High School Confidential

• High School Confidential: Secrets of an Undercover Student - Jeremy Iversen

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Jeremy Iversen goes undercover as a high school senior in Emerald Valley, California. While he's there, he witnesses the parties, drugs and alcohol, how students reacted to WASC, the drama that seems so important in their daily lives, suicidal thoughts, as well as how students dealt with the death of one of their own.

For those of you that grew up in the "party" crowds some of the material in this book may not seem as shocking as it was for me. While I always knew there for some kids doing drugs, and a few kids drinking, I never realized that such a large quantity of students participate in the use of drugs and/or alcohol at some point during high school. I won't even begin to explained how shocked I was that sex played as big of a role as it does. I think that anyone who teaches or has kids of their own should read this book. It's easy to believe that your kid isn't like everyone elses and you don't want to fall into that.

The book also shows the incompetancy of some of the teachers in our system and the problems with teachers acting like mature adults and not try to be their best friends, as well as teachers that need to learn to keep their hands off of their students and not sexually harass them. I can't belive some of the things that these teachers said to their students.