It appears the Diamond R-4 Board of Education will enter into a drug testing contract with some company during a special meeting set for 6 p.m. Thursday in the high school hospitality room.
All of the school districts in the area seem to be moving toward this, including the one in which I teach, and it is a mistake. I am already hearing of kids who will not participate in extracurricular activities, either due to fear of taking the drug tests or out of principle. For many of these kids, being involved in an extracurricular activity might have just been the ticket to keep them from staying with the wrong crowd and participating in drug taking and other illegal activity. It might also eventually lead to some of these kids dropping out who would have been saved.
It is a cheap fix and in the long run one that will do more damage than it prevents.
8 comments:
What does “due to fear of taking the drug tests or out of principle” mean?
Why would they be afraid to be tested?
If they object to the "principle" and refuse to participate in extracurricular stuff because of that, then that kid either has a lot of heavy thinking going on or some adult is influencing that kid, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Remember that you are talking about children who are at an age at which many of them are resentful about any intrusion into their lives by authority figures. Maybe calling it principal makes it sound as if it is part of some well thought-out philosophy, but it is simply the way many children react to anything. What has always bothered me though is the attitude people have that if kids are drug-free, they don't have anything to worry about. While that is true, I am sure, that is like saying if you haven't committed any crimes, you should not have problems with the police coming in and going through your house every couple of weeks to make sure you're not up to anything. The Fourth Amendment is one of the things that sets this nation apart from others, and this, no matter how our high courts have ruled, should definitely be considered an illegal search.
How about the administration? Check them all out. If its good for the goose, it cant hurt the gander!
How about the administration? Check them all out. If its good for the goose, it cant hurt the gander!
Only bad parents who view school as a cheap babysitting service would allow their children to be subjected to such harassment! What is next, DNA files on all the students to weed out those kids with 'potential future issues'? I swear, parents just don't care about their kids anymore. How sad!
Jack D., I say only bad parents who are idealist and naive would object to a school drug testing policy. Believe it or not, parents are often in the dark regarding their child's use and abuse of drugs. Wouldn't you want to know?
I think if I was @ least a decent parent I would know if my kid was using or not... And if I opted to have my child tested it surely wouldn't be done by a public school, but administered by me in the privacy of my home or doctors office.
Aw hell, just make manditory testing of the entire population every year a law and lock up anyone who tests positive, from the President on down.
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