<p>What is the talk at Deerfield? It's very sad about how anyone can be influenced so negatively; yet, this happens over and over.</p>
<p>That is so, so sad and yes, it could have happened anywhere. Teenage girls are remarkably susceptible creatures.</p>
<p>Dear Parents,</p>
<p>This morning’s NY Times included alarming news: former Deerfield student Afrika Owes was one of 14 people indicted today for alleged involvement with illegal drugs and guns. Some parents have read the article and provided reactions, and I wanted to share my own comments with all of you.</p>
<p>Entering Deerfield in the fall of 2008 as a freshman, Afrika was not just a qualified candidate to Deerfield–she was an extremely compelling one. With the recommendation of several highly respected schools and agencies, a prestigious scholarship, and superior grades and test scores, she appeared to be the sort of student Deerfield seeks to enroll. In fact, during her time at Deerfield, she established a record of academic success.</p>
<p>I remember Afrika quite well, and, like many people at Deerfield, I knew her as a bright and engaged member of our community. Unfortunately, in her brief time here, she was involved in two separate disciplinary actions; ultimately, she withdrew from the school–under the threat of expulsion–in May of 2010. Afrika’s disciplinary issues were in no way related to the charges she currently faces; while she was here, there was no indication of drug or alcohol use, violence, or any sort of criminal activity.</p>
<p>We’re saddened to hear of these events, and we hope that Afrika might still have an opportunity to pursue a bright future. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments you may have. </p>
<p>Thank you, </p>
<p>Margarita Curtis
Head of School</p>
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<p>SevenDad, So much for small school nurturing and better oversight? I don’t think even at small schools, the dorm parents have enough time to look after all their students all the time. So this may not be an advantage for small schools compared to big schools like A/E.</p>
<p>Any Deerfield parents, students know what those disciplinary actions were?</p>
<p>Pulsar - Are you suggesting schools need to monitor phone conversations with family, friends, and boy/girl friends? Ridiculous. </p>
<p>More importantly, size is less important than the “structure” of the school. Required study halls, sit-down meals, etc. means students should be somewhere at designated times. No one claims they watch every movement…they don’t even do that in prison.</p>
<p>CK, My post didn’t mean to rub the DA parents or students in a wrong way. Who is suggesting monitoring phone calls? Looks like you missed a whole thread started by 7dad about nurturing. Well, the structure of study halls, sit-down meals etc. didn’t work in this case and that is the point I was trying to make to 7dad. Because a lot of people on CC post that A/E are too big for them which has no bearing on monitoring/nurturing.</p>
<p>BTW, Do they screen parents during DA admissions? 
You don’t need to use words like ridiculous for such simple discussions and it will set a bad precedent for the kids.</p>
<p>It may have been that nothing would have worked in this case. Sometimes even the most talented students can have deep seated problems or influences that are beyond the school’s capabilities to fix.</p>
<p>Wow, that girl’s pretty messed up. That story is pretty sad.</p>
<p>Yes, as the title of the thread says, “it could’ve occured at any school”. Regardless the school’s size, structure, location, approaches, etc. etc., a case like this is bound to happen from time to time. We live in the real world and “picture perfect” doesn’t exist (and that’s why it belongs to a static picture). As long as incidents like this don’t happen in a significantly higher rate than in peer schools, and they are not generally affecting other students BS experience, we shouldn’t be even trying to make any conclusions/implications about the school.</p>
<p>That being said, some people choose smaller schools looking for the kind of nuturing environment they think important, or believing smaller schools are safer and have a lower chance of seeing “things go wrong”. That’s a judgement call, and personal preference.</p>
<p>My 2 cents: 1) I don’t think school size has anything to do with it…I think it’s much more about home & community background. Regardless of the size of the school, each kid comes to it with a history, and you can’t know what those other kids’ histories are before you get there.</p>
