DR. WALLACE: I'm 19 years old and a college sophomore. I usually read your column after I finish the comics. Today, I found your column even funnier than the comics.

Usually your advice seems to me to be well-reasoned and sometimes wise, but I think you have a tendency to overreact to some situations. Your reply to Madison, the 17-year-old girl who didn't want to go to her high school drama class cast party because the teacher was permitting the use of alcohol, brought a chuckle. You have blown the situation completely out of proportion.

I understand Madison's hesitation to attend a "rowdy" party, and I respect her decision not to drink, but to suggest that the matter should be taken up with the principal and the director be fired is carrying the whole thing too far.

As a drama teacher, he has a closer relationship with his students than most teachers. In order to develop their artistic talents to the fullest degree he must have their friendship as well as their respect. He knows as well as anyone that students will always drink at their cast parties, and if he was to deny that fact, he would lose a great deal of respect from the students.

High school students are frustrated by being treated like children when they feel they are adults. Drama students usually feel especially sensitive to the disrespect most adults throw their way. At least this teacher understands their desire to be given the freedom to make the most basic value judgments on their own, and at least he has the integrity to let them do so.

I know that my high school drama teacher became one of my best friends and most trusted advisers, and remains so today, by fulfilling a similar need in my life. But with our director there was never any question of "letting us drink." He left that decision to us, and gained our trust and love by doing so. He treated us like the adults we were, and did not attempt to force his own values, or anyone else's, on us.

If Madison's drama teacher purchased the alcohol and "encouraged" the drama students to "drink up," then the teacher would have made a mistake, but in this case, all the teacher did was allow the students to bring alcohol to the cast party — that's no big deal. Since Madison chooses not to drink, all she has to say is, "No, thanks," if offered a drink. Instead of saying that the teacher should be fired, you should have said that he should have been praised for "bonding" with his students. — Candi, San Francisco, Calif.

CANDI: We are talking about a public school drama cast party for teenagers. This was not a cast party for professional actors celebrating a great run of the latest Broadway hit.

This very misguided teacher should be dismissed from teaching with his teaching credential revoked for life. Teachers are paid to teach, not pretend to be bartenders. This very misguided teacher should have encouraged students to uphold the law, not break it!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.