I did start this thread so will 'weigh in'...I wasn't really intending to compare schools with then and now -- I went to school in the UK and atually I am late (very late) fiftyish.....! I think my amazement on the conversation with my son was to do with DEGREE -- obviously I know drugs are out there and are pretty endemic.....but I guess I was truly shocked that a high school in Maine had cocaine and heroin easily available. I'll confess to being naieve.

Also, I was shocked that my son did not see the merits of making birth control available to young sexually active teens -- that blew me away, as has the response of the community to this. People are making noises about recalling the school committee who passed the initiative...........it seems out of all proportion to everything.

As a child of the 60s I do have enough understanding to know that kids are going to drink, have sex and take drugs.........; doesn't mean it wasn't hard to absorb when it was MY kids doing all of the above. But we have always encouraged them to be safe in their practices -- so was really puzzled why my son would not agree with benefits for other kids that had readily been available to him and to his sisters.