<p>circle, I think it’s less that the schools have to fix it, than that parents and incoming students need to be aware the subculture exists. I also think that if the curriculum addressed issues of pressure & privilege along with the regular “health” curriculum, that “pro-active” intervention might keep a few kids from getting dragged down…</p>
<p>A family friend DOD’d at one of the St. Grottlesex BS in the 80s…on record cleaning fluid. 
Very weird that even though I remember his name etc., there is NO record of an obit that mentions COD or where death occurred. Stuff like this didn’t used to make it into the public eye “back in the day.”</p>
<p>Now we have the internet, facebook, and twitter.</p>
<p>Read the article, neato. While Afrika was a student at Deerfield, she allegedly was taking calls from her gangster boy friend and he was telling her to blast certain others in the head with any gun she toted for him and his gang. While on Christmas break at DA, Afrika was apparently toting these guns. </p>
<p>If such a 15-17 year old student was my daughter’s classmate or, worse, roommate, I for one would be livid. Others may react differently. Fine, but they are a little too radical chic for my taste. Also, if DA is not shamed by Afrika’s apparent crimes, why did Ms. Curtis feel compelled to get notice to all DA parents ASAP except in order to calm down any rancor? If it isn’t shamed, then it should be: enrolling kids into elite prep schools, who then commit drug and gun crimes while in school, is numbing. </p>
<p>Should have Deerfield have known they were harboring a criminal? Probably not. But did it examine closely whether or not Afrika was of strong moral character? Probably not, and here we are.</p>
<p>If kids are committing drug and gun crimes everywhere across the country, as neato maintains, then things are dreadfully wrong in this country. It sounds like we are even becoming numb to such crimes. If so, then our reaction to such crimes maybe sadder than the crimes themselves.</p>
<p>Is the too liberal culture of BS somehow encourages this kind of behavior or treat it with less gravity?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I must have missed that part. Thanks. It does change things a bit, but only a bit. If there were any indication that the administration knew of this and did nothing, then I would be livid as well. This was a smart girl and probably covered her tracks fairly well. </p>
<p>As for this happening all the time. Sadly, it does. Take a look into your local juvenile hall and see how many of the kids there are on drug related charges. (I know you know this, toombs 
) It is indeed very sad…and discouraging. Sometimes, the problem seems so overwhelming that I want to just cry. But like I said earlier, those kids didn’t once attend a famous school so they don’t get the same press. I doubt anyone ever told most of them that they were “compelling” so we are numb to them. Indeed, it speaks volumes.</p>
<p>Deerfield, are you listening?</p>
<p>When you are about to get aroused by a diversity wonder, please control your impulse and exercise the needed common sense and due diligence.</p>
<p>Since when did “african american” + “female” mean an almost “shoo-in”? Why are so many people fantasizing “hook this” and “hook that” to game the system? Why cannot we simply let the best candidates win?? When will this racing to the bottom end? What’s the next biggest hook – an aspired suicide bomber??</p>
<p>Diversity is good, but not when you have to rob Joe to help John and not when you do it without regards to the consequence.</p>
<p>wait wait wait!!!</p>
<p>There is no reason whatsoever to think that this young lady showed any signs that she was a future drug dealer when she was admitted.</p>
<p>How do you know that she WASN’T the best candidate?? Racing to the bottom???</p>
<p><em>Throw up hands in digust because I know exactly what you are implying but cannot…CANNOT dignify it with a response.</em></p>
<p>Please, everyone else, don’t feed this fire.</p>
<p>(I yes, I meant to shout with the caps and the bold.)</p>
<p>As a parent of a current Deerfield URM student, this student and her leaving had been discussed before her arrest had been made. </p>
<p>DA has a history of giving students multiple chances and working with families. Many students, including minorities felt that she didnt fit in and wasnt extremely happy with bs. Though she was academically a match and had the ability to keep up we all know that somethings just dont work out.</p>
<p>My d and I admit that DA has a lot of rules which most students understand and live with and even some (my darling daughter) love. The feel that my d gets is that she didnt like the environment, she didnt “fit”.</p>
