I graduated from MCPS in 1991 and we had a smoking section at Gaithersburg High School in 1988-89. Totally different world. Also I have a kid in middle school. I'm one of the older parents, but not the oldest.

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Anonymous wrote:My HS back in our 1980 event involved limos, coke, clubbing and hotel rooms. This is tame. We actually had an after party at a disco till 4 am with a full open bar.

You parents pretending to be shocked are crazy. We actually had kids caught having sex in sixth grade at school.

The 1970s and early 1980 were wild. Jungle Juice and Queludes. I went to a keg party after finals week in ninth grade

Yeah but did the parents organize it all?

This isn't the 1980s. There was also racist, anti-LGBT and sexist talk that was accepted and big hair and hairspray. You are also unfathomably old to be on this board. Are there parents of K12 kids who were teens in the 80s?!

Your math may be off. I had kids at mid 30s and they are in high school now. Was a teen in late 80s. And I'm definitely not the oldest parent at the school.

Yep. I have a 10th grader and turned 13 in 1986.

I have an 11 grader and turned 13 in 1975. When I was in HS the drinking age was 18. Drivers licenses were paper with no picture. We had HS bars near school. I recall after the 10 grade Geometry finals hitting the bat that night and hitting on 9th grade girls who just did Algebra regents. Pretty much at 15-16 using older brother or sister license or learners permit or fake ID could hit bars.

We had a huge Swingers club across street HS, X rated movie theaters, peep shows, coke was everywhere. My school events all involved alcohol and drugs. I recall in 12 grade some cool rich kids approached me and said you over 18 I go yea, do you have car. I go yea but beat up piece of junk, but got invited to their party if I drive to beer distributer and show my license to buy kegs they would pay on Daddies credit card. We were hung over a lot of Friday in HS. We even had smoking on HS allowed. Yes 16 year old hung over smoking a cigarette and drink coffee at 9 am in HS.
Kids today are saints

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HS back in our 1980 event involved limos, coke, clubbing and hotel rooms. This is tame. We actually had an after party at a disco till 4 am with a full open bar.

You parents pretending to be shocked are crazy. We actually had kids caught having sex in sixth grade at school.

The 1970s and early 1980 were wild. Jungle Juice and Queludes. I went to a keg party after finals week in ninth grade

Yeah but did the parents organize it all?

This isn't the 1980s. There was also racist, anti-LGBT and sexist talk that was accepted and big hair and hairspray. You are also unfathomably old to be on this board. Are there parents of K12 kids who were teens in the 80s?!

Your math may be off. I had kids at mid 30s and they are in high school now. Was a teen in late 80s. And I'm definitely not the oldest parent at the school.

I have a 6th grade and a 9th grader and turned 13 in 1986. I’m about average age among my kids parents, certainly not “unfathomably old”!!!

Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, or Takoma Park?

Nah, Gaithersburg. Graduated high school in 1989 and my kid is a HS sophomore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HS back in our 1980 event involved limos, coke, clubbing and hotel rooms. This is tame. We actually had an after party at a disco till 4 am with a full open bar.

You parents pretending to be shocked are crazy. We actually had kids caught having sex in sixth grade at school.

The 1970s and early 1980 were wild. Jungle Juice and Queludes. I went to a keg party after finals week in ninth grade

Yeah but did the parents organize it all?

This isn't the 1980s. There was also racist, anti-LGBT and sexist talk that was accepted and big hair and hairspray. You are also unfathomably old to be on this board. Are there parents of K12 kids who were teens in the 80s?!

Your math may be off. I had kids at mid 30s and they are in high school now. Was a teen in late 80s. And I'm definitely not the oldest parent at the school.

Yep. I have a 10th grader and turned 13 in 1986.

You and your children have a choice! Of course there might be peer pressure. Learn to deal with it and be you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HS back in our 1980 event involved limos, coke, clubbing and hotel rooms. This is tame. We actually had an after party at a disco till 4 am with a full open bar.

You parents pretending to be shocked are crazy. We actually had kids caught having sex in sixth grade at school.

The 1970s and early 1980 were wild. Jungle Juice and Queludes. I went to a keg party after finals week in ninth grade

Yeah but did the parents organize it all?

