In my high school general science class we had a section on wine making (Rural, Catholic high school, what can I say). We discussed the processes and the reactions and even were allowed to taste the results.
Here's my take on what we learned. If wine is made out of Welch's grape juice and fermented in warm cabinet is what wine tastes like we would stick the beer we were already consuming in large quantities on the weekend. Sometimes the best way to keep kids away from something is to make them taste a really awful example of it.
Issues like this are best taught by parents. An awfully large swath of American parents should not be allowed to teach their kids anything. Sadly, I have no idea how to fix that but a (hopefully) respected authority figure introducing the brewing process is probably a better example of restraint than most kids will get at home. Removing the mystery removes the appeal.
Paul