We asked members of our Teen Editorial Board if students' behavior off campus reflects on their schools. These are their responses.

To apply to join the 2008-09 teen board, e-mail our editorial page assistant, Stacy Berry at sberry@honoluluadvertiser.com.

STUDENTS MUST DO RIGHT THING ON OR OFF CAMPUS

When individuals participate in negative, inappropriate behavior, not only do they shame themselves and their families, but, in the process, they shame their schools as well.

Many may believe that an individual's social and school lives have nothing in common. However, disrespectful actions of students while off campus can reflect on their schools.

Students spend about half their day at home and half at school, which means the inconsiderate behavior they may take part in, although it should reflect on their character, can be a reflection on their school as well.

The fact that what we do while we are off campus will reflect on our school certainly has its drawbacks. Many times there are students who act without thinking. The impulsiveness of their behavior gives not only their families a bad name, but their schools as well.

However, this may be considered a good thing to some people. If students are aware that their actions affect other people, they may think twice about what they're about to do and decide to do the right thing.

It's important to not only take pride in our school, but also to respect the place that is educating us. As students, we have a responsibility to do the right thing in all situations, in or out of school. If we decide to neglect that responsibility, we will end up shaming people unintentionally in the long run.

Megan Kakimoto | Kamehameha Schools, Grade 9

STUDENTS MUST BEAR FULL WEIGHT OF ACTIONS

Schools can regulate what happens on their campuses during school hours, but what students do on their own time is out of their control. Although schools want to influence morals and character, they should not be held responsible for students' actions outside of school.

Schools can only impact students to a certain degree. Schools try to promote good behavior through character education from a young age, as do most parents. However, when kids become teenagers, they are responsible for themselves as they make independent choices. Past this point, the most schools and parents can do is expose their sons and daughters to positive influences and create solid guidelines that do as much as possible to keep teens honest and well behaved.

Therefore, when teens make the wrong choices, the troublesome, impulsive actions of a few should not be laid upon the larger student population and their schools. Students who bend or break rules must accept the resulting consequences because they can think for themselves. It is not the school that should be called into question, but instead the character of the students themselves.

When students, especially those in high school, disturb the larger community, people should not turn to schools for answers and apologies.

Older students should be expected to think for themselves and bear the full weight of their actions.

If schools are blamed for students' negative actions, students will never mature and learn how to participate responsibly in the larger community.

Caitlin Mori | Sacred Hearts, Grade 10

DON'T BLAME SCHOOLS FOR RECKLESS BEHAVIOR

It is clear that schools have a major impact on their students and are influential forces.

The academic achievements of students should definitely be partially ascribed to the students' schools.

A school's curriculum and teaching styles affect students' performance on standardized tests or other academic accomplishments.

However, schools should not have to take responsibility for the reckless behavior of their students outside of school.

Schools do attempt to impose moral values upon their students, but they cannot affect their students' actions outside of the classroom.

Schools are too often blamed with having somewhat promoted the improper behavior of their students off school grounds. This is simply an excuse for the students who have behaved recklessly.

Schools are scapegoats, and the people at fault for such wrongdoing are the students themselves.

These students' innate personalities and reckless judgments, which can sometimes lead to serious accidents, do not and should not reflect upon the reputations of their schools.

When a person commits a wrong, that person is at fault for his or her actions. It is unjust to try to find another person, a group of people, or an institution to blame for the faults of another.

Yuki Bailey | Punahou School, Grade 11

STUDENTS' SCHOOLS CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE

Every so often, news stories appear describing incredible student activities or achievements in the Hawai'i community.

In many stories, the student's name is linked to other information associated with the student — age, geographic district or school.

In some cases, reported student activities and accomplishments lift the reputation of an institution or a district, even if it has not directly and significantly contributed to such achievement. Alternatively, any crime or act of folly committed by a student can tarnish the image of his or her school.

The egg-throwing incident that ended with a high-speed chase in Lanikai in March is a good example of the latter. After the youngsters were identified as students of Saint Louis, some people began pointing condemning fingers to the all-boys school. The media also played up the situation. Although we can assume that schools are training grounds for good discipline, schools — including Saint Louis — cannot always be held responsible for their students' misbehavior off-campus and outside school time.

In addition, treatment of incidents like this have been partial. The parties involved in the egg-throwing incident are associated with big names — a private school and a former Bishop Estate trustee. Worse incidents of vandalism and violence occur in many "poorer" districts of the island, but many of them go unreported.

Christianne P. Liongson | Maryknoll High School, Grade 12

SCHOOLS CAN EMPHASIZE CHARACTER EDUCATION

No man can claim to be an island. Every action we take — good or bad — reflects on someone else. The decisions of an individual can touch his family, his workplace, his community and, yes, his school.

When minors commit wrongs, schools are stricken with bad press by simple affiliation. Take the actions of the egg-throwing Saint Louis students, for instance.

Saint Louis is a respectable school in many rights, but because of the foolishness of a few, the reputation of the entire school has been tarnished.

Is it a school's fault when their students go awry? When such incidents happen outside of the boundaries of the classroom, it is unreasonable to expect the school to take responsibility. It simply isn't fair to hold them accountable for things outside of their control.

There is no real solution to this problem of perception. The best thing that schools can do to combat it is to continue to promote the achievements of their students and to more effectively implement character education into their curriculums.

Many schools are already going beyond their basic task of instructing students in academics and are beginning to strongly push for strong development of moral fiber.

If schools can illustrate their commitment to guiding their students along the right path, then there will be no question later that the actions of the individual do not necessarily reflect the integrity of the whole.

Paige Takeya | Mililani High School, Grade 12

SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT GET INVOLVED IN MISTAKES

"Boys will be boys, right?" I can't tell you how many times I've heard that saying since I have more than a handful of brothers.

That saying would excuse them from just about anything. I would wonder why there wasn't a saying, "Girls will be girls." That way I could get away with just about anything. After getting past that, I came to realize that boys and girls alike make a full share of mistakes that aren't as easily excusable. Sometimes all it takes is an apology to clear up things, and other times a person is required to take full responsibility for their actions and to live with the consequences.

The mistakes you make outside of school shouldn't necessarily reflect on your school.

Giving an apology, accepting the consequences and learning from mistakes should be enough to make up for students' actions. There should be no need for the school to get involved.

Marcela Gamboa | Kalani High School, Grade 11