From The Washington Post: "At Key School in Annapolis, one of the region's premier prep schools, parents are reeling from the revelation that five students have been expelled for smoking marijuana during a class trip to Costa Rica.

"School administrators suspended classes Monday to announce and explain the expulsions to students in the 210-student Upper School. That night, more than 200 Key School parents gathered on campus to hear the same account.

"Parents say the expulsions have shaken the Key School community like nothing else in recent memory. Some are appalled that the school would expel the students, primarily upperclassmen, so near the end of their $18,385-a-year educational voyage. Others are stunned that the students would break a written pledge, not to mention the law, by using drugs on an organized class trip.

"In all, 17 of the 21 teenagers who made the trip are being disciplined for assorted transgressions, according to school head Marcella Yedid."

Sounds like the school has done a masterful job of inculcating the values which have propelled Bush and his administration and his cronies to the top. Why should the students be punished (except for stupidity at getting caught)? We reward transgressions at the highest level; this is just a case of "trickle-down" ethics.

The article continues: "The students spent their midwinter break, Feb. 17 through 25, in Costa Rica on a journey organized by a group called LEAP, or Learning by Exploring and Actively Participating, at a cost of about $2,500 each.

"The group visited hot springs in La Fortuna, danced in Monteverde and white-water rafted near the capital of San Jose, according to an account by Jovaughn Barnard, a junior."

One wonders how much learning was taking place. Learning how to have fun and evade the adults, maybe.