Most cases of experimentation with drinking, drugs, smoking, sex do not lead to severe consequences. For a lot of people, they lead to growth and better judgem

Most cases of experimentation with drinking, drugs, smoking, sex do not lead to severe consequences. For a lot of people, they lead to growth and better judgement along with some level of understanding the stupidity of their earlier decisions. That is the point of experimentation. To learn. Online posts unfortunately do not disappear. So an 18 year old has to answer for his dumb 16 year old self. This is awful and makes me sad. A wise primary school teacher told me that over his decades of experience he learned that many kids experiment with things that make them feel strong and powerful. He observed that they often had little to no understanding of what they were doing until they were guided. So a child using racist language may not be a racist, as much as he is trying on the power of a racist. It is the power that thrills him. These are children. They can learn. The "racist" ones are exactly the ones that we should reach and teach.