Teacher Accused of Statutory Rape and Other Offenses

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by crosscaravan

My point was that anyone who asks someone older than them for alcohol knows it's something they're not allowed to have or buy - a "no-no." If they didn't know it was illegal, they would have just tried to buy it on their own instead of asking.

I don't spend much time with middle schoolers now, but when I was in middle school my friends and I knew enough to stay away from alcohol. The students who wanted alcohol got it, but they also knew that it was illegal for them to do so, so they had to be sneaky about it. I had very little sympathy for the people in my 8th grade class who complained of being hungover the day after bragging about how their "cool college friends" would be getting alcohol for them at an "awesome party."

The attitudes towards and the knowledge about alcohol at that age may also have something to do with where I grew up, though, so there you have it.

Ok so your friends are all perfect and they would never do that.

I've worked in middle school, and the average kid is not that. Not saying that every middle school kid I've known is a raging party animal, but even the best kids will try drinking if one of their friends is doing it.

What I was really getting at with quoting your statement is that, in the context of what we're discussing here, if I get arrested for buying my students alcohol, I can't respond with "well, they knew it was illegal to ask me."

Whether they know better or not, I'm still the adult. I have to protect them (by not providing it for them) because the law says "these are kids and they aren't capable of making decisions regarding purchasing/consuming an intoxicating substance."