<p>Why didnt other students speak up…I am not sure they didnt. Remember that because these kids are minors, everything about them can not be released to the general public. </p>
<p>My d’s house parent requested that if rumors or stories float around to please let her know. I know any concerns that I have I have directed them to the school officials.</p>
<p>Not all students have a relationship with their parents that would allow this information to be discussed.</p>
<p>I wish that everyone on CC could pick a bs - and not the same one! we need to cover them all from the HADES on ‘down’ - and compare their drug/sex/pregnancy/gun issues with their own local school system. If it were possible to do so, I think we would find that most public schools have significantly more issues. And take out race and sex in this game - it has more to do with HORMONES and that darn frontal lobe… Oy vey</p>
<p>WBJ- as the risk of saying…what the hell…would you like to rethink your last post?</p>
<p>If you stand behind that post I hope your kid and your kind are not admitted to any school. Such a racist statement and generalization of African American Females and the idea of diversity bothers you so much why consider any any bs that accepts anyone other than white males??</p>
<p>Wow!</p>
<p>An African American female can be MORE qualified that the typical non-minority candidate? </p>
<p><strong><em>GASP!!!</em></strong>*</p>
<p>WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO?!?!?!?!?!?!?</p>
<p>(sarcasm) </p>
<p>A statement like that is not worthy of an intellectual response.</p>
<p>Oh, heck, Neato, I’m “bout” to break my promise.</p>
<p>First - did anyone of those complaining actually read the article? I mean, really I know literacy rates are low, but the people on these boards are smarter than the average bear.</p>
<p>Her “stats” were better than many incoming non minority students. She had recommendations, scores, grades. She was valedictorian at her school and she was Ivy bound. So give it a rest on the damn “hook” thing. If you examines the stats on who is getting kicked out of school for drugs and alcohol (or having sex with every other gender person in school) it’s not the kids you say have hooks. Problems like these among those ranks are rare. If anything, those kids face more scrutiny at admissions especially since the schools don’t want to be accused of favoritism for the hooks.</p>
<p>(yes - Pulsar - you’ve heard me say that too).</p>
<p>Second - it is significant that her relationship with this individual was probably hidden from her parents. In the article is does say that it developed and began to spiral down over time. Men like that are experienced at manipulating young girls. Why do you think so many suburban girls find themselves street walking in urban areas like NY? The ones who came from stable homes with resources? Because predators happen and can transform the life of a good person in a nanosecond. </p>
<p>THAT is not the school’s fault.</p>
<p>Third - let’s count how many rich students are kicked out for drugs and/or drug sales. On these boards it was discussed about a group of prep students who gave money to a peer so he could buy drugs in South America that they could resell. Not thinking a lot of urban kids are running down to SA on their breaks. Or have that kind of cash. Trust me, I’ve heard about the prep school drugs that show up in pizza and chinese delivery boxes when kids order takeout. Or the favorite “cab driver/drug dealer.” Not the minority kids doing that either.</p>
<p>But “mom and dad” can often pay to keep things out of the paper. High priced lawyers, quiet withdrawals, shipped off to rehab, etc. So you’ll hear about the rare urban kid that strays, but you won’t hear about their more prolific suburban ones. </p>
<p>So a moment of sanity is needed here from the angry mob:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Deerfield is not a factor. She withdrew for unrelated issues. While they may be been signs of bigger issues, the school took the correct action. Deerfield was included in the article because it would sell more paper.</p></li>
<li><p>She was promising and was influenced and manipulated by a predator. Nothing more. There is often great pressure on Boarding School kids who return home and are harassed by their peers, neighbors, former classmates for the perceived betrayal. A few kids find themselves having to straddle two lines and manage two cultural languages to survive if they stem from rough neighborhoods. There are people who make it their point to “reprogram” these kids and pressure them to return to the fold. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>But give me a break - out of thousands of these kids we label the whole system flawed because of one? (then let’s pick apart HADES or GLADDCHEMS and see how many parents will send their kids there after we tell them stats on suicides, drug problems, promiscuity, etc. Apparently even one incident is enough to label a school for life, right?</p>
