Studentenalmanak 1972-1973 - pagina 151

Yesterday Seen Today: India.

You come in the front The school is beautiful modern lines of orange granite,

huge but graceful gardens, enormous sandstone boulder wrapped abouth with

bouganviUe, trees, grass, lots of space and air. Inside, the equipment is all

everything you can dream of, and the auditorium, which is also a gymnasium,

has a huge, suspended glass-roof.

Then you look at the kids There is something funny about them You

suddenly remember the httle boy-he must have been in the sixth grade or so-

that you saw kneeling m a corner behind the gate. When you came near him

he stopped what he was doing and put his hands behind his back You sud-

denly realize that he has been rolling a joint and that a lot of the kids walking

around the compound are stoned.

They move slowly and look vague. You ask about it when you see the

superintendant. He sighs and shakes his head. No, he says, smoking is not

allowed. Yes, he says, we realize that the situation has gotten out of control.

You learn that there have been ten expulsions for use of drugs m school in the

past year If we expell everyone who uses drugs, he says, we would hardly have

any highschoolstudents left. He ralizes that it has spread to the elementary

school but, he says, what can we do?

It has not always been like this, he says Five years ago there was another

superintendant. He gave the seniors smoking privileges, and the privileges soon

spread to the whole highschool and everyone was happy After three years the

supermtendant left and was replaced by the present one, the prmcipal also left.

The new supermtendant was horrified by the smoking and immediatly took

away the privilege. The principal agreed that it was a mistake (it was, the smo-

kers simply moved into the bathrooms which were big, any and ideal for the

purposes they were used for). Now that they were hidden away m the bathrooms,

the 7th and 8th graders started smoking too. The pushers moved in. The ad-

ministration did not see a thing. When the non-smokers started complaining

about the toilets that did not flush because they were clogged with ashes and

butts, the administration put in ashtrays and notices asking people to use them.

People came to school, had a joint before first period, another before

lunch, and maybe a last one before the last hour Kids taught their little brothers

and sisters that they could smoke m the bathrooms also, and it wasnot uncon-

mon to see smoke coming out of the girls room m the elementary school building.

At the end of the first year of the superintendant's time, he had the prin-

cipal removed, and all the teachers who cared about the school and kids resigned

m protest. At that point, the' few kids that had cared stopped caring and the situ-

ation was too far gone for anyone to do anything about it.

This IS how it was all that year 69 The only difference this year is that there

are a few people schootmg junk in the bathrooms, as well. That hasnot spread to

the elementary school yet, but it is only a matter of time before it does

B.C.

149

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