Pot. What would you have done?

BAfromBC
Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:16:09 +0000

I had a brief career as a French teacher at a private school in a well-to-do Boston suburb back in the late 70’s/early 80’s. I would say that about 30% of the students came to my class in the afternoon stoned each day. They sat there glassy-eyed and giggled. They couldn’t answer a question or pass a test. I became so frustrated that this was generally condoned at the school that I announced one day that anyone who came to my class in that condition in the future would receive an ejection and a phone call home. The class was shocked. Most of them complied. Still, a few defied me. I got no support from the administration and no positive response from the parents–just the admonishment to mind my own business. (One of the reasons I gave up teaching.)

This situation is pervasive from what I hear from friends all around the country. Even at my D’s highly regarded public school, things are no different. Many of these “stoners” are well-liked honor students. I find it disgraceful that it is treated like a big joke, and that it is openly discussed and tacitly accepted.

There are unsupervised parties every weekend in my town where kids get blind drunk and stoned and engage in behavior that will do them psychological and physical harm. Last year, there was one particularly notorious bash where one boy was locked out of the house, naked, passed out on the front lawn and had to be rushed to the hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning and hypothermia. At the same party, a 15 year-old girl had sex with multiple partners in front of everyone. (She later turned up pregnant and had an abortion.) The kid who threw the party was a class officer–he kept his position and was allowed to run again the following year. I could not believe it. His mother took no responsibility and showed no remorse for what happened in her home.

A few years ago, our former Prinicipal tried to encourage a sober prom culture. Only about 10% of the class signed a pledge to stay sober. He tried to reach out to parents, but was rebuffed with a “F” you.

It is not surprising that kids “binge” in college…they start early…and there are few adults willing to step up to help curb this behavior.

Despite the odds being against me, I still speak up and try to help kids I know when I see them going down the wrong path. It makes me unpopular with certain people, but c’est la vie. “To thine own self be true.”