LOL Kids ARE a**ho**s! I don't think the parents are at fault in most cases though; I blame it on the animal side of human nature. And I don't think it can be helped, it's just a matter of waiting for kids to grow out of it. All parents can do in the meantime is tell their children why you shouldn't be a bitch, bully, a**ho**… and to be nice, kind, tolerant, open-minded and to restrain from lashing out at anyone or anything you find strange or different (it would be great if more adults took that advice lol). But given the right stimuli, it’s easy to trigger the primal instinct residing within us all. If you push the right buttons, even a docile kitten like me will turn into a ferocious tiger（*ФωФ*)
In children, they go from resembling cute and innocent cherubs seemingly incapable of doing any harm.. to ant-stomping, butterfly wing-tearing little monsters. I admit, I used to be one of them. I don't know how many poor ants I stepped on just for fun... and I didn't even care until I got reprimanded for it. I wonder if bullies ever get that OH-NO-WHAT-HAVE-I-DONEE moment when they grow up.. I know I feel really guilty over the whole ant colony genocide.. ._.
Is common core K-12? I thought it was just an elementary school thing. When you said MLA, a funny image of 3rd graders writing ten page papers popped up in my mind. I came to the US when I was 11, and I don’t remember if we ever used MLA/APA before 9th grade.
It’s pretty clever that your son is taking extra classes now to get the college credits. During my high school senior year, I tried to stuff as many AP classes into my schedule as I could to get a head start (and to save money lol). I still got delayed because I had to take semesters off to address my health, and because universities and colleges make you take all these miscellaneous courses that have nothing to do with your major. They say the purpose is to make you a more knowledgeable and well-rounded person, but it’s also a good way for them to make you stay longer and spend more $$ on tuition xP