The gossip culture of high school is brutal to say the least. A first time offender can quickly turn into a junkie or a drunk in the game of telephone and while certainly not okay, it is not so uncommon for a student to have too much of a good time at a football game or dance and it’s far too extreme to suddenly make them the headline of the month.
A recent surge in students have been caught drinking at football games and school events. While this practice is nothing new, and these students were (by all accounts) properly reprimanded by the school, administrators have no control over the social consequences and ostracizing these students face for making a simple mistake.
In a study done by the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it was found that 27.9% of people ages 12-20 reported consumption of alcohol within the past year. This is to say that underage drinking, while absolutely wrong, continues to be normalized in pop culture. In movies and TV high school students are seen drinking and partying and it’s generally “accepted” as being a part of growing up.
Although, even if it’s “normalized”, adults and kids alike continue to judge kids that get in trouble for underage drinking. At our own football games it is common knowledge that students will “enhance” the Friday night lights experience; often with little to no consequence. Students that dare to get caught in possession or under the influence, though, are a different story.
When a student is caught drinking or in possession of alcohol on campus, it is a procedure to give them a 3 day out of school suspension followed by a 2 day in school suspension. Word gets around about this student being gone and a simple accident or stupid decision can turn into a story of drunk driving, addiction, or worse.
Generally, things tend to get blown out of proportion in the flurry of gossip regardless of if it’s about drugs and alcohol, but it is unfair for students to be branded addicts or junkies or idiots for making mistakes that have thus far been advertised as part of the “American teen” experience.
Some may argue that a student was asking for ridicule by doing what they did. Underage drinking and drug consumption is undoubtedly wrong, but the fact of the matter is that it is a normalized mistake and when facing consequences from an administrative body, it is unnecessary for students to face judgment from their peers likewise.
Mistakes like these are absolutely avoidable and not justified in any way but some go so far as to say that a student deserves the ridicule they may receive for doing what they did. It is not fair to be so judgemental of kids learning through poor decisions just like everyone else.