Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Drug testing for college athletes
Nature of drug abuse in schools
Drug testing in high school athletes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Drug testing for college athletes
High schools in various school districts have conducted research to try and prove that mandatory drug testing can prevent drug use among student athletes. Mandatory drug testing already occurs at the college and professional level in almost all sports. Drug testing is required at the higher levels because steroids and other drugs are often used to gain a competitive advantage (Bouchard and Sprague 1). To ensure that students remain drug free and improve their performance not only in their sport, but also in the classroom, it is necessary for authorities to perform a mandatory drug test throughout each high school (Issit and Newton 1). Mandatory drug testing started as early as the 1980’s, where it became a regular practice in schools because of the concern of drug use among young people (Lee and Walter 1). However, some believe that drug testing among high school students is unconstitutional and ineffective (Ballaro and Finley 1). Mandatory drug testing often motivates the students to not use drugs; therefore, it should not be considered a “pointless exercise.” So, what is the best solution to ensure that student athletes remain drug free and live a healthy lifestyle? In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that schools are allowed to drug test students as long as it does not affect them academically. More than 1,000 middle and high schools have chosen to require students to have a drug test administered before they are able to participate in after school activities. If a student’s test results come back positive for the use of drugs, the student is usually banned from extracurricular activities until they participate in counseling and follow up tests (Ballaro and Finley 2). This may seem like an effective way to stop student... ... middle of paper ... ... teachers and administrators want to keep the repetition of the education system positive, then they need to be supportive of drug testing. Parents also need to courage their children to stay drug free. It is commonsense to continue a program that is working and can help many students stay drug free (Issitt 4). Works Cited Ballaro, Beverly and Finley, Laura. “Point: Just Say No to Mandatory Drug Testing in Schools.” Points of View: Mandatory Drug Testing (2013):1-8. Bouchard, Erika and Sprague, Nancy. “Drug Testing for Sports: An Overview.” Points of View: Drug Testing for Sport (2013): 1-6. Issit, Micah and Newton, Heather. “Counterpoint: Mandatory Drug Testing Programs Protect Students.” Points of View: Mandatory Drug Testing (2013): 1-7. Lee, M. and Walter, Andrew. “Mandatory Drug Testing: An Overview.” Points of View: Mandatory Drug Testing (2013):1-5.
Between 1985 and 1989 the Vernonia School District began to see a marked increase in disciplinary problems, drug use by students, athletic injuries, use of drugs by athletes and a student body preoccupation with the drug culture. The school district adopted a policy requiring students who participated in interscholastic athletics to sign a consent of both routine and random drug testing.
Marcovitz, Hal. How Serious a Problem Is Drug Use in Sports? San Diego: Reference Point Press, 2013. Print.
In Vernonia v. Acton, the issue in question is the school’s ability to drug test student-athletes. In the mid 80’s, the Vernonia School District noticed an uptick in drug use, and more so from athletes. Furthermore, the football and wrestling coach cited several situations that he felt drug-use was causing the athletes to be unsafe. Thus, the school instituted a mandatory drug test for all student athletes prior to the season, and then weekly random drug testing. If a student-athlete failed a test, they would have the choice of joining a rehab program, or serving a suspension. Suspension from school was never an option, nor were the results reported to authorities. Results were reported to the superintendent, athletic director, and other personnel on a need to know basis only (Vernonia v. Acton, 1995).
In the article, “Random Drug Testing of Athletes”, the author, Darla Tappins, argues that student athletes should not be required to participate in random drug tests. She provides six main reasons in effort to support her claim. These include the unfair stereotyping towards athletes who are no more likely to be involved in drug use than nonathletes, the unreliability and inaccuracy of the drug tests, the high costs of performing such tests, the unnecessary time consumption they require, the uncomfortability of those required to partake in them, as well as the inability of tests to detect steroid use, which is the most common drug exploited by athletes. Overall, the author does an ineffective job of proving her claim and evaluating
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
In many high schools around the country, student athletes are using drugs. “The percent of students that have drunk alcohol is 72.5% while the number of students who have used marijuana is 36.8%” (Report: Nearly Half of High School Students Using Drugs, Alcohol). The students believe that since they are athletes that they do not need to abide by the rules because they feel more superior and that the narcotic will not hurt or affect them. Implementing random drug tests for athletes will create a positive image and not hurt others or themselves. Schools need to have drug tests for student athletes because drugs effect relationships, using drugs have consequences, and lastly they have a major effect on the body.
