WHY CLING TO FAILED

I am appalled at the efforts of a handful of teachers politicking to
override the decisions of the Onondaga County Legislature regarding Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

Einstein defined "insanity" as doing the same thing over and over and
expecting a different result. Some teachers exemplify that definition. Not
only are they going against the wishes of government, but also they are
going against the national norm.

In a recent six-year study by Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, a professor at the
University of Illinois at Chicago, he surveyed 1,798 students and found
that "D.A.R.E. had no long-term effects on a wide range of drug-use
measures"; D.A.R.E. does not "prevent drug use at the stage in adolescent
development when drugs become available and are widely used, namely during
the high school years"; and that D.A.R.E. may actually be
counterproductive. According to the study, "there is some evidence of a
boomerang effect among suburban kids. That is, suburban students who were
D.A.R.E. graduates scored higher than suburban students in the control
group on all four major drug-use measures."

A federally funded Research Triangle Institute study found that "D.A.R.E.'s
core curriculum effect on drug use relative to whatever drug education (if
any) was offered in the control schools is slight and, except for tobacco
use, is not statistically significant." The U.S. General Accounting Office
reported, "There is little evidence so far that (D.A.R.E. and other
'resistance training' programs) have reduced the use of drugs by adolescents."

D.A.R.E.'s message to children is muddled and confusing. It doesn't tell
kids they must not use drugs. Instead, D.A.R.E. tells them that they have
the "right to say no," implying that they have the "right to say yes."
D.A.R.E. doesn't teach kids what "drug abuse" actually is, or how it can be
identified.

The D.A.R.E. video, called "The Land of Decisions and Choices," portrays
all adults as drunks or drug abusers or senile ... other than the D.A.R.E.
officer. This subverts my own authority with my children.

Children's greatest drug risk is with alcohol and tobacco, yet D.A.R.E. is
soft on those drugs. D.A.R.E. is based on unproven, and likely false,
educational hypotheses. The most notorious of these is that using drugs is
a symptom of low self-esteem or of high stress. Thus casual, responsible
use of any drug (alcohol, caffeine, tobacco) by parents or anyone else is
to be seen as pathological, or "abuse."

D.A.R.E. then alleges that self-esteem can be "built" by reciting
state-sponsored catechisms. These consist of claims of "rights," including
the "right to be happy" and the "right to be respected."

There are already too few hours in the classroom for teaching. Removing
teachers from 17 hours of prime instruction time is not productive to our
educational goals - though it may explain why teachers are now lobbying to
reinstate D.A.R.E.

The role of police is to protect the public safety and to respond to
emergencies. It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect them to teach
mental health and attitudes. Nor it is helpful for civics education for
children to be taught fictitious "rights." When a child grows up and learns
she was lied to about her "right to be happy," how will she feel about the
officer who taught her otherwise? D.A.R.E. officers are instructed to put a
"D.A.R.E. Box" in every classroom, into which students may drop "drug
information" or questions under the pretense of anonymity. In a number of
communities around the country, the D.A.R.E. officer has enlisted students
as informants against their parents. This interferes with my role as parent
and teacher of my child's morality.

To those who argue that if the program succeeds with just one student, then
it was all worth it: Respectfully, if we held our math, science and
literature departments to the same standard, we would be failures in
educating and preparing our children for the future.

Here's hoping cooler heads will prevail: that school boards will not fund
this failed policy; parents and the community will not stand behind those
who seek to go against the public will; and teachers will do the job for
which they were hired.