I was in a hair salon recently, and a young guy was waiting for a haircut. He was so bright and clean cut..he said he was 13 and in middle school. I said what's going on in school with kids your age? He said "Everything." After a thoughtful moment he added "Everything you can think of." It's disconcerting to think that these young'uns are exposed already to drugs and alcohol and sex and "everything you can think of."

Then I heard on NPR that the University of Pennsylvania is known as the top "party school" in America. Teens go from high school into college and free from any parental restraint, as one student put it, "From Thursday night till Sunday night, it's just party party party." Which means binge drinking, fake ID's to buy alcohol, and alcohol poisoning which leads to emergency rooms and death by accidents.

The reporter describes seeing young women wearing micro mini tube dresses that barely cover them from breasts to crotch, and says they would look at home on any street corner. When did it become acceptable for young college women to look like drunken streetwalkers?
People whose homes abut the college complain about drunken students peeing on their landscaping and finding used condoms they have to clean up. The college isn't doing anything to curb this behavior, and the word "parent" was never mentioned.

Well, if "everything you can think of" is going on in middle school, it's really pumped up by college age. Maybe high school grads should take a year off to work before going on to higher education. They need a dose of real life.

susil