And, Melody, it's not just the schools. A friend of mine had a similar experience.

Her husband left home when their son was 14, causing an otherwise gentle boy to rebel. My friend already had her hands full with the situation when at 4:00 one morning she gets a call to come get her son from jail.

He had snuck out of the house after she had fallen asleep. Took her car keys and went joy riding. She had already meted out her own punishment, but felt he should also understand the consequences of breaking the law.

She didn't hire an attorney. Instead went to court and made him plead guilty. When the prosecutor recommended 4 weeks community service, she agreed, because she wanted her son to learn his lesson. In fact she thought that was getting off too easy.

But, the judge told her she was responsible for her son, fined her $500 dollars and let the son off with nothing. What did he learn from that? It was OK for him to break the law, because his mom would have to pay?

That is exactly what he learned. Fortunately, after about a year of rebellion, his gentle nature finally won out. But I wonder how many criminals that judge has turned out, by not teaching children responsibility when they are still young enough to learn it.