Ruining one's life is the choice of the individual. I have four sons, two of which attend Ashley, two are grown ups. Strange, my kids and their friends took this quite seriously. None of them wanted to show up for school on Friday (please spare me the "they're teenagers looking for an excuse to skip" - my son's NEVER ask to stay home from school).
"Ruin his life"??? My eldest son went to jail for minor charges and HIS life is far from "ruined". My second son - after Columbine - made a comment to a teacher about "blowing up the school", got suspended AND made up all his work. Hmmm, didn't "ruin his life" either! What I didn't do? Was make the mistake of treating their absolutely stupid choices like "dumb mistakes".
A "dumb mistake"?? In this day and age, a dumb mistake is forgetting your lunch. Threatening to shoot people is FAR from a "dumb mistake".