STUDENT VOICES

Grades 7-8

First Place: Random Testing Inefficient

When a magician sets up three cups, he'll ask you which one has a
ball underneath. Your chance of finding the ball is pretty fair. But
what if next time, the magician sets up 1,000 cups and asks you to
find the ball? It would be next to impossible to guess where the ball was.

In the same way, high schools would have a hard time finding people
who have used drugs. It becomes a wild goose chase when you don't
have anything to help target them. There should be no random tests
for drugs in high schools since they are inefficient, an invasion of
privacy and unnecessary when teachers could learn to detect drug use.

Don't get me wrong. The law against drug possession and use should be
enforced to ensure the safety of students. However, how effective
will random screenings be for a large high school? Maybe students
will be less tempted to drink alcohol or smoke tobacco, but at least
someone out there will and might still get away with it, so
randomizing drug tests won't prove effective. It would also be
impossible to screen every student and would cost schools money for
testing. Teachers lose time for instruction as well when students
leave the classroom.

Picturing myself in high school, I can imagine what my turn to be
tested would be like. Even if I hadn't taken any drugs, the urine
test would invade my privacy. A day with a drug test wouldn't be a
fun one. Whether or not the students had any drugs in their system,
they'd still be nervous and uncomfortable. There is a better way to
detect drug usage in students that would save money, relative privacy and time.

Teachers are perfect for tracking down students using drugs. They are
with them all day, so if teachers knew how to identify signs of drug
use, more students would be watched and found out without using up
extra time or money.

Linda Qiu

Eighth Grade

Second Place: A Response To Lawbreaking

Innocent people should have nothing to hide. That is the only
statement that matters in the issue of conducting random tests for
alcohol and other drugs in schools. Taking a drug test is not an
issue of privacy but an issue of breaking the law. The only reason
these students would want their right to privacy is if they had
something to hide from their school, their parents and the law. This
is why schools should conduct random tests for alcohol and other drugs.

The law means nothing in this country if it cannot be enforced. The
schools can do something to enforce the laws against illegal drugs
and under-aged drinking. By conducting random tests, schools will be
able to punish students for breaking the law and show others the
consequences. The number of kids using drugs and drinking will go down.

As for the students who argue against it, the assumption can only be
made that they are the students taking the drugs and do not want to
be caught. If one has nothing to hide, one should have no problem in
complying with a simple test to prove himself innocent.

Random drug tests, some may say, are unethical, violating the rights
of students. However, the schools are not doing so. All they ask is a
simple drug test. They do not go to search students' homes, or
wiretap the phones, or interrogate. All those would be unethical,
which is why schools don't do them. The goal here is to enforce the
law and send this message: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Katherine Ripley

Eighth Grade

Third Place: Keeping A Secret Delays Help

Have you ever had a secret that you felt the only person you could
tell was your friend? You keep it secret from your parents and
teachers, and your friend does the same. But you realize that keeping
it a secret from the people who really care isn't helping. You know
that you need to tell, but you don't feel gutsy enough to do it.

That's probably what it feels like for most teens taking drugs and
alcohol. No teen wants to tell a parent or teacher about it. Some
teens hardly tell their parents anything. To just tell a teacher or
parent out of the blue that you've been drinking or smoking isn't easy.

That's where testing in schools comes in. Most teens are usually very
secretive. They don't expect adults to find anything out. But if
schools were able to conduct alcohol and drug tests, they might be
able to catch unsuspecting students in the act. Those students will
be able to meet and talk with parents and counselors about drugs.
They will start to become more open toward adults. They will realize
what they did was wrong, and they will probably never do it again.

Things like that can change students' lives. They will realize, after
they stop drinking or smoking, who their real friends are. They will
start to do better in school and in after-school activities. Instead
of being a closed book, they will be open to parents, teachers and friends.

There's no doubt that high schools should conduct random tests for
alcohol and other drugs. If students are caught taking drugs or
drinking, it will make their lives take a turn for the better.

Patrick Carnevale

Seventh Grade

Grades 9-12

First Place: A Lucky Draw On Drug Test

Round and round the wheel goes, who will get picked nobody knows. Our
first contestant will be the valedictorian of our school. Like every
other test she takes, I'm sure she'll pass this one, too. Next, we
have the average student, whose fate we will soon find out. And last
on our show today will be the "druggie" who is just glad to get out
of class. Welcome to the Random Drug Testing Show.

