Suppose this is the following situation for you and your family:
You are the father of a son, aged 14, who is enrolled at the local, suburban high school. Suppose further that your son has the GPA of 3.7, granting him that well-deserved scholarship to Harvard (he wants to study law, for whatever reason); in fact, Harvard has offered him a undergraduate-degree scholarship valued at $29,000 to do just that.
He is indeed bright, by all metrics. You brag loudly to friends regarding him. Your co-workers are filled with envy.
It is a well-known fact that alcohol and THC (marijuana) abuse on this little campus is zero-tolerance. The Principal's rule states quite clearly that if a student is using alcohol or THC, he will be expelled from this little campus. And from there, he will:
- Lose any and all scholarships awarded to him, regardless of semester or study.
- Will have the infraction marked permanently down as a criminal offence, punishable by law.
- Will, by law of the state, be sent to the dreaded Downtown High School
You, the concerned parent, know very well what the Downtown High school means: it means your kid is hanging with kids who bring guns to school (not pellet guns; real guns. AK-47's and semi-automatic pistols), kids who get their 'A' grade by dealing in heavy, copious amounts of crystal methamphetamine, and kids who view urban graffiti a rite-of-passage.
This is the high school you want to keep your kid away from.
My question to the unrighteous members of this forum is this: Suppose your son comes to you via high school police, the police showing proof your son used alcohol (sipped a beer) during class break. What would you do? The class police are now demanding an expulsion of your son from the campus.
His scholarship; his high-flying grades, all for naught. The police desire to send him to the Downtown High School.
What will you do? Will you allow the school administrators to send your son there? Yes, or no? (Question #1: Yes ______ No ______)
Suppose no police, and no school administrators came to your house. Instead, your son came to you, by himself, when you were readying for sleep, to let you on a secret of his: his secret is that he self-admits to the use of alcohol.
In a concerned frenzy, you demand proof.
Your son shows you proof from a youtube video he created off the internet. It shows your son sipping the beer, against school policy, with the time stamp on the video, and all. You stand in shock and awe that your son would commit an act that would send him to the Downtown high school.
It wasn't the school admin that brought this revelation to you; it was your son. Do you voluntarily send your son to the Downtown high school--gangs, knives, drugs and all--or do you spank him; sweep it under the rug, and tell him not to do it again?
Send him to the dreaded high school is a Yes, and tell him not to do it again is a No. (Question #2: Yes ______ No ______).
What is your answer, evildoers?