I Should be happy today.. But read.

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by Dylan
I know if my school did something like that, my mother would be all over them, she's really good when it comes to standing up for her kids (just ask my little brother's school )

Now I really have issues with this. Sorry, but this is one of the things we as parents do wrong the most. When our kids - you - screw up, we need to let them take the responsibility for their actions. That's how you learn right from wrong and good decision making, maturity, we call it in the real world.

Specialized1248, I noticed that you said that your parents disagreed with the level of your punishment, but you never said anything about them trying to "fix" it or make it go away. Good for them, and good for you!

Now is the time when your character will show the most. You need to be proactive about the issue Genia mentioned, and work with your teachers to minimize the damage of missing 7 days of school - as much as you are allowed. Good luck!

Cynette

[Madison]

If you really thought that everything you and your friends were doing was going to be okay with the school administration, you'd not have done it overnight whilst hiding from the police.

You're only kidding yourself.

[Lil' Lavery]

That punishment is worse than the seniors last year who poured gasoline onto our football field (which had just been re-seeded with new grass) in the shape of a giant "05" and ruined the field... :/

[Billfred]

I'll have to agree--you do deserve some punishment for attempting to do-si-do around the administration, regardless of intent. (If you love-tapped an opposing robot in the loading zone last year so the human player could actually get a tetra on it, you would still get a near-guaranteed loss a thirty-point penalty.)

Is seven days a little steep? Going solely by the yardstick you laid out, I'd be inclined to agree. If you work within the system and try to explain yourself and beg forgiveness, you might get lucky and have a day or three lopped off. No consolation when it comes to prom, I know, but it is if nothing else good practice for the other times you'll have to negotiate from the weaker position in life. Good luck.

(Was I the only person in the world who thought prom was overrated?)

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by mocat1530

Now I really have issues with this. Sorry, but this is one of the things we as parents do wrong the most. When our kids - you - screw up, we need to let them take the responsibility for their actions. That's how you learn right from wrong and good decision making, maturity, we call it in the real world.

I did not mean that my mother is always getting my little brother out of trouble, what I meant was that she stands up for him when the school fails to do their job, such as when someone picks on him.
And she has never had to step in at my school.

[Cynette]

Dylan:

Thanks for clarifying!

Cynette

[santosh]

That totally sucks.
What you did might have appeared bad, but I am sure that at the you guys were planning this and doing this, you thought that it wasn't a horrible idea (I don't think it was that bad either).

If I were in your position (and I have been, just nowhere near as drastic), I would write a letter of apology and explain what happened. Then I would ask for a lesser punishment if at all possible. It has worked for friends I have that have been in a large amount of trouble too.
You all could either write them individually or come as a united front with one letter. You could giv this to the admin and the superintendant. It might work. It is worth a shot. Prom is gone, but 7 days could possibly hurt your grades some.

But also, mocat1530 put it best,

Originally Posted by mocat1530

So what can you salvage from today?

Can you get dressed up and take your girl out to dinner before prom? Take the photos? Is there an after party you can go to? Surely the admin cannot stop you from those activities.

That way you are only missing out on the 3-4 hour dance in between.

Cynette

I agree. Look at the bright side of this. You can still do all the fun stuff after prom like after parties and what not.

[KarenH]

Your punishment was more than you bargained for--you are hardly the first to have this sad experience:

My high school Psych. & Lit. teacher was a bit of a nut case. When teaching our class about "responsibility," she defined responsibility as being willing to accept the consequences for her actions. Then she told us her story: she bought a new sports car, and thought it would be fun to see what it could do on the freeway. She "responsibly" agreed with herself to accept the consequences: she might get a ticket. Sure enough, an officer pulled her over, and, while writing a ticket, lectured her about the dangers of speeding.

She expressed her anger to our class about how this chauvinistic cop dared to lecture her, the "responsible adult," as if she were a little girl! My thought was that, by her own definition, she was NOT "responsible," because she failed to take into account that consequences could include something unexpected-- such as being regarded as irresponsible and immature by a male! To say nothing of the possibility of an accident.

To be sure, it's more important to adhere to principles of good conduct than to be concerned about consequences, but if you're going to break rules, you need to be prepared for unexpected consequences.

We all need to be aware that our society is morally out of focus, so when officials try to clamp down, they often appear more like enforcers of a police state than administrators of a just society. I just learned this fact about the Selective Service System: men who fail to register could wind up in jail for five years, and have to pay a fine of up to $250,000 (yes, that's six digits). How many eighteen-year-olds can afford five years out of their lives, and a quarter of a million dollars, just for failing to fill out an 8x5-inch piece of paper? Oh, and this little omission is classified as a felony--literally a federal crime! Violators would lose their right to vote, their right to carry arms, and a bunch of other rights, privileges, and benefits. How can anyone justify such a huge penalty? It's only a little piece of paper! Missing a prom and a few days of school pales in comparison.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

...and then the admin passwords started floating around the school because they couldn't keep their mouths shut.

Originally Posted by s forbes

A couple months later me and a bunch of my friends all had these keys and used them to open our lockers and each others if we needed.

Folks,

People involved in FIRST tend to be the best and the brightest , and are generally able to circumvent anything in their way. The problem starts when they tell others about it.

What happens then is bad. People who don't have the intelligence to actually do this themselves, and without a good understanding of the impact of their actions, get ahold of a tool that ends up causing serious harm.

Like giving a hand grenade to a baby.

The problem is, when it gets out who started it all, it ends up being "one of those kids on the robot team". When administration starts hearing about bad things, and they are associated with "those kids on the robot team", what do you think will end up happening?

No More Robot Team.

No, that won't get rid of the kids, or the problem, but it surely will get rid of the team. The administration has to do something, so FIRST is an easy target.

The bottom line: If you are part of a FIRST team, and you figure out how to get around something, keep it to yourself.

Maybe even become a hero, and tell someone you trust in "administration" what you did/found/learned. Then the association with "those kids on the robot team" will be something like "those kids on the robot team really help us keep people from doing bad things" - and that is a good reputation to have. Really.

It's still not about the robots. FIRST is about doing the right thing.

Don

PS: Bummer on the prom and suspension. I can think of a similar incident from my youth. If we had only asked permission, we'd have gotten it, too. sigh. Live and Learn.