Mckinney, Joseph R. "The Effectiveness and Legality of Random Student Drug Testing Programs Revisited." RandomStudentDrugTesting.org. 2005. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
The United States government projected $25 million to support schools in school-based drug testing and other drug-free programs. In 2003, many schools across the nation provided their own funding for student drug testing programs. The President wants to increase this program for 2005. He also wants to continue funding for ONDCP. This media campaign sends anti-drug messages to young adults via web sites, functions, and events on drug awareness. This approach will include information for parents and youth to encourage early intervention against drug use in 2005.
What it does is punish and further athletic students by kicking them off sport teams and/or suspending them from school, is the best thing for a kid with potentential drug problems is removed from positive social environments.
Formal athletic students need to be drugged test because,their coaches should know if they are on any type of drugs. The students need healthy bodies not unhealthy ones. It is very important to have a healthy body because if they are working out they could get dehydrated.If that person
" So as a prevention effort, school drug testing is kind of wrong-headed. " Not only does the policy have no effect in deterring the drug use among young people, drug testing is also very expensive, it may steer students away from extracurricular activities, it can result in false positives which would result in the punishment of innocent students, and ultimately it can weaken the delicate trust and relationship between students and teachers. The very first national study conducted on a large scale on student drug testing revealed practically no variance in the rates of the drug usage between schools that have a drug testing policy and the schools that do not. Based on the research done between the years 1998 to 2001 among 76000 students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades, the research established that drug testing did not have an influence on illicit drug usage among students as well as athletes (Yamaguchi)....
High school students are leaders to younger kids and many others in their community. As a leader these student must show others what good character is like, but instead they are destroying their lives by doing drugs. In the past decade the drug use among high school students is on the rise once again. With the internet, their exposure to drugs is much greater. High school students are convinced that they are able to get away with using drugs. These drug addicts soon influence other students into doing the drugs because there isn’t a rule preventing drug use. In order to protect these student’s future, drug tests must be enforced among all students ensuring a safe environment for students to learn successfully. Allowing random drug testing in high schools will shy away students from trying these harmful drugs. The stop of drug use among high school students is crucial because drugs prevents student from learning leading them to dropping out of high school. Students that become overwhelmed by these harmful drugs will ruin their lives forever, but if steered in the right direction they can be saved.
The second reason is to help promote a healthy lifestyle for students. Teachers believe that by engaging students in drug education programs, it can help to benefit the well-being of the students so that healthy lifestyles are reached to the fullest potentials. Lastly, teachers have found it to be important because teachers can act as a partner with parents, guardians, and other members of the community, in order to ensure that students are being provided with accurate and developmentally appropriate drug education. The school can provide knowledge to students in an area that is sometimes difficult for parents, guardians, and the community to talk about. The second step towards the implementation of drug education is for teachers to look at the support that will be given towards the teaching.
Also,this drug testing can only make your school life worse because you have no right to have to take a simple test because they want you to if that was me,I would say no right to their face and walk away because they have no right to make me take a drug test if I know that I don't use drugs and my family does not use drugs. If the teachers drug test us how are we supposed to know if it came back positive or negative but also why would they take a test on it and you know if you are using drugs and if you are then they will find out and they should have the right to take a test if you think that they are using drugs and if you don't think that they are not using drugs then just leave them alone and let them go back to class only pick out the kids that you think are using drugs and test them and see if they are using drugs and if they are then you have the right
Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my audience to support random and mandatory drug testing in schools and to encourage my audience to maintain a drug-free environment in school