There’s an interesting article in the Peoria, IL newspaper about a school district that is considering banning from after school activities any student who is failing a core class.  So if a student is failing a core class they can’t attend a football game or go to the prom.  Seems reasonable to me.

Of course they asked some students their opinion, and as you’d expect some weren’t happy about it.  That’s fine, since it’s a teenager’s prerogative, neh, genetic destiny to feel oppressed by the man.  Unfortunately some teenagers don’t understand the difference between rights and privileges.  Here’s a quote from the article:

"I think it’s ridiculous," said Breon Woods, 17, a senior at Peoria
High School, "simply for the fact the school would lose money without
kids at the games – they’re the main spectators – you won’t have as
much school spirit. And prom is a right of passage."

Before going on to make my point I should point out that someone at the paper might need to go back to school.  "Right of passage" in this context should be "rite of passage."  Anyway, the kid makes a somewhat salient point about the money, although I’d argue that games don’t come close to actually making money even with the students, and yes a prom is a rite of passage.  But his assumption seems to be that by being a student you have the right to participate, no matter what.  That’s a false assumption.

As members of the community students have the right to have the same opportunity to an education as everyone else.  Other than that it is their privilege to participate in school activities, to utilize the school facilities, to occupy space with the other students.  It is the community’s expectation that the students use those privileges for their intended purpose, i.e. learning, and it is the community’s right to withdraw those privileges if the students don’t hold up their end of the bargain.  In other words prom might be a rite of passage, but it is no student’s absolute right to attend.

Like most parents we spend a lot of time explaining to our kids the difference between need and want.  As they get older we’re also beginning to deal more with rights and privileges.  I think that will really come to the forefront when licenses start to appear in the kids’ wallets in the next two years.  Like most middle class American teenagers they somehow feel that driving a car is an inalienable right akin to life and liberty.  How quickly they’ll learn that driving a car is a privilege expressly granted by the United States of Mom, Dad and State Farm.