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Was there anything in the school rules that prohibited the students from experiencing something in a foreign country that would be illegal in the U.S.? I'm a teacher, and while I've never taken students to a foreign land, I've taken many on other overnight trips. There's nothing I've seen that even alludes to this situation. So, if there's nothing the specifically says "no", then the firing is illegal.
If the students are 18, then that's the age of majority, and if they want to drink wine, it ought to be up to them. Gotta trim those apron strings eventually.
Makes sense, in a French kind of way. While the parents might let the young'uns sip to learn the difference between Pinot Gris and Sylvaner (these things are important), no self-respecting French parent would let their kid imbibe seriously.
Right, and tasting wine is no big deal--and from what I can remember it was excellent wine as well.
My mom drank wine at family dinners a Polish-American girl in Milwaukee in the 1950s and there it was no big deal in her family either at that time.
I have mixed feelings on this one. Drinking wine at that age is legal in France, and it wasn't like they went out and got hammered. In a way, it was a cultural experience which was the point of the trip.
However, the teacher should have advised her headmaster or whatever of her plans. It was smart to get the parents' permission, but if the school ok'd it ahead of time they would not have fired her.
I wonder what the reaction would have been had they stopped at a pot shop during a layover in Amsterdam.
Wow...in NY I hear Children as young as 16,17 can be charge for adult offenses but drinking wine at 18 is considered to be a child.... that can vote?
18 year old people are adults, so if it was legal to drink in France at 18, and the 18 year olds wanted to take this once in a lifetime taste testing of real French wines, what is the problem?
The drinking age in a good part of Europe, including France, is 16, although I hear they're moving it up to 18. We have close family who've lived overseas for decades, so we visit every couple of years. My older teens have occasionally had a glass of wine with dinner there to try it. I've never seen people drinking to get drunk in France--it's about enjoying complex and complementary flavors in food and drink vs. getting hammered.
When I went to school in Italy, I was maybe in first or second grade. Either way, very young. They had 3 drinks of choice in the school cafeteria: water, milk and watered down wine (probably 2-4%).
Legal or not, parental permission or not, the school is still liable for their well-being during school functions and their ass would have been in a major sling if the kids had come into any sort of alcohol-related trouble or injury. Given our propensity to sue at the drop of the hat, I don't blame the school for taking a "no-tolerance" stance on this issue.
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Originally Posted by legalsea
Canada? Mexico? Whatever happened to the good ol' fake id?
They're getting a lot harder to fake and law enforcement is taking underage drinking more seriously -- which is to say, bars are less likely to get a pass for accepting fakes when they know or should know they're fakes.
Was there anything in the school rules that prohibited the students from experiencing something in a foreign country that would be illegal in the U.S.? I'm a teacher, and while I've never taken students to a foreign land, I've taken many on other overnight trips. There's nothing I've seen that even alludes to this situation. So, if there's nothing the specifically says "no", then the firing is illegal.
Seeing that in Mexico it's probably legal to take a 15 year old boy to a "Zona Roja" to have sex with a prostitute, I would have to say I hope to G-d there's something in the school rules that prohibits the students from experiencing something in a foreign country that would be illegal here. In Peru, 13 year olds go to clubs and get hammered.
You have to go by the laws of the United States. To do otherwise would be asinine.
Parents should have the final say, and if no laws were broke and the parents don't have a problem with it, than the school is wrong.
If the students were 18, why should the parents have the final say? If an adult student decides to drink wine in a foreign jurisdiction where drinking wine is allowed to him, it's no one's final say but his.
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