Waiting for my daughter at Nanakuli High School

I ran into a colleague outside Nanakuli High School today, as we waited for our kids to finish the ACTs. (Nanakuli is on the island's poor west side.) She told me that the line going in was full of Iolani kids telling each other how many zillion AP classes they'd taken. Then we talked bad messaging after crises at our kids' private school (MidPac). The kid set up for a rape charge; the kid who threatened to shoot up chapel (both of which were probably hoaxes, but.) A third woman chimed in, saying her son's school (Punahou) was even worse. He got terrible grades in math, but at least he has his mental health, unlike the guy who made threats against the school. She was going to make sure he didn't have to take higher level math, because he'd do so poorly at it. I said something to my colleague about the losses of a flip phone, a poet friend and the Kapoho tide pools. "You're a poet?! My older son wanted to be a poet. He said he wanted to major in English and human biology. But I chose for him. It's not as bad as it sounds. He had to major in biology. I did let him get an MA in sociology--good deal for him. He doesn't do much with poetry any more."