<p>A little balance please. The mob mentality saddens me - because - based on the caliber of most of our discussions and the enormous wealth of academic knowledge our children have shown - we should know better than to use this new article to then denigrate and stereotype the system.</p>
<p>Thank you, Exie. You were much more level headed than I.</p>
<p>WBJ said:</p>
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</p>
<p>The “John” that robbed “Joe” and put that chip on your shoulder was likely a wealthy full pay whose family built a wing on the school, or plays golf with someone influential and pulled a favor to get him/her in. He get’s his drugs from his suburban neighborhood and then flies back to school on “dad’s” private plane so TSA is not a factor. He’s a slacker in class and punts in sports. He has no hooks, just cash and a steady supply of superior attitude.</p>
<p>Trust me - most Adcoms will tell you (and it’s been my experience) it’s not the poor kids they have to worry about. It’s some of the rich ones.</p>
<p>Africa could have been among the best candidates … I don’t know. But we now know she got into “academic dishonesty” trouble twice in less than two years she stayed at DA. It appears to me she didn’t have what it takes to get in or survive in DA.</p>
<p>Yet according to the school head, Africa was an “extremely compelling one”. Not clear exactly from the news report what qualities won her those flying remarks, but whatever qualities those might be, I would think they are “dime a dozen” in DA as we say here in cc. I may be wrong to have used her race, gender plus the place harlem in trying to figure out why she was so “compelling”?</p>
<p>I am sorry if my remarks hurt anybody’s feeling. I am not a racist. Were I one, I would be a very “un-compelling” one at best. I have many friends from different race/background, and I have no problem seeing them succeed.</p>
<p>Were cases like Afrika’s more than a tip of the iceberg in BS, I would say my d had just wasted her time even applying.</p>
<p>The masochistic nature of some posts on this board never ceases to amaze me. It’s as if they are put out there with the deliberate intention of inflaming and inciting emotions. The poster sits back in full anticipation of the distorted logic being smacked around like an unwanted ragdoll. Don’t feed the fetish.</p>
<p>I couldn’t find the Times article - even when doing a search on the Times website. Maybe someone could post a link for me? The only article I found was in a tabloid-type paper and it didn’t mention any concurrency between her gang-affiliation and her time as a student at Deerfield. In any case, I just think the entire situation is sad and I hope this girl is able to someone move beyond this and reclaim some of what could have been a very bright future.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth posting the link again because it DOES NOT have anything to do with boarding school. At all. </p>
<p>The BS system worked. It took in a qualified student - then spotting problems too serious to fix, kicked her out. Many other students who don’t fit her description also meet with the same fate but don’t make the news because it’s brushed under the rug.</p>
<p>The issue here is the “story” is so outrageous, that journalists do what journalists do - they throw in Deerfield Academy to up the “Q” factor (ratings potential) of the news article in the hopes of it making national news.</p>
<p>Now throw in parents like WBJ who light incendiary bombs on several threads (i.e. his rant about muslims on another board) and you create issues where there are none.</p>
<p>(one note - Prison phones are often tapped. So that begs the question why would the feds have put other students in danger at DA or her next school if it were that “obvious.” And - perhaps they did and that’s why Deerfield started the expulsion process - that forced her out and put her closer to home where the feds could watch her activities more closely.)</p>
<p>I will say this, however, about choosing appropriate candidates for BS - if WBJ’s child gets into Boarding School, it will be proof positive that Adcom’s need to change their radar. These are exactly the type of parents BS DO NOT want.</p>
<p>Alexz825Mom wrote:
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<p>ExieMITAlum wrote:
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<p>I appreciate your outrage and your concern about this parent’s potential to disrupt a BS community, but don’t blame the kid for the sins of her parent. Four years away from her parents may be exactly what WBJ’s daughter needs!</p>