How big a deal is vodka in school?

Both local papers decided to run pieces on four girls who were drinking in class. The Star Tribune has a much longer piece. The Pioneer Press, as usual even though it's their territory, is much briefer. TO sum it up, four girls drank vodka out of a water bottle during science class. One of them had trouble walking down stairs and the others refused to wear their safety goggles. I always hated those safety goggles too. WE all wonder, what in the world possessed these girls to get drunk DURING class. Maybe after, maybe even before, but what's the fun during class. But to me this is not really newsworthy. I can think of more than a couple high school classmates who were drunk or stoned at school, I don't think it's particularly admirable but I also think that reporting on it makes it into a bigger, and more shocking, deal than it is. Isn't it in some journalists code of ethics not to pander? It wasn't long ago that 18 year olds could drink legally in Minnesota. Kids are usually dumb, getting the story in the paper seems excessive for something so common and silly seems stupid. It doesn't give insight into any school policies or even any trend among students. All in all I think it's not worth the space that the ST gave to it, maybe the PP length is more legitimate in this case.