Reply to STA's Substance Abuse Culture?

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Reply to "STA's Substance Abuse Culture?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I am the poster w/ the cousin who became involved w/drugs at Exeter. My point was in response to the poster who was considering STA but in light of a potential drug culture would consider Exeter, Andover and Deerfield. To clarify my point - It was that while some boarding schools have outstanding reputations, in a few the grade size is so large (basically the same size as a small liberal arts college) that it is easier for a child to fall through the system in terms of going unnoticed with drug usage. When you have 500 students in one grade and no parents, the chances are greater that you won't get caught. I agree that unfortunately many teenagers experiment with drugs, but with hands on parents and smaller student bodies, there is less of a chance a kid will go unnoticed and not get caught. There was zero history of drug abuse in my family, but my cousin was emotionally immature and insecure - vulnerable to peer influence which many teenagers were. He attended the Buckley school in New York before boarding school. He was extremely bright and was accepted into several top boarding schools. Buckley strongly recommended that he attend Groton, but my aunt had her heart set on Exeter. I don't know that he would not have become so involved in drugs if he had attended another school, there is no way to know those things 20/20 hindsight. He also managed to have strong grades at Exeter although he now has admitted that he was getting high daily. There is an old saying (not sure if it's true) that one stops emotionally maturing at the age when they begin daily drug or alcohol abuse. The stakes are high. If I were to consider top tier boarding schools, I would look at Groton, Deerfield, St. Paul's and Hotchkiss, but never Exeter, Andover and Choate which are literally at least twice the grade size. [/quote]

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