Crime but Not Punishment Meagan Anderson With Henry David Thoreau on the table in front of him, Max

Lasser* hunches over an essay. Only thirty minutes are left in the school day, but study hall is no time for goofing off. Lasser is in the middle of contemplating a thesis when a text message blips across the screen of his BlackBerry: Yo, Max, can you sell me a dub sack? Ill go downstairs, sell the weed, come back and finish the essay, he says to himself. True to his word, he receives the essay back three days later with a big red A at the top. Lasser, a junior at Atherton High School, first fell into the marijuana business as a freshman. His motivation? Saving money. I started smoking, and then I took a look at it and saw that I could buy the stuff in bulk, sell half, smoke the other, and not lose any money, he said. After overestimating his profit margins and slipping up a few times, Lasser fell into a routine that would not hurt the rest of his life. I dont want my grades to drop, so I keep that in mind...I try to separate my two lives as much as possible. A schedule packed with AP English, AP US History, IB Biology, IB Precalculus, and IB Spanish during the week gives way to an irony-drenched weekend characterized by the things other grade-conscious students whisper about. Last weekend, I woke up at a party and my friend drove me to my Eagle Scout project. We stopped on the way to do a deal and smoke a bowl...afterwards I babysat for my grandmother, then smoked with my friends. I spent the next day doing homework and it was back to school. That routine is pretty typical. Aside from occasionally dealing during the week, Lasser claims to stick to it and usually go straight from school to schoolwork. Chances are, any deviation from his schedule on a trip to the opposite side of town would involve Lasser in less-than-legal dealings. On a sunny day in late October, his errands were peculiar: shallots, baby wipes, a tank of gas for his mothers unassuming Volvo station wagon, and stories of his other deviations. During his sophomore year, Lasser was written up for smoking marijuana in the bathroom at school, much to his shame. My heart started pounding and my cheeks burned. For a second I tried to tell myself, Aw, dawg! This is Atherton! Everybody smokes! But it only took me a minute to realize that wasnt the reality of it, Lasser said, honking at a minivan for cutting him off. I was brought into a class of my peers, the whispers started, and within a couple days, everybody knew. Thats the kid who got caught smoking in school. There was no way to get around it. Lasser suffered a six-day suspension from school and his parents enforced a driving restriction, but the incident did little to inspire a lifestyle change. My

parents drug-tested me and somehow I passed. The following weekend, I got high again. A review of JCPS records revealed that the correlation between crime and test scores is relatively strong: the more drug violations occurring at a school, the lower the average ACT composite and CATS scores. The exception is Atherton, with 46 violent crimes and 37 drug violations in the last year and the third-highest average ACT composite in the county. Those numbers cant possibly be correct, said Andrew Walker*, a student at Atherton. So much bad stuff goes unreported. In reality, I am the one in ten kids at my school who doesnt spend the weekend [intoxicated.] I know kids who cut class to smoke...they just happen to not be part of the 37. So why do students such as Lasser - who has a 4.5 GPA and exceptional test scores - thrive despite the circumstances? James Henry*, a longtime friend of Lasser, suggested that the schools atmosphere was indicative. Max got [below average] grades all throughout middle school, but as soon as he got to Atherton he realized, Wow, this is way harder than Highland, said Henry. Since then hes been a straight A student...he didnt want to be another stupid stoner. Henry said that most people at the school have the idea that others are involved in hobbies like Lassers and view them as lazy and inattentive, but Max is too smart to let [that image] get in the way. Lasser concurred. I look at it and its not so bad, he said upon returning from the gas pump, fiddling with the snap on his wallet. I get a social life, I can keep good grades, and provided I dont get caught, I have a relatively promising future. Lasser plans to enter the Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School (G.E.M.S.) program at the University of Louisville, as long as his record remains untarnished. When you get caught up in shady stuff, it can get really shady really fast, and I try to steer myself away from that. After he got caught, Lasser called U of L to inquire about his violation. They told me it wouldnt affect my acceptance, that it was just like getting a detention or something...Im lucky that I can get away with it, especially because I dont want something I did for fun as a teenager to screw up the rest of my life. *names changed by request