About Town

Teens and Marijuana: Are We Sending the Wrong Message?

Marijuana is easy to obtain, and even easier to justify now that it's legal in some states. Locally, Evanston has decriminalized small amounts. Opinion columnist Christine Wolf wonders what effect all this has on teenagers.

Last week, a friend with older kids mentioned how easy it is to buy marijuana at the high school. “It’s everywhere,” she said.  I’ve always heard phrases like, “It’s so easy to get drugs” or “You wouldn’t believe what goes on…” but now that I’m the mother of a high schooler, I’m listening a lot more closely. Personally, I didn’t take a lot of chances in high school (at least until I was a senior, but that’s another column altogether). As a freshman, I firmly believed alcohol and drugs would only weaken a laser-sharp focus on my two greatest interests: good grades and cute boys. My deepest fear was disappointing my parents and/or getting caught doing something that might jeopardize my future. My father, on the other hand, kept a Sucrets …

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june shellene

3:03 pm on Sunday, January 27, 2013

Another thought, is if we honored our children...if we didn't work so hard at amputating their right brain...their source of creativity and all the really cool things human beings have at their disposal, they wouldn't be dying to get the hell out of the hellish mental state our "educational" institutions pushes them into while marginalizing the kids who refuse to sit down and shut up and learn …   more ›

'Tiger Mom' Style Not One Size Fits All

A local expert says Amy Chua's much publicized book on the superiority of Chinese mothers misses the mark.

The concept of the “tiger mom,” the ruthless and unrelenting parenting style documented in Amy Chua’s book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” has generated buzz throughout the country. The book, which hit bookstores last month, documents Yale professor Chua’s unapologetic account of raising her children “the Chinese way” as opposed to the more Western style she says is ruining our children. In a day and age where many American children have sports practices several nights a week plus homework and other scheduled activities, the tiger mom attitude doesn’t seem so far off.  At the same time, the U.S. education system is continually criticized for not being as rigorous as its international counterparts, and American parents are often accused …

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