November 14, 2002
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:D.A.R.E. to be Timid
I am happy to discuss drug and sex-related issues with my oldest son (11). He enjoys a scientific approach to both topics (what happens; why; at what risk), and I like arming him with facts and my own perspective.* What I find difficult is explaining adult hang-ups and silly uber-sensitivity. For instance, the notion that to ridicule something is to somehow condone it or that laughter is somehow an endorsement.
My son is in fifth grade and is therefore subjected to the "D.A.R.E." drug awareness program. I don't know much about the program, frankly, but I know it's controversial in my hometown. On the other hand, how could a drug (or sex)-education not be controversial?
Apparently the kids were asked to do some role play. My son and two classmates were assigned a vignette in which one boy tries to convince another to take drugs. As an inducement, the influencer points to another boy who is already high - played by Dreck Jr. - to point out what a good time he is having. On cue, my son (as he describes it) staggered a little and fell down. The class found this amusing, but not hilarious.
The instructor let him have it. He is forbidden from participating in future role plays and he was disciplined for being "inappropriate". Dreck Jr. is a very sensitive soul. Tears come to his eyes just in the retelling. Subject to verification of my son's version of events, this instructor/police officer may receive a Real-Time FiskingTM.
In the meantime, I have to explain to my son that some adults think that to ridicule is to "make light." I also tell him that perhaps the instructor is just worried about having to defend the goings on in class to some other satire-challenged parent, teacher or education bureaucrat. My boy doesn't understand why adults have such a....stick up their arses and I can't explain it beyond helping him understand that it's reality nonetheless.
It seems that the fear of giving offense when discussing such subjects causes something akin to the committee effect - normally sensible people become consensus-seeking pabulum-spewing morons.
Ridicule is sometimes an optimal tool in argument. Ask any blogger. And one of the problems with intoxication is you look stupid and fall down. As we New Yorkers like to say, "You got a problem with that?"
*Of course, like any kid his age, he would prefer to discuss video games and cartoons, as Steven Den Beste found out.
Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at November 14, 2002 10:11 PM | Technorati inbound linksWell, many studies have shown that the program is completely ineffective, and thus wasteful. It's generally very popular though, especially with the police officers, who enjoy working with the kids.
(Though you may be talking about opposition of a different kind, the kind that just opposes drug talk.)
Posted by: John Thacker on November 14, 2002 11:46 PMAs my brother-in-law says:
"What drinking problem? I drink, I fall down. No problem."
Posted by: markm on November 16, 2002 11:21 AMDear Dreck: Education is a strange thing. Most formal education consists not of what you learn in the books, but of what you learn about people, esp. people in authority. Dreck, Jr. just received a Very Important Lesson in dealing with authority. He should be in fine shape by the time he is eighteen, at which time I expect we will have reinstituted the draft, and not a moment too soon.
Posted by: Diana on November 16, 2002 01:03 PMMy son is now in the sixth grade, and had some similar problem with DARE. I did a little research and found out that the program is permissive i.e. they must seek out parental permission, by law. They did not at his school and, I gather, rarely ask for this legally mandated permission. I went to the school and presented them with a letter revoking "any implied permission" for his participation in the DARE program.
The result has been entirely positive. When the DARE officer came to his class, he was released to the library, and was able to do his homework. His classmates were jealous, as I was able to hear on one occasion. And the experience made him proud of his dad, which any parent of a pre-teen can use a little of.
My own objection and fear about the DARE program is the lies that the police spread regarding drug use. The children were told that ALL drugs are bad, and are not medicines, which are good. Not explained, and left for the impressionable young to find out for themselves, is that this is a bald lie. Medicine would be in the stone age if not for Morphine, and my State (Washington) is one that has made Marijuana legal as a medicine. Some kids in the class take Amphetamines for certain learning disorders and discipline problems, etc.
When will the Drug Warriors realize that lies just don't cut it in the real world. I will bet anything that my son will be better prepared to deal with the realities of drugs than any kid whose parents allow the schools to render instruction on this very important subject in an untruthful, immoral way. My son's teacher explianed to me that she considered my wife and me to be her "partners" in the raising of my child! It is frightening to think that there may well be parents who have turned the raising of their children over to the Secular Humanist teachers, and also to Police who are not trained or credentialed to teach children.
Posted by: Michael Gersh on November 20, 2002 11:32 AMComments are Closed.