<p>2) That said, the large prestigious schools attract more applicants, especially, from urban backgrounds where they may already as middle schoolers be less supervised and have found their ways into troubled situations. I know this from personal experience at my HADES school. I think there is somewhat less supervision at HADES, both as an ethos and because of the fact that the workload requires independent planning and execution. I suppose point #2 boils down to: the larger the school population, the MORE likely it is to have kids who fit this profile. The question of whether or not they get CAUGHT is an entirely different one, but I think the percentages are probably even across school, so the smaller schools and/or schools with small student/teacher ratios are going to have less of this because they’re likely to have fewer kids like this.</p>
<p>Again, from my own experience: situations like this happen at BS because the kids involved brought the mentality in with them when they came. They learn to be drug dealers at home, then bring the drugs to campus and set up their business. Oy.</p>
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<p>Isn’t it the job of the AOs to screen these kids? Exie time and again says AOs can spot problem kids and parents from a mile with their 6 foot antennas equipped radars. :D</p>
<p>The problem is, being bright doesn’t equate with being moral. AOs are NOT trained–or really granted the insight–to evaluate a young person’s moral character. AND…the power inherent in a prestigious BS diploma…attracts as many, if mot more, with less than stellar motives. “Be careful out there.”</p>
<p>@pulsar,
AOs make mistakes. Most AOs review thousands of applications and only read short recommendation letters and review notes from a 30 minute talk for each applicant. So, maybe AOs making a few mistakes is a possibility? And, according to that letter from the Deerfield head of school, the AOs were extremely impressed with Afrika’s application. She described her a a “compelling candidate.” Now, how come they didn’t spot her from “a mile away?”</p>
<p>Oh, and for a laugh (and some self reflection), you might want to check out a book called “Yes, Your Teen is Crazy!” by Michael Bradley. Cognitive research is generally indicating–as if anecdotals aren’t enough–that even the best of teens can make bad mistakes, without even knowing why. It takes the forebrain far longer to develop than anyone had previously supposed…perhaps into one’s early to mid 20s! Hence anyone is susceptible (I know this again from personal experience), and this is why elsewhere I have lamented that I feel like the top BS don’t do enough to integrate moral and ethical inquiries into the CORE of their required curricula. (This is NOT the same as religious evangelizing, I can assure you). You future students should demand it when you get there.</p>
<p>ifax, Looks like you have missed Exie’s prolific posts on spotting problem kids and parents by the AOs.</p>
<p>Pulsar, I appreciate your continued campaign to refute the POVs of any and all posters. If you have a sec, please find the nurturing thread and link here. I’m on the road for most of today.</p>
<p>7dad, CC is a discussion forum. If everyone had the same views and ideas we wouldn’t be here on CC. Now I’m starting to believe you are overly sensitive. jk. Here is the link:</p>
<p>[thread=1046613]Stress and “Race to Nowhere”[/thread] Posts# 25, 39.</p>
<p>Pulsar - Deerfield has 600+ students. Maybe that’s a medium-sized school, but it’s certainly not a small school. There will always be exceptions to rules, oddball occurrences, unique episodes etc with any top flight organization, including boarding schools. But they’re just that - exceptions, not rules.</p>
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<p>I agree; and this is why I can’t help but chuckle when I hear schools that insist that they only take the “nice” kids. How can they know? They can make their best guess, but no one is a mind reader. Furthermore, kids change as they get older. A 16 year old 11th grader has had 3 more years of influence (not always good) than the 13 year old that was admitted.</p>
<p>These things happen. It is not feasible to think that admissions can “catch” the bad eggs. They don’t have magic crystal balls.</p>
<p>As for kids bringing their own history with them, I’m not going to touch that one. :D</p>
<p>As a friend said to me the other day “the safest airline to fly on is the one that just had an incident two weeks ago.” Terrible analogy, yes, but you get my drift. These things DO happen any/everywhere. Ultimately, the school’s response is most important consideration.</p>