Drug And Alcohol Programs In American School example essay topic

Drug and Alcohol Programs in American School. Are they effective? Drugs and kids, It's a reality that every parent must face. You can not deny it. You can not ignore it. But as parents and other concerned caregivers, you are your children's greatest resource.

Drug and alcohol use is widespread among American children. Despite the fact that it is illegal for virtually all high school students to purchase alcohol beverages, nearly all high school seniors have tried alcohol. The implementation of formal drug policies and programs is absolutely essential for our schools. The overall drug use by American teens is down significantly since 1997. But according to the 2002 partnership Attitude Tracking study, an estimated 23.6 million teens are in grades seven through 12 in America today.

Of them 11.3 million (48 percent of the teen population) have tried illegal drugs, 8.5 millions (37 percent) have used illegal drugs in the past year and 5.4 million (24 percent) -nearly one out of every four teens in the nation have used illegal drugs in the past 30 days. So the question that arises now is what measures should be taken to establish a safe and disciplined school without militarizing the learning environment? Are the drug programs that are offered at school effective? What should be the role of parents in the development of safe and drug free school policies? During the 2000-2001 school year, Times-News correspondent Jessica Ri velli (2002) revealed that the administrators from the North Carolina school caught 70 students in possession of a controlled substance. That was a 40 percent increase from the 42 incidents reported in the 1999-2000 school year.

Nationwide, one in three high school students say students smoke and drink at their school. This statistic is just one of the many reported in a 117-page study", Malignant Neglect: Substance Abuse and America's School", released by the National Center on Addiction and Substances Abuse. Alcohol and drug use take a large toll on children, families, and communities. Although the use of drugs and alcohol by children under the age of 12 has been identified, most prevention programs continue to be focused on middle and high school students (Bush & Iannotti, 1993; Finke & Williams, 1999; long & Book, 1993: Ried, Martinson, and Weaver, 1987; Teens, 1991).

There is mounting evidence that young children must not only cope with peer pressure to use drug and alcohol, but also live within families where there is drug and alcohol use (Bush & Iannotti; Clair & Genes, 1986; Gritchting & Barber, 1989; Needle et al., 1986; Rosa, sandier, Beals, & Short, 1988; Werner, 1985). These children live in fear of those family members who use drugs or alcohol (Finke et al., Finke & Williams). A number of drug education and prevention programs exist but few of these programs have been evaluated for effectiveness. The DARE program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), created by the Los Angeles Police Department in the early 1980's is still taught in a large number of school systems. En nett, Toller, Ring walt, and Flew elling (1994) studied the DARE program effectiveness and found that although the knowledge of the exposed children about drugs was raised, the program did not prevent drug use.

From the curriculum review in education, (April 2003), in Illinois alone, DARE officials say 50 percent of schools in the programs will opt out next year. Recent studies conducted by the General accounting Office and the U.S. surgeon General, among others, concluded that DARE graduates are likely to use drugs as classmates who don't go through the program. Although 25 million kids complete DARE training annually, the U.S. Department of Education no longer considers it to be an effective program. The factor affecting students' in-school substance use was the degree to which students feel alienated from their schools. Educators need to become aware of and respond to disaffected students. Teachers and other school staff should look for warning signs like frequent skipping of class and poor academic performance.

Researchers must also find ways to increase students' attachment to school and their classes. These strategies may include classroom activities that increase student participation, school wide programs that encourage student involvement in extracurricular activities. Another factor that plays an important role in the alcohol or drug use of children is self-esteem. A positive self-esteem has been found to correlate with no alcohol or drug use by school-age children (Di elman, Leech, Loren ger, & Horvath, 1994; long & Bik, 1993; Young, We rch, & Bake ma, 1989). A pattern has been found that children with low self-esteem are more likely to use alcohol or drugs. However there has been some success in the drug and alcohol programs to prevent drug use by children.

Donaldson, Graham, Piccinin, and Hansen (1995) evaluated a resistance skill- training program involving 12,000 children in fifth through eighth grades in a California school system. The program was based on Evans' (1984) theoretical base that a child's decision to use alcohol or drugs depends on the child's ability to resist social pressure. Children whose parents closely supervised their children's play, peers and whereabouts were less likely to use drugs. The other programs like the SAID (student against drunk driving) and mock programs that are offered by many schools, has helped a lot of students. The mock trial program are so realistic, that it helps a student witnessing the drama as to how he / she will end up if they were to take drugs or alcohol. On Thursday May 15th 2003, a mock trial was held at Westford High School.

Many of the students were stunned by the trial and realized what will happen to them if they took alcohol or drugs. And after interviewing a couple of students and teachers, I found that these programs have had a positive impact on students. The drug and alcohol programs offered in our American school are a must to help students know the consequences of taking drugs. As we see that the use of drug and alcohol has been on rise, I wouldn't want to say that these programs are not effective. Yes, these programs will be more effective if they: 1. Include not only drug awareness information, but also resistance skills and self-esteem exercises.

2. Programs should include survival skills for living in a home where parents or siblings use drug or alcohol. 3. Parental monitoring and community participation of children's behavior or some kind of supervision is required.

These programs can only guide us, but the rest lies on the hands of the student, parents and the community. If a student wishes to stop using drugs, he / she with the help of these programs and support from the community will be successful.