Last night was Senior Ball at my daughter’s high school. Well, it was not held AT the school, but at a party space not too far away. And in the spirit of the recession, instead of renting limousines and having to deal with all the groups forming and reforming for the ride there and back, the school rented huge buses to take the entire senior class (all 325 of them) to the venue. The class raised enough money over the course of the school year to pay for the buses, as well as for a live band at the ball, and dinner.
Every kid was required to be transported back and forth (from the high school parking lot) by bus; no individual drivers allowed. All the kids were breathalyzed going into the ball and again on the way out. Zero tolerance for alcohol or drugs. Two years ago, when two graduating seniors killed themselves in drunk driving accidents, the local police and school administration really cracked down on enforcing the law. And they meant it!
Of course, there were after-parties at the homes of some of these kids where there was plenty of alcohol and drugs for anybody who wanted it. My daughter wound up at one of those parties, but discovered along the way that she liked her date a lot better at the start of the evening than she did by the end, when he was falling-down drunk. Goodness knows what else the boy ingested, since she told us he disappeared out into the garden with a couple of friends at one point. Funny how the kids with the strictest parents are always the ones who act out the most. This boy’s parents are so over-protective I’d laugh if they weren’t so clueless… I almost feel sorry for them because they know so little about their own son.
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