Parents step up to the plate and back the school on this one

There was a news story out of Eden Prairie MN that really frustrated me. Some high school kids are being suspended from school for drinking. Around 42 of them were questioned.

Now, these kids, not sure which one, posted pictures of themselves on Facebook.com with bottles of alcohol laying on tables, holding glasses...etc. The school received a complaint of sorts and investigated further and found this damning evidence.

(Thanks to Pat, the one who always sees the complete picture; the only proof that these kids were drinking are pics of them holding cups with a liquid...apple juice as one girl put it while there are numerous beer/alcohol bottles on the table in front of them...and he is right. [But he always has to burst my bubble!!!! waaahhh!] But his logic points out some gray areas with all of this which I will let my readers haggle out. And again, I agree)

ANYWAY,

According to various articles/news stories, 13 of those pictured were athletes and/or captain's of school related sports teams. For as long as I was in school, drinking, drugs, and smoking were absolutely NOT allowed if you were in sports. But that's not to say that athletes didn't do any of the above.

I read an article last night about it and of course, parents and kids, are outraged. Not at the children but with the school for violating the kids' rights. WHAT??????

Most of us know that teens do drink, that it's almost impossible to stop them; teens are very sly creatures. It's a fact of life when a person is a teenager. The experimental phase. But most parents, if they were to find out, would be forever grateful for a punishment like this imposed on their child...C-O-N-S-E-Q-U-E-N-C-E-S! HELLO.

Most kids want to learn on their own, want to make their own mistakes. Ok, well, life lesson kiddies! There have been maybe 4 deaths of young adults around Minnesota in the last month or so...how??? Drinking themselves to death. Wake up.

I like to indulge on occasion, have fun, who doesn't? However, I know now what I didn't know when I was a kid...control. It's a miracle that I'm still alive today to complain about this!

Now the controversy about their rights being violated? Well, perhaps they shouldn't have posted their pictures on the internet for all the world to see, including the school. It's the world's right to surf the internet. Free speech is a wonderful thing isn't it kids? Life lesson number 2.

Laurent said he agrees that student drinking should be punished, but thinks the suspensions were too severe.

While the first part of this sentence is nice to hear from a student's mouth, the last part of it is quite contradictory. And wait, a student thinks that suspension is too severe? When did they make the school rules...is that next on the agenda for the school board?

It's great that the kids are taking a stand but for what? Alcohol consumption, freedom to display it all over the place and advertise their delinquencies. They're utilizing their rights but honestly, wouldn't it be more productive to be protesting something worth while? Something that will make a positive impact?

And the parents really need to wise up or one day their child will be drinking and driving and end up killing an innocent person....how then, will they feel about their outrage over their child's rights?!

UPDATE: While verifying my links that I put up here, I discovered that one of them was updated while I was blathering...It seems that there are STUDENTS protesting the protesters!!!!! Yehaaw! While I don't know much about this, it's nice to see that maybe there are kids and parents out there who believe in reaping what you sow.....who knows.