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Authors: Richard A. Hawley
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shoddy, outlaw world of youthful drug use. I think it just might be.
I agree with you, by the way, that the high school is the best idea. Among other things, he will find himself, I think, a relatively strong student there academically. You may contact my secretary, Marge Pearse, for his transcript.
I wish all of you well, and I hope this is not the last I hear of the Hruskas.
My good wishes,
John O. Greeve
11 October
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Slavin
1300 Chafee Circle
West Hartford, Connecticut
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Slavin,
I am writing to confirm officially what I told you over the phone last night: that I have reluctantly accepted the Student Courtâs and the Faculty Discipline Committeeâs recommendation to ask you to withdraw Marc from Wells immediately.
I know this is devastating news, and it is truly unpleasant news to bear. For what the admission is worth, Marcâs was the only recommendation concerning the five boys involved in this incident that I was seriously tempted to reverse. On his side is his newness to the school, the obvious temptation to play up to big, influential upper formers, and of course his extraordinary intellectual promise. Overriding these considerations, however, is the impact of âpardoningâ him on the eighty-nine other boys in the third form. I donât want to lose any more boys here to drugs. In order not to, I need to create a climate of opinion in which drug use is âdangerous.â We have evolved the drug policy we now have because we have learned, painfully, that the use of psychoactive drugs by adolescent boys is dangerous to development, although not always in ways boys can see and accept.
I am not sure how deeply Marc is involved with drugs. I was interested to learn that he is no novice. I honestly hope this incident is sufficiently dramatic for him to reconsider what he is doing and to get free of drugs and their social props. If he is able to do this and if he is so inclined, I invite him to come see me in June and to convince me that he should have another shot at Wells. I would gladly be convincedâand will save him a place in his form, at least through June.
Please address correspondence about Marcâs transcripts and records to the attention of Marge Pearse, my secretary.
I am sorry things have taken this turn. May brighter things lie ahead.
Sincerely,
John O. Greeve
12 October
MEMO to Arnold Lieber
Maintenance
Arnold,
Just visited by coaches Shire, Menotti, Griffin, and Deveraux. They say there are no  lines whatsoever on the soccer fields. They also say you wonât speak to them  when they approach you about it. Odd behavior, Arnold.
Lines down today, Â please.
JOG
12 October
MEMO to Florence Armbruster
Mathematics
Dear Florence,
The Student Court has just referred to me a disciplinary decision involving your fourth-form geometry section. I plan to do as you recommend, but I would like you to give some more thought to the idea of âcollectiveâ discipline. Funny things get done and felt when a whole class is uniformly punished for an unadmitted, unassignable offense. The guilty party remains ornery and convinced that justice is blindâand so do the innocent majority. Very often nobody is happier or better off, and the tone of the classroom does not improve.
For now the detentions stand as assigned. Care to confer?
JOG
13 October
The Rev. Clive Clague
Rector, St. Christopherâs Church
Middlebury Center, Connecticut
Dear Mr. Clague,
Many thanks for your extraordinary talk about the meaning of Gothic in the Middle Ages and after. That is not a subject I would have bet would enthusiastically engage the whole school, especially under formers, but how wrong I would have been. I am always delighted when our boys confront a lively intellect and a well-developed esthetic sense in somebody who is not a teacher. In a boyâs mind, teachers are paid to try to be that way. In anyone else the
I agree with you, by the way, that the high school is the best idea. Among other things, he will find himself, I think, a relatively strong student there academically. You may contact my secretary, Marge Pearse, for his transcript.
I wish all of you well, and I hope this is not the last I hear of the Hruskas.
My good wishes,
John O. Greeve
11 October
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Slavin
1300 Chafee Circle
West Hartford, Connecticut
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Slavin,
I am writing to confirm officially what I told you over the phone last night: that I have reluctantly accepted the Student Courtâs and the Faculty Discipline Committeeâs recommendation to ask you to withdraw Marc from Wells immediately.
I know this is devastating news, and it is truly unpleasant news to bear. For what the admission is worth, Marcâs was the only recommendation concerning the five boys involved in this incident that I was seriously tempted to reverse. On his side is his newness to the school, the obvious temptation to play up to big, influential upper formers, and of course his extraordinary intellectual promise. Overriding these considerations, however, is the impact of âpardoningâ him on the eighty-nine other boys in the third form. I donât want to lose any more boys here to drugs. In order not to, I need to create a climate of opinion in which drug use is âdangerous.â We have evolved the drug policy we now have because we have learned, painfully, that the use of psychoactive drugs by adolescent boys is dangerous to development, although not always in ways boys can see and accept.
I am not sure how deeply Marc is involved with drugs. I was interested to learn that he is no novice. I honestly hope this incident is sufficiently dramatic for him to reconsider what he is doing and to get free of drugs and their social props. If he is able to do this and if he is so inclined, I invite him to come see me in June and to convince me that he should have another shot at Wells. I would gladly be convincedâand will save him a place in his form, at least through June.
Please address correspondence about Marcâs transcripts and records to the attention of Marge Pearse, my secretary.
I am sorry things have taken this turn. May brighter things lie ahead.
Sincerely,
John O. Greeve
12 October
MEMO to Arnold Lieber
Maintenance
Arnold,
Just visited by coaches Shire, Menotti, Griffin, and Deveraux. They say there are no  lines whatsoever on the soccer fields. They also say you wonât speak to them  when they approach you about it. Odd behavior, Arnold.
Lines down today, Â please.
JOG
12 October
MEMO to Florence Armbruster
Mathematics
Dear Florence,
The Student Court has just referred to me a disciplinary decision involving your fourth-form geometry section. I plan to do as you recommend, but I would like you to give some more thought to the idea of âcollectiveâ discipline. Funny things get done and felt when a whole class is uniformly punished for an unadmitted, unassignable offense. The guilty party remains ornery and convinced that justice is blindâand so do the innocent majority. Very often nobody is happier or better off, and the tone of the classroom does not improve.
For now the detentions stand as assigned. Care to confer?
JOG
13 October
The Rev. Clive Clague
Rector, St. Christopherâs Church
Middlebury Center, Connecticut
Dear Mr. Clague,
Many thanks for your extraordinary talk about the meaning of Gothic in the Middle Ages and after. That is not a subject I would have bet would enthusiastically engage the whole school, especially under formers, but how wrong I would have been. I am always delighted when our boys confront a lively intellect and a well-developed esthetic sense in somebody who is not a teacher. In a boyâs mind, teachers are paid to try to be that way. In anyone else the
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