This isn't the 1980s. There was also racist, anti-LGBT and sexist talk that was accepted and big hair and hairspray. You are also unfathomably old to be on this board. Are there parents of K12 kids who were teens in the 80s?!

Your math may be off. I had kids at mid 30s and they are in high school now. Was a teen in late 80s. And I'm definitely not the oldest parent at the school.

I have a 6th grade and a 9th grader and turned 13 in 1986. I’m about average age among my kids parents, certainly not “unfathomably old”!!!

Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, or Takoma Park?

Why? I'm not the PP but I have kids who are in middle and high school and graduated from high school in 1989. My kids have gone to school in Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, and Kensington (haha - DCC craziness!). Do you think parents from one area are older? Probably...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HS back in our 1980 event involved limos, coke, clubbing and hotel rooms. This is tame. We actually had an after party at a disco till 4 am with a full open bar.

You parents pretending to be shocked are crazy. We actually had kids caught having sex in sixth grade at school.

The 1970s and early 1980 were wild. Jungle Juice and Queludes. I went to a keg party after finals week in ninth grade

Yeah but did the parents organize it all?

This isn't the 1980s. There was also racist, anti-LGBT and sexist talk that was accepted and big hair and hairspray. You are also unfathomably old to be on this board. Are there parents of K12 kids who were teens in the 80s?!

Your math may be off. I had kids at mid 30s and they are in high school now. Was a teen in late 80s. And I'm definitely not the oldest parent at the school.

I have a 6th grade and a 9th grader and turned 13 in 1986. I’m about average age among my kids parents, certainly not “unfathomably old”!!!

Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, or Takoma Park?

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Anonymous wrote:I have a freshman at Whitman and don't understand the history. My kid didn't do the busses and all that stuff because apparently "freshman don't get to do that." He did go to the game and the HoCo festival thing that happened after the game, which he said was boring. But why doesn't Whitman have a dance - is there a story there? Has all this other stuff gotten so over the top in part because there isn't even a dance?

History is that dance ended with COVID. The first year back, they didn't resurrect the dance. Instead they have a school-sponsored party on the baseball field after the football game on Friday night. That has now gone on for three years, and it seems like the kids enjoy it (bounce houses, etc.). On the Saturday, self-organized groups do these self-organized gatherings that involve some combination of dressing up (or down, depending how you feel about those dresses), dinner, trip to monuments, parties, etc. And without the dance to anchor it, the ugliness really comes through. Sounds like a lot of kids don't go overboard, and kudos so those with kids who don't transgress. To me, it seems like a parent-sanctioned weekend of debauchery - things going on that other weekends they'd frown upon.

A School wide party sounds like a lot of fun- much more fun than a dance where nobody dances. Do the kids enjoy it?

It sounds more inclusive but these parents are messing that up by creating these exclusive side parties.

+1

I heard most kids go to the dance for 30 minutes, not even a full hour. Snap some selfies and post pics on social media and leave. No one dances. It’s really lame. It’s all about the pre dance dinner and after party. I heard some parents rent limos it’s gotten out of hand. Yes, these after parties are not inclusive. Some are only for the popular crowd and exclude all the not so popular and nerdier kids. It’s sad it has come to this.

This has ALWAYS been life in high school even back in the 90’s. You just see it more because of social media.

Yes. Ask me how I know 😀. I’m a reliable witness even though I’m “unfathomably old.” I started high school in the old days, gosh golly, that was back in 1987, and I still have a high school sophomore. I agree that it was easier back then, when the big party wasn’t in your face and all over social media. You could just sit at home listening to Madonna on your Walkman while reading Seventeen Magazine and pretending that everyone else was in their homes doing the same thing. Now kids orchestrate photo ops and alteri their photos to present the perfect social life, the perfect dress, the perfect body, perfect everything. I think it’s harder to see your own kid get left out than to be left out yourself. That said, my kid does get invited to at least some of these things some of the time, and that can make parenting challenging and scary for different reasons. It also makes being a teen more complicated for them as well. Theyjust feel a different set of pressures than the kid sitting at home. I actually think the kids who have it best are the ones planning low key sleepovers or hangouts with a few of their good buddies.