Random drug testing takes away our rights as American citizens. The
Fourth Amendment states "the right of people against unreasonable
searches and seizures shall not be violated." Random drug testing
violates this right.

Besides taking away our civil rights, drug testing is costly. The
Dublin Board of Education in Ohio spent $70,000 to test 1,473
students over two years, with only 20 positive results. Public
schools could find better uses for this money.

Are drug tests really effective? Students have come up with a variety
of ways to pass drug tests. According to students at Rushville High
School in Indiana, putting salt or a strand of hair with hair spray
in your urine sample will make you come out clean. Barely anyone is
ever caught there. Random drug testing just promotes the use of
different and even more dangerous drugs. Instead of smoking
marijuana, which can stay in your body up to 30 days, students will
drink alcohol and take Ecstasy, which stays in your body for only a few hours.

To the most prevalent users of drugs, is a random test a deterrent?
Those students who use drugs frequently are less likely to give up
just because of the chance of being found out.

To conclude our show, let's spin the wheel. The druggie wins the
spin. Since he never thought he would win, this did not deter him
from the use of alcohol and Ecstasy this past weekend. However, he
was lucky with his choice of drugs. They have left his system. Did we
just prove that he was not a druggie, or did we just fail to confirm
what was already known or suspected? Now he's in the clear for he
won't be tested again for a long time. Let's look for a better way.

Colleen Clare

11TH Grade

Second Place: Random Testing Can Be Lifesaver

The crackdown on illegal drugs and underage drinking in high schools
involves testing students in school, randomly, for any traces of
drugs and/or alcohol. Do school administrations have the right to
test students randomly? They do, and they should, because random
testing protects the safety of students, enforces the law and is a
practical course of action to reduce use of drugs and alcohol.

Possibly the most important reason is the safety of students. Drugs
and alcohol pose a threat to the lives of students who use them, as
well as others around them. These substances not only lead to serious
health problems but also to death. By testing and informing students,
maybe a life can be saved.

In 2002, the Supreme Court declared random drug testing
constitutional. It is the obligation of high schools to protect and
enforce the law. Schools can't afford to be a "safe haven" for
illegal substances, and they can't impose an "if we don't know, it
didn't happen" attitude. High schools have to send a clear message:
They will not tolerate their students doing anything illegal.

Random testing is a practical way to reduce the use of drugs and
underage drinking among students. Students have nothing to fear if
they are not using drugs or alcohol.

If we, as a society, want to stop drug and alcohol use among
teenagers, considering the safety of students, the law, and the goal
of reducing substance use, there is no controversy. High schools
should conduct random tests. If not, drugs and underage alcohol use
might as well be legal.

Christopher Finan

10TH Grade

Third Place: It Isn't Fair To Be Singled Out

Iam sitting here trying to imagine that I am a student who smokes
marijuana on occasion. On a Monday morning, I am being pulled out of
class to participate in random drug testing. I am especially nervous
remembering Saturday night, when I happened to smoke with a few friends.

I sit in the bathroom in the nurse's office and stare nervously at
the cup into which I now must urinate. Why is my privacy being
invaded? I wasn't on school grounds. I am not a bad kid, but everyone
will believe differently after this cup enlightens them of my actions.

I am now ashamed of myself. I can't look my parents or teachers in
the eye. All they see in me is a pothead and a disappointment. My
parents don't trust me, and the news of my having tested positive has
spread throughout the school, causing students I don't even know to
whisper and giggle as I pass them in the hallway. I know they have
done it, too, and have just not been caught. It isn't fair that I
have been singled out. Every day, all I do now is go to the school
and come home. I take part in no extracurricular activities and am
prohibited from leaving my house on the weekends.

I am not directly affected by this issue. But I still see the wrong
in random drug testing in schools. It will strip students of their
dignity. It exhibits the school's desire to control what you do, even
when you are not on school grounds, leaving no freedom. Random drug
testing in schools would be embarrassing to drug users and non-drug
users alike.

Danielle Pacelli

12TH Grade