Pervasive Drug Culture at W-L?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in Ballston last week and came across a group of W-L kids openly smoking weed on the street shortly after getting out of class.

Just how pervasive is the drug culture at W-L? I knew it was very large and that a lot of kids feel unseen but I’m now thinking it really is a school best avoided.

Of ALL the students exiting WL after school, what percentage is that one group that you happened to see? What does feeling unseen have to do with drug use (to you)? Why would you personally think your student would mingle with that one group that you saw? Other than not going to a "school best avoided," what are you personally doing to prepare your student to make choices that you will agree with? What if your student still, despite your best avoiding, wants to attend the IB program? What if their friend group attends WL? Do you think your student will feel unseen and jump to using the devil's lettuce? If so, why? What's your part in that? So much to think about when you're not making rush judgments.

[Anonymous]

W-L may have changed their name, but the culture hasn't changed much from previous years ...

[Anonymous]

Eye roll. Yep, massive DRUG CULTURE (what does that even mean) amongst the (mostly) North Arlington elites who send their kids to W&L. I mean, what is the average house price? Jesus you sound nuts. It’s a big school. Some kids smoke pot afterwards. Shocker. I bet you can find some teenagers doing all kinds of things they shouldn’t because it’s a big high school. Your kid will find their people. And if you are a pearl clutching helicopter parent, your kid is definitely going to smoking dope and probably worse to rebel against you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had one go through W-L and 2 go through YHS and it seems to me that YHS is much worse in this regard. Of course, we don't know every person / clique / specific sports culture at either school, so there's a certain amount of myopia to my perspective.

The drinking and drug culture at YHS has been the worst of the three high schools (at least since the 90s). That culture is not as pervasive at W-L, which tends to attract more academically focused students (through option program transfers) who shy away from such activities (and the heavy sports culture sometimes associated with that behavior).

Hahahahahaha

[Anonymous]

The people who start trying to compare schools, either have a chip on their shoulder or don’t realize that there are self-selecting groups. There are plenty of non-drinkers at Yorktown. There are plenty of none drinkers at Washington Liberty. There are plenty of non-drinkers at Wakefield. There are also kids who drink at all three. Don’t act like any school has it worse than the others. It’s simply not true. It’s just the people you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people who start trying to compare schools, either have a chip on their shoulder or don’t realize that there are self-selecting groups. There are plenty of non-drinkers at Yorktown. There are plenty of none drinkers at Washington Liberty. There are plenty of non-drinkers at Wakefield. There are also kids who drink at all three. Don’t act like any school has it worse than the others. It’s simply not true. It’s just the people you know.

Maybe. Maybe not regarding the level of drinking and drug use at all three high schools. But I do find it amusing how on ARLnow most commenters seem to place the blame on unruly Yorktown students when there are problems after football games, or when out-of-control parties get shut down. Isn’t this misbehavior the reason why the Yorktown/W-L games have occasionally been played on weekends or early in the afternoon during the week? There was an ARLnow article about that a year or two ago: Drunken revelry in the Harris Teeter parking lot, problems at McDonalds, etc.

[Anonymous]

Keep trying to deflect

[Anonymous]

DD16 is a junior at W-L and knows it happens but doesn't have friends that are involved. Lots of weekend drinking though.