UP TO PARENTS TO INSTRUCT STUDENTS

Up to parents to instruct students Brian Mackinnon ought to understand that
Kelvin High School is no different than any other Manitoba high school in
terms of drug use or dealing, according to the Addictions Foundation of
Manitoba.

What Carol Falkowski doesn't tell her readers is that "dangerous drugs" is
a political designation. Even more dangerous than the ecstasy described by
Ms Falkowski is that street drugs are of unknown purity. That fact has not
stopped youths from taking a bite of the forbidden fruit since time began.
Temptation is ever present and it is the duty of parents, and not the
school, to instruct their children in moral matters.

Bringing the full force of the law to bear on students at Kelvin will
simply teach the students disrespect for the law. Why would Mr. Mackinnon
stop at a fine for the parents of student dealers? Perhaps their
grandparents could be arrested and subjected to the third degree along with
the school kids; no one gets out until someone talks, that'll teach them
scofflaws some respect for the law.

Personally, I would not want to send my children to a school where
closed-minded authoritarians like Mr. Mackinnon teach my kid intolerance
and injustice. Personally I would rather see a return to the parents
teaching the four classic virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas: prudence,
temperance, justice and fortitude that are sorely lacking in those who
promote the drug-war model of how to control vice.

Chris Buors

Winnipeg