ll become us against them. Many parents wonder why their kids do not communicate with them, I think it’s because lack of trust. The kids do not believe parents(adults) have their best of interest at heart. </p>
<p>OP’s post was rude, but I could see it was out of frustration of some adults’ posts. That is what a lot of young people become when they feel powerless against adults’ tyranny and their unreasonable control over their future. I see there are some educators on this thread, and I wonder how effective they are at their jobs.</p>
<p>OP, Is this activity and punishment covered in your student handbook? A food fight is covered in ours and the handbook explicitly lists the punishment.</p>
<p>This is a pretty clear-cut example of a mistake that shouldn’t have repercussions beyond what OP has already faced (as well as a few smug you-should-have-known-better people on their thread who have their heads so far in their…hands that they can’t see what OP is truly complaining about). OP participated in a chant, OP served a 3-day suspension (which was arguably unwarranted…OP, you may actually have a lawsuit here; see: [Morse</a> v. Frederick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_v._Frederick]Morse”>Morse v. Frederick - Wikipedia) , a case where the student lost but it was close). There is no way OP should face a disadvantage on his college app for what he did, and frankly, I doubt that he will.</p>
<p>thank you very much, oldfort and monstor. I was starting to think that all adults’ justice had been extinguished by this loathsome “I’m older than you and therefore you deserve it” mentality. lasma and selter, you are the reason kids resent adults. as hard as it is for everyone to believe, you were kids once too. try to remember those days once in a while and everyone around you will be better off.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what’s wrong with adults today”</p>
<p>What’s wrong with adults? What’s wrong with kids thinking it’s OK to cheer their peers for throwing food that the adults will have to clean up?</p>
<p>If I were your mother, I wouldn’t have given the principal an earful, I’d have given you an earful. What you did was stupid and did, I believe, deserve a suspension.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have much sympathy for you if I were on an admissions committee either. Top colleges aren’t looking to accept students who behave in immature ways like throwing food around. The type of students top colleges want are students with the maturity to try to stop food fights – or at least stay out of the fray. They don’t want students who encourage such destructive behavior.</p>
<p>Yes, I was young once. No, I didn’t participate in food fights. I thought they were stupid then, and I think they’re stupid now. Nothing fun about those things.</p>
<p>“all you parents who say i should be “accountable” are really missing an important point. yes, yes, i AM accountable in that i accepted my three day suspension without hesitation. but should I also have to accept the consequence of a damaged future? these two shouldn’t have to go hand in hand. in short, **** off.”</p>
<p>Your quote above provides more reason why top schools may reject a student who was suspended for cheering a food fight: Your behavior indicates a lack of maturity and impulse control.</p>
<p>So, you asked whether you’re screwed because of your immature behavior. Yes, if your high school reports your behavior to colleges, the top colleges may reject you. That’s the answer to your question. You can complain about the answer, but that won’t change the fact that your behavior has decreased your chances at top colleges. Even if your school doesn’t report your behavior, it still may be reflected in the ratings your GC will have to provide about your character.</p>
<p>i’m sorry, northstarmom, that you seem to so utterly lack a personality. I can take solace in the fact that my GC is a human, and a kind one at that. if you must know, I helped clean up afterwards (along with half of the school) and also am planning a canned food drive to make up for the wasted food.</p>
<p>Were the potential repercussions of your actions clearly stated in your student handbook?</p>
<p>This has already been asked twice (once by myself and once by Erin’s Dad), and you haven’t responded yet.</p>
<p>NSM - again, not all of us agree with you. Your response showed a certain lack of maturity when addressing someone who is probably not even 18.</p>
<p>oh, I’m sorry. yeah, the school’s charge was “disorderly conduct” whose punishment ranges from parental involvment to expulsion. a good point that my mom (calmly) brought up was that if I got a suspension for standing up and chanting, what does parental involvment correspond with? what kind of disorderly conduct could be more benign than mine?</p>
<p>of course, something like chatting in class is more benign, but that wouldn’t even be rendered “disorderly conduct” in the first place.</p>
<p>I think somebody might just need a little nap.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
