Why didn't Kavanaughs' parents & GeorgetownPrep notice his problems?

[irisblue]

If this has been discussed I missed it. With the amounts of alcohol/beer consumed by Kavanaugh, how did his parents and the prep school teachers & staff not see this? I've seen many comments about DrFords' family not knowing, but nothing about Kavanaugh.

[MineralMan]

1. Parenting in Absentia.

It's really common among the moneyed. First, the nanny handles the job. Then, the schools are supposed to. The parents are busy, see. It's not really their job. They hire people to do that. They pay lots of money to send their kids to exclusive private schools.

There's your answer.

[DBoon]

4. Social infractions that are a serious problem for most of us

Don't really hurt the life prospects of the very wealthy.

The consequences are less, so adults don't care as much.

Also, since the parents have "hired" the caretakers, if the caretakers upset the parents it is at the risk of their jobs. The affluent believe hired help should serve them and that the help not challenge their authority, such as by suggesting their child is a violent drunk with additional serious psychological problems.

[mythology]

2. Why do any parents miss something going wrong with their kid?

Why do friends and family not notice people who are about to commit suicide or murder?

[HipChick]

3. It's not that uncommon..amongst that set..

might been seen as a rite of passage, rather than a problem

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. They don't look.

And they think any problem is minor and the boys will grow out of it.
The school turns a blind eye.

[MaryMagdaline]

6. What makes you think they didn't notice?

Too painful to deal with. If that had a drunken son at 17, they probably knew they had lost.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Whose to say that they may not have been, ahem, wild in their youth too?

Members of the social elite get away with a lot and still can do well in life. They may not have known some of the more horrifying details, but he did well in school, so where's the problem?

Of course this is all speculation since I personally know nothing about his folks

[OnDoutside]

8. I'd say they knew what he was like very well, but made excuses for him all his life.

[irisblue]

9. Jesuits ran this boarding school.

How did they not see? The statements from GP at their site are pretty bland

[pnwmom]

17. ALL the DC area schools had this problem, so they were all blind to it. n/t

[Johonny]

10. How come every parent from the 80s missed this

You know who didn't miss this. Every kid that grew up in the 80's. It's not like Brett's experience is so unusual for America circa 1980. Indeed, watch an 80's movie. Heavy drinking was considered a right of passage back then. It was expected to happen and thus, it happened.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Problems? The guy's some kind of genius!

He made it through college and law school, then passed the bar, all while partying and drinking as much as possible.

I couldn't do it. Hat's off to Rapey Brett.

[customerserviceguy]

12. You also have the problem

of kids in those days being better able to conceal bad behavior from their parents and school officials. You didn't have Facebook, etc. in those days to post about the stupid things you were doing.

And, the eighteen year drinking age made it a lot easier for high school kids to get alcoholic beverages. The oldest seniors could easily do the purchasing with money from underclassmen.

[SharonAnn]

13. And possibly the parents were alcoholic? Not uncommon in that set.

[DesertRat]

14. I'm wondering how these underaged kids had access to so much alcohol

[irisblue]

15. Drinking age got dropped in many states after the 26th Amendment in 1971

26th dropped voting age to 18 from 21. Source::Amendment XXVI Right to Vote at Age 18. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age

Amendment XXVI - The United States Constitution

The VN war was in full poisoned flower, you're old enough to go to war, you damn well can have a beer. Drinking ages dropped, as the 70s&80s passed, the drunk driving deaths & arrests in the 18-21 yr old group rose. Eventually the drinking age increased again. I was running a party store in the late70s-early 80s, it was really really easy to get beer. Older brothers ID, getting a state IDs with a false DOB in Michigan wasn't that hard ( don't ask) I understand how ##getting## the liquor was not hard.

[athena]

16. It's called "privilege".

Drinking to excess, bullying, and sexually assaulting young women are not "problems" when you're a member of the aristocracy. You can't say they were wrong. Look how far their son has gotten!

[malaise]

18. His mother knows the truth

She may pretend otherwise but she knows

[pnwmom]

19. This was the culture in ALL of the DC area private schools at the time. BK didn't stand out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/02/04/area-headmasters-warn-parents-of-student-parties/06927fdb-a9fb-4a1c-89bb-8b004e21825e/?utm_term=.8e0b4ec315bc

By Carlos Sanchez February 4, 1990

The headmasters at seven of the Washington area's most prestigious private schools have written a letter to the parents of all students warning them that students are regularly throwing large, unsupervised parties where "excessive drinking and sexual license are common."

In what the headmasters called a rare joint effort, the letters, which were mailed Thursday, asked parents to step up supervision of their children to prevent them from attending or throwing weekend parties that are open to almost anyone and where alcohol is easily available.

The letter was written jointly "to give it more impact," said Malcolm Coates, headmaster at Landon School in Bethesda. "The fact that seven schools decided it was enough of a problem to address it is significant."

Individual schools have confronted the issue before. At the beginning of the school year, for example, Georgetown Preparatory School in Rockville held a conference with parents to discuss the problem of unsupervised parties and similar activities.

SNIP

[RockaFowler]

20. He was always in trouble according to that stupid calendar of his

He was Grounded multiple times in the Summer.
They knew.

[Solly Mack]

21. Entitled assholes are generally raised by other entitled assholes.

Also, of course K'naugh knew to put on a front for his parents. He was all manners to the adults around him. Some parents feel their socially advantaged child couldn't possibly be up to no good because only poor kids do that sort of thing. Firmly believe that the ills of society - of which their sons raping girls falls under - happens not in their social circle but, again, with poor kids.

Also believe you can't rape someone in a lower social class because, obviously (to them) - she/he - the victim - was either asking for it, expecting a payday, or simply don't matter as a person.

Had one such entitled asshole tell me that incest only happens to poor people. He was another believer in the ills of society only impacting the lower classes. This asshole is the product of old money, old name in one state marrying into another old money, old name family in another state. Buildings and museums named after both sides in both states.

As a white, well connected male, he believes he has the right to rule, to control, and to lord it over.

If his daughters were to be raped, he'd first consider who did the raping to determine how to act. I'm serious - it would depend on where the guilty came from for him. What social class and how connected they were - wouldn't want to make a scene and all that. Not that his daughters would ever be raped - to his mind - they come from a good family and those things simply don't happen to good girls from good families.

If his sons were to rape someone - it would be an all out attack on the victim.