Drug Education

Drug Education

(1) There is much controversy regarding the war on drugs in America today. It has become a growing concern for parents, educators, politicians, etc. There is no question that education can play a major role in decreasing the drug problem. But there is some disagreement over whether schools or parents are more effective in steering children away from drugs.

(2) Some experts believe the schools’ anti-drug programs are effective. Two popular programs are Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Dare), and the School Program to Educate and Control Drug Abuse (SPECA). The project Dare and SPECA programs use uniformed police officers to inform students in 5th, 6th and 7th grade about the risks of drugs, and how to avoid negative peer pressure (DeJong 109). William DeJong ,who is an analyst for the Education Development Center, has prepared this study for the National Institute of Justice (Bernards 108).

(3) DeJong based his studies on surveys conducted by Evaluation and Training Institute in Los Angeles. He found that students who participated in the Dare programs had improved knowledge, attitudes and self-esteem as compared to students who did not participate in the program. DeJong also conducted a study for the National Institute of Justice, which compared the effectiveness of the Dare drug program to a control group of students that did not participate in the drug program. The study followed students from sixth grade to seventh grade .He reports that students who participated in the Dare programs reported significantly lower incidences of drug use. Students also stated that they would refuse drugs using the strategies learned from the anti-drug programs. The Criminal Justice Center of the John Jay Co...

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...s to me that if we could resolve the issue, we would have more agreement about -- and be more effective at -- directing limited financial resources: Should the government's money (i.e.,our money) be used to fund school programs, or to educate and help parents? Resolution might also either absolve schools of the responsibility, thereby placing more social pressure on parents to handle their children, or absolve the parents. This information could have been presented in the introductory paragraph, in a background paragraph right after the introduction, or in the conclusion. Here again, however, I need to take into consideration the circumstances of the assignment. Ms. Yoder did not choose to read or write about the drug war-- that was part of the assignment. She may not be particularly interested in the topic. That circumstance changes, of course, in Major Paper # 5.