Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

Page 15 text:

Feature — 11

Page 14 text:

A boom with no bangs or bruises If the late 1960 ' s was an era is usually followed by the cus- $6.98, and w of sloppiness and rebellion for tomary financial argument with dejectedly. American youth — and parents and Mother and a quick trip to the mall heading for tl teachers are constantly saying it to re-stock the already over- always use zi was — then a major overhaul in at- flowing wardrobe. Ah yes . . . titudes has apparently occurred in So, little Joe Anystudent heads acne, or wha recent years. Arm bands, greasy down the highway and runs into Now there is hair, and torn-up blue jeans are the nearest jeans shop. His eye spending. Wh anything but the fashion, as to- first catches the display of do to ward ol day’s teenagers seem to prefer original Levis with rivets and puberty on tt design er styles and comfort to straight legs — still priced at a ufacturers wc the once popular protests a- reasonable $15. Since he already they keep it i gainst materialism. has a least a dozen pairs of those alone carried VHS students are no exception at home, he decides instead to teed to cover to this trend and have willingly look at the new European-style jeans, raculously he joined in on the student marches He changes his mind when he sights problems, of the 1970 ' s — marches to the the high price tag attached to But that isr check-out counter, to the ticket the rhinestone-studded pockets. it, in fact. Gir counter, to the album counter, to He leaves the store, thinking and makeup 1 the everything-you-always-wanted- perhaps he ' ll buy a shirt instead. monetary sup but-never-really-needed counter, He goes into one store, sees a is splitting en etc., etc., etc. casual shirt “on sale” for $15, new gunks an The clothes closet is the source sees sweaters in another for $25, hair more be; of much of the youthful worship and teeshirts in another for a the cost of si of the Almighty Dollar. In spite mere $7. “Maybe I ' ll just get an stereos, entei of that fact that his closet may album, he thinks with rapidly cravings for p already look like a clothing ware- waning confidence. So he walks a perfect torn house, the teenager will inevi- into his favorite record store, sees teenage budg tably complain, But I don’t have his favorite artist’s new album to sighing par anything to wear.” This complaint billed as Today ' s Special” at than blowing 10 — Feature

Page 16 text:

Shouts, whispers, and an awful lot of bull In the beginning there was a letter sent out to all parents of students in the school system. Immediately after this letter, there followed an extremely dif- ficult period: rule changes, at- titude changes, a personnel change, and rumors, rumors, rumors — of armed police and breathalizers at sockhops, locker searches by dogs trained to smell out drugs, a massive drug bust similar to the ' 76 Portage bust, lists of stu- dents suspected of drinking and drug abuse. It all became part of what was popularly but not publicly called the Crackdown. No one had ever really talked about a “drug problem” in Valpa- raiso before — and even after they did start talking about it, no one seemed to agree on what it was. Some considered I every student a suspect and poten- tial addict, while others refused to believe that students even drank — much less used drugs. Not even the students could agree on the extent of drug usage in the high school. Some felt that one police officer’s estimation that 75% of the students in this school have “a stash of grass some- where” was an understatement, while others insisted that the percentage was much lower and the problem much less serious. Regardless of what the sta- tictics are, the fact is that drugs became an issue at VHS this year. It was a controversy that refused to die, flaring up spora- dically then retreating into the background — yet always there, as if waiting ... for something. Initial student reaction to the school system ' s announcement of its awarness of the drug problem” was one of surprise. “How can they think,” they asked, “that we have a problem when there are schools right up the road in Gary where people are getting killed over drugs?” Surprise quickly turned to agitation when attendance and tardiness rules were tightened, and then the rumors re- ferred to earlier began to cir- culate, getting juicer with each repetition. Commotion over the drug situ- ation involved much more than reactions of students, parents, and teachers. There were obliga- tions, legal and moral, posed by the problem that had to be dealt with. Conflicts arose over the most fundamental question of all: what to do about the student caught with drugs at school. Administrators believed in sus- pension as both a punishment and a deterrent, while the police wanted to go beyond the individ- ual student to get to the source. Dealing with an issue as emo- tionally charged as drugs is dif- ficult. People inevitably get angry or insulted — or simply choose to ignore the problem in hopes that it will go away. They don ' t like to talk about it much, and even when they do it is of- ten almost impossible to wade through all of the biased, emotion- al garbage to find any really con- clusive evidence. The facts are there: they’re just hard to reach — but aren’t most good things that way? 12 — Feature