On the few occasions someone has inquired if I could do anything different in life, what would it be? I respond the same way.

I’d go back to high school.

I was the quintesential high school clown. I loved forcing classmates to disrupt class with laughter, attach the “kick me” sign on unsuspecting classmates and almost had a chair named for me in the principal’s office. I became the court jester of Peekskill High School.

But if I could do it again — and students I implore you to read and listen — I would do more of just that — listen. I would pay attention, sit in the front of the class and try my best in the difficult classes.

I could have been an A student if only I had tried harder. Teachers love to go the extra mile to find an eager student who is struggling and get them over the hump. In the same way a coach takes a raw talent and molds him into a star, a teacher can perform the same magic with students.

Had I paid attention more in high school instead of filling out college student loan applications, I would have been counting scholarship money. Instead of sweating through the grading of a senior math final exam, I would have been crafting a graduation speech.

But teenagers, by their nature, are stupid. They are immature and participate in dumb acts to get a laugh or two. In two weeks at Vicksburg High, the police have been called three times and more than a dozen students have been arrested. Police even had to use pepper spray to subdue unruly students. Those events make the kick me sign look mighty tame, but the acts are crippling the students.

When I acted up, the teacher simply booted me from class and continued with the lesson. When a brawl erupts in a school hallway, it disrupts an entire day. The school was forced on lockdown as parents waited outside. Some expressed shock, others vowed to remove their kids from VHS.

But this is not solely a VHS problem — and should not be considered a VHS problem. It’s a student problem — and a family problem. I needed a swift kick in the pants and these kids do, too.

To those who want to learn, please keep up the good work and try as best you can to avoid the nonsense that has marred an otherwise great school over the past two weeks.

If you want to be the disrupter, be advised that in the future you will look back on the high school days and say, “If only I had tried harder.”

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Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com