I guess that a milestone has just occurred. My youngest has graduated high school. I experienced an eerie familiarity, an odd sense of deja vu, that hit me during the ceremonies.

There was the "kiss-ass" Valedictorian address, that sounded like it was written by the principal and his PR flack. There was the announcement by the administration to "Hold all applause until the end," which was violated when the very first graduate's name was called. And, who could forget the over-exuberant cheering connected with certain graduates--especially for the one whom nobody thought would make it??

As usual, the battle lines were clearly drawn between the kids who totally bought into the program, and those who couldn't wait to leave.

It's a little frightening how nothing has changed from the days that I graduated.

But beyond that, there is always the question as to how some of those sweet 5-year-olds become rotten teen-agers, or even miserable adults. The usual answer is "peer pressure." OK. I'll accept that. What can we do about it?

If kids growing up are so susceptible to peer pressure, how do we instill positive concepts, instead of the bad stuff? Why not identify those "leader type" kids, and fill them full of a positive agenda?

This will get us into the area of media responsibility, which is another huge issue. If the popular media is going to make billions of dollars anyway, what would be wrong with doing good some of the time? One clever answer is that the people in charge have already been ruined by the effects of peer pressure on them.

Isn't it funny how any time you try to solve a big problem of society, you begin to realize that it can't be done? More on this in future columns.