I’m pretty sure it is universally understood that giving an earful is a form of yelling. So you contradict yourself. You are one of the people who continuously scrambles to say the right thing, no matter what it be, to get people on your side. You clearly have no learned your lesson, all you care about is getting off the hook for your actions. It is the schools decision to decide what punishment you deserve and not you. </p>
<p>Judging by your name “dontthrowitatm” you do not take the situation seriously. First off you are making light of the food fighting. Second off your username might as well be “dontblameme.” Grow up. More mature “robotic” kids deserve that college slot more than you do. Your immaturity is seen even more through your incapability to accept the ideas of others. Stop attacking people that are giving you their opinion. You never came to this forum until you needed advice. Some people here have been here for years helping out others and you have no right to attack them. If you read just a small portion of Northstarmom’s thousands of insightful posts, you would easily be able to discover her personality. You made a mistake. DEAL WITH IT. Don’t try to weasle your way out and blame others. Like I said grow up.</p>
<p>And monstor344, I’m sorry but I disagree with your idea of suing. It just my be my personal opinion that this country doesn’t need people suing over every little thing. Just think of the havoc that would be brought upon a school system that loses a few million dollars in a silly law suit. Then hundreds of students would be at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>I guess that’s just my ǝʌıʇɔǝdsɹǝd.</p>
<p>“i’m sorry, northstarmom, that you seem to so utterly lack a personality. I can take solace in the fact that my GC is a human, and a kind one at that. if you must know, I helped clean up afterwards (along with half of the school) and also am planning a canned food drive to make up for the wasted food.”</p>
<p>I lack personality because I disagree with you? Doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>You asked if your getting suspended for chanting during a food fight means you are “screwed” when it comes to being admitted to top schools. My reply was that if the colleges learn about your suspension, I think it will hurt you because they won’t be interested in admitting someone whose behavior appears to have reflected immaturity and an impulse control problem.</p>
<p>That’s simply my opinion – something that you asked for. If, however, you posted just to have people tell you that schools won’t care about your suspension, you should have stated that when your posted. It would have kept some of us from wasting our time.</p>
<p>Anyway, what will matter will be how the admissions officers view your situation, not how strangers on the Internet view it.</p>
<p>“oh, I’m sorry. yeah, the school’s charge was “disorderly conduct” whose punishment ranges from parental involvment to expulsion. a good point that my mom (calmly) brought up was that if I got a suspension for standing up and chanting, what does parental involvment correspond with? what kind of disorderly conduct could be more benign than mine?”</p>
<p>I can think of many kinds of disorderly conduct that would be more benign. One example: Being involved in mild name calling. Another example: Wearing a hat to school when hats aren’t allowed.</p>
<p>Helping incite a riot – which your actions could be viewed as doing – isn’t what I would call benign disorderly conduct.</p>
<p>the original earful comment was referring to the appeal process, which we both approached perfectly calmly.</p>
<p>as far as attacks go, your post fits that description more than any others I have seen.</p>
<p>as far as accepting the ideas of others, the only ideas I refuse to accept are attacks like yours. I came here for constructive assistance, not for beratement. thank you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I certainly hope not.</p>
<p>Many people do not post until they need help. Many parents are here to help younger people to put things into perspective when they are scared and worried about the college process.</p>
<p>As a parent at a private school, sometimes I wish the administrator would crack down more on certain issues at school - alcohol, drug, cheating, bullying. But I have also given them an earful (which does not mean yelling) when they have crossed the line.</p>
<p>northstarmom – yes, I agree, thanks for the opinion. part of the matter, as I expressed in my original post, is that provided I do a good job of explaining my situation, is it possible to bring myself back up to the point of zero net loss?</p>
<p>Just from your posts I can sense your aura of “I am better than everyone.” I couldn’t imagine dealing with you in real life. Just because you have perfect test scores, perfect ECs, and are a perfect person looking at elite colleges does not exempt you from punishments. 20 students were suspended. Why do you think that you are the only one that doesn’t deserve the punishment. I would understand if you were discriminated against and some got punished while others did not, but it seems that school was fair and consistent. And by the way. Saying you gave an earful does not mean you approached it perfectly calmly. But wait. I forgot. You are perfect in everything you do.</p>
<p>I guess that’s just my ǝʌıʇɔǝdsɹǝd.</p>