Programs such as D.A.R.E are not effective, because the
information being forced into the minds of children do not match up with their
reality. Children are being told that alcohol kills people, which is true, but
then they go home and watch their parents drink and their older siblings smoke—and
they’re living and well. This depletes the validity of the information that the
Officer is giving, so why not tell the truth?
Police Officers are forced to stay on track of a specific
teaching regiment created by D.A.R.E officials whom the government pays. They
force Police Officers to show kids clips of movies that send the same message
as Reefer Madness. The truth is that
alcohol and marijuana have health benefits, but they shouldn’t be used by
children until they are of age and are able to use them responsibly.
I do not believe programs like D.A.R.E should be
cancelled, but I believe they are sending the wrong message. I believe that the
government is using these programs in order to fulfill their own political
agenda instead of doing what is actually best for our youth. Spending millions
of dollars to spread invalid information is just unethical. We owe it to our youth
to give valid information.
In Clayton Barone's "I D.A.R.E. You to Read This" commentary he talks about a government funded program called "D.A.R.E.." "So why are kids consuming marijuana and alcohol when the government is dumping millions of dollars into programs like D.A.R.E.?" says Barone. He later says that he thinks this program should not be cancelled. The main or one of the main problems of our country is being in debt, if kids aren't understanding these lectures on drugs then why not get rid of them and save some money? Being in elementary school, I do recall the D.A.R.E. lectures we were given but most importantly I remember not understanding them. Children in elementary school are just too young to understand. If the government wants to help children get out of drugs and peer pressure then they should be talking to high schoolers and possibly middle schoolers. Being a teenager is when it's important to teach kids the bigger life lessons because that is when they like to sneak around and keep things from their parents. Of course as people get older they tend to tone others out because as humans we don't like rules and having to be ordered around. Some people do learn best from mistakes and I think thats the important thing. If you thoroughly describe to a person what it is to "get high" I think they feel less pressured to try it because in reality it's what, just ten minutes maybe of pleasure that you might regret later when you can't get the job you wanted? I say, keep the program or don't people are going to make their own decisions no matter what and will learn from their mistakes whether they heard some lecture or they didn't.
ReplyDelete