MOST students look forward to a party when they finish school, often making a mess of themselves at the now notorious annual ritual of schoolies’ week.
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But there is an honourable and noble alternative to schoolies and it attracts those kids who prefer to help instead of hinder or have simply decided that getting wrecked is not for them.
Almost 100 south-west students will be flying to different parts of the world, not to party but to help those less fortunate than themselves. Students from Warrnambool’s Emmanuel and Brauer colleges as well as students from Portland’s Bayview College will take part in programs in East Timor, the Philippines and Vietnam.
While these students are overseas helping others and at the same time helping themselves, the vast majority of their fellow students will be making a nuisance of themselves in beachside hotspots around the country.
Not all kids who attend schoolies’ week will misbehave and there is nothing wrong with youngsters letting their hair down after working hard at school. But schoolies has become more than just a rowdy get together by students letting off steam after the stress of exams — it has become downright dangerous.
Drugs, alcohol abuse, violence and careless sexual activity have unfortunately become the hallmarks of the event.
Parents who let their children attend a schoolies’ celebration do so with trepidation and fear instead of joy and pride and that is a great shame.
Today’s youngsters are not a bad lot, but mob rule together with booze, drugs and youth can be a lethal cocktail and make fools of even the most sensible teenager. Young people who have just left school have the rest of their lives to party on and one day they might even look back on schoolies’ week with intense shame and embarrassment, especially if their behaviour has been immortalised on social media.
The ones who head overseas, on the other hand, will have had the trip of their young lives and made a difference. Now that’s worth celebrating.