You have to be truthful. You have to be honest. The high school students are the majority in our community and in our region. The home environment is just not there. An old teacher said to me years ago, “Joachim, if you're going to get anywhere, you need to do at least one hour of homework at night at home.” He kept saying that. Today, I believe that.
If we can get that kind of situation for a kid who is 17 years old, so he doesn't have to worry about a party or his friends knocking and asking him to go out, I think that would make a big difference.
I did not mention it, but the other thing is that a lot of our communities are still devastated with alcoholism and now drugs are in our community. I've been in leadership and in politics long enough that I am not scared anymore to say that. If I said that in a big community hall next week and there were a few hundred people, and I talked about the drinking and the drugs, people would say, “Why has the chief said that?” Then maybe after next election, I may not be around, but I'm not scared of that kind of stuff anymore.