MESSAGE: FEEL GOOD - BUT NO DRUGS

WE AMERICANS are prone to perpetuate drug use while trying to prevent it.

Consider the kind police officer from the D.A.R.E. program (Drug and
Alcohol Resistance Education) who visited my second grade classroom.

Tall, uniformed, and wearing a mini-arsenal of weaponry, he could have sold
my students the pencils out of their desks. Instead, he offered what I
believe was well-intentioned bad advice.

"How many of you feel terrific every day when you go home?" he began a
question that made me squirm in my chair.

I've been called a good teacher more than once. Still, children don't leave
my classroom thrilled on a daily basis. That would require Hollywood
scripting, false lighting - or drugs, injected in their milk cartons.

The officer confided that HE used to leave school feeling GREAT because he
loved school. His rah-rah voice made me want to stand up and cheer for
blackboards and books.

But let's face it: Kids often feel frustrated, bored, anxious or lonely.
That's part of school and part of life.

"I know you all want to be happy," the officer continued.

He whispered conspiratorially, "Do you want to know the secret? You've got
to believe in yourself. If you feel good about yourself, then other people
will feel good about you too."

Good point. But did he have to add:

"Imagine a kid - I bet you know someone like this - who wears a big, sad
frown every day."

He distanced himself from the imaginary sad child, as if from a pile of
radioactive waste.

"People don't want to be around him. They would rather play with someone
else."

There are children in my class who have reason to be sad - divorce, peer
isolation, learning disabilities. Now the blue-suited role model was
offering a prescription: Be happy, be upbeat.

What better moment to introduce the subject of drugs?

"There are drugs the doctor prescribes - and those drugs are good for you,"
the officer explained. "If you have a headache or stomach ache, you take a
pill and you feel better."

The kids nodded. They have heard this message thousands of times on TV.
They live in an era of quick fixes and instant remedies, in which there is
a pill for just about everything.

"But some drugs are NOT good for you. If someone ever offers you THAT kind
of drug, say no and feel good about yourself, because you did the right
thing."

The well-meaning officer delivered a mixed message that reflects the
conflicting values at the core of America's drug problem. Although he does
not speak for all anti-drug education programs, nor all D.A.R.E. programs,
he certainly mirrors the American paradigm.

Students were told to like themselves, yet in the same breath, warned that
feelings of sadness or failure are not acceptable and bring rejection.

Unfortunately, for some of my students, the upcoming lessons on the hazards
of drug use will not be a deterrent. In a competitive, feel-good culture,
drugs provide kids a tempting way, if not to win, to temporarily act and
feel like a winner.

By contrast, genuine self-esteem and self-care have little to do with
instant gratification and superficial mood alteration. It isn't a quick
fix, and it probably can't be learned in school on alternate Mondays.

As the officer shook each student's hand, I wondered about the high-risk
kids and the pleasers - those who play the game so well, they lose
themselves altogether.

As teenagers, what will they do to "feel better?"