Do Most Students at Sidwell Smoke Pot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were drugs at Sidwell in the 80s when I was there, including by Ivy bound kids. This is not new at Sidwell, or at any school - public or private. Did you people not go to high school?

Thank you.

Amazing how naive and clueless some of you are.

I've seen surveys that 38% of 18 year olds have smoked pot. Call me naive, but I would not expect an 18 year old Harvard bound recent grad of one of the nation's top schools to be among the minority who have. Especially since, in my personal experience, pot usage was very low among the super high achieving crowd in my own high school. It makes me wonder if drug use is more common among high achieving, rich private school students than high achieving, middle class, public school ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Pot is the least of your problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Teenagers are going to drink and smoke pot - and some might have sex. I really wish we embraced the European model so we could get the binge-ness out of our society. But this really ought not be a determining factor in a choice between private or public schools.

Um no. A school's culture for most parents is the most critical factor in the decision of where to send their child. Most parents would not view a school that has a pervasive drug culture as a plus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Pot is the least of your problems.

Yes, as another poster alluded. These schools are filled with many other drugs than just pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question pertained to TOP students at publics. Judging from some of the responses on this thread drug usage at schools like Sidwell seems fairly common. At public schools, the bulk of drug use is among lower income or not very high achieving students.

:snort:

Keep telling yourself that.

- top student from public school who enjoyed my share of weed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question pertained to TOP students at publics. Judging from some of the responses on this thread drug usage at schools like Sidwell seems fairly common. At public schools, the bulk of drug use is among lower income or not very high achieving students.

:snort:

Keep telling yourself that.

- top student from public school who enjoyed my share of weed

So your honestly saying that the % of kids smoking weed wasn't higher in the general classes than in the AP's?

[Anonymous]

So what demographic does the 62% of 18 year olds who have NOT smoked weed come from?

[Anonymous]

I went to a great public school, and pot was the one thing that all the cliques could agree on. High achievers, wealthy kids, athletes, "burn outs," poor kids, and pretty much in between. It wasn't the pot that determined our paths in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Pot is the least of your problems.

+420

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Teenagers are going to drink and smoke pot - and some might have sex. I really wish we embraced the European model so we could get the binge-ness out of our society. But this really ought not be a determining factor in a choice between private or public schools.

Um no. A school's culture for most parents is the most critical factor in the decision of where to send their child. Most parents would not view a school that has a pervasive drug culture as a plus.

Np here. Your last sentence is just brilliant. Very insightful.

At any school, in suburban or urban America, if a kid wants pot they can get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a great public school, and pot was the one thing that all the cliques could agree on. High achievers, wealthy kids, athletes, "burn outs," poor kids, and pretty much in between. It wasn't the pot that determined our paths in life.

Yup. Went to Stuyvesant. Lots of smokers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

I was a top student at a public school and I smoked pot. So did most of my friends. We also drank - a ton. Stole it from our parents liquor cabinets and got older kids to buy cases of beer for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

I was a top student at a public school and I smoked pot. So did most of my friends. We also drank - a ton. Stole it from our parents liquor cabinets and got older kids to buy cases of beer for us.

So again. Where does the 62% of kids who don't behave in this behavior come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Teenagers are going to drink and smoke pot - and some might have sex. I really wish we embraced the European model so we could get the binge-ness out of our society. But this really ought not be a determining factor in a choice between private or public schools.

Um no. A school's culture for most parents is the most critical factor in the decision of where to send their child. Most parents would not view a school that has a pervasive drug culture as a plus.

The United States is a drug culture. Our whole society is evolving before our eyes and over the past 20 to 100 years. Drugs have been a part of Whitman, Churchill, Roosevelt, DeMatha and yes Sidwell and every other school since the 1960's. If you seriously think this is something confined to independent schools or that it isn't an issue nationwide, then you have had your head in the sand. And if this is a determining factor for where your toddler is going to apply to schools, then you have other issues to confront.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess as a parent of a toddler who is trying to decide whether to send DD to private or public, I find this notion of marijuana being so prevalent at top privates to be quite disturbing. Obviously plenty of public school students smoke pot as well. But in my experience it was definitely not the norm among the very top students, and I'm apprehensive about spending $480,000 to put her in a peer group that is more likely to smoke pot than what she would be with if she were a presumably top student in a public school.

Teenagers are going to drink and smoke pot - and some might have sex. I really wish we embraced the European model so we could get the binge-ness out of our society. But this really ought not be a determining factor in a choice between private or public schools.

Um no. A school's culture for most parents is the most critical factor in the decision of where to send their child. Most parents would not view a school that has a pervasive drug culture as a plus.

The United States is a drug culture. Our whole society is evolving before our eyes and over the past 20 to 100 years. Drugs have been a part of Whitman, Churchill, Roosevelt, DeMatha and yes Sidwell and every other school since the 1960's. If you seriously think this is something confined to independent schools or that it isn't an issue nationwide, then you have had your head in the sand. And if this is a determining factor for where your toddler is going to apply to schools, then you have other issues to confront.

+420