TEACHERS SUPPORT DARE

Editor: This letter is in response to a letter to the editor in the Oct. 2
Dispatch. The letter displayed the opinion of someone that openly disliked
the DARE program in the classrooms of today.

As educators, we have a different opinion. DARE stands for Drug Abuse
Resistance Education. Yes, the program does teach our fifth-graders about
the various types of drugs out there. However, along with that information,
they are given facts about the drugs that may harm your body and mind.

The students learn how to be assertive, stand up for their beliefs without
infringing on the beliefs of others as well as maintaining self-esteem
throughout these turbulent years of their lives. Children will be
negatively faced with drugs at some point in their lives. DARE simply
prepares them for that moment in the future in a positive fashion.

The DARE instructor only takes one day per week (approximately one hour per
class) for one semester. As a culmination, all students who pass the course
get to participate in a DARE graduation. Being able to walk across a stage
and shake hands with adults is within itself a huge accomplishment that
boosts the self-esteem of many children. Considering all the benefits of
the program, one hour a week seems like nothing in the big picture.

Life today is very different than it was even 10 years ago. Children face
many pressures today that were nonexistent in the past. Drugs, violence and
sex are only the tip of the iceberg.

It is in fact the job of parents to talk to their own children about the
various pressures they may face throughout their teen years and beyond.
Sadly however, many parents never have that talk. What happens to those
children who never learn about the negative consequences of their choices?

Tanya E. McCarn

Tanya Frady

Janet Sanders

Lyndi Croft

Fifth Grade Teachers

Denton Elementary School