Mother Questions DARE Program

BOWEN Island resident Deborah Kirby's daughter participated in the D.A.R.E.
program. Her child's experience brought her to question the effort:

On Wednesday, May 13 (1998) my daughter graduated from the D.A.R.E. Program.

Just a few weeks earlier my daughter was excited when she told me that her
teacher would be choosing the people who would read their D.A.R.E. essays to
the assembly. She later told me hers had been selected.

She was very proud. The day before the ceremony, she practiced in front of
the principal. This morning, she invited me to hear her read. Her name was
on the program distributed at the door.

Shortly before the ceremony began my daughter was informed by the D.A.R.E.
constable that she could not read her essay. It was unacceptable; it might
lead to misunderstanding. No staff intervened. We expected some
acknowledgment. It did not come. We listened to 13 classmates read their
paeans celebrating D.A.R.E.

My daughter wrote in brief, Grade 5 hyperbole that D.A.R.E. was a good
program. She also wrote that marijuana has positive uses in society, that it
is used to treat glaucoma, and ease the suffering of chemo and AIDS
patients. She actually juxtaposed the words "wonderful" and "drug."

For her decision to think beyond mere repetition she was punished by having
her work refused in public. She was denied the right to speak to her peers
because she thought outside of expected parameters. What a great lesson.

Is the D.A.R.E. program a good one? On the surface it seems to be, we all
want our children to be able to resist peer pressure, to have a better
understanding of the effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco and to meet and
interact with police officers in a positive way. But there are serious flaws
in this program.

It is predicated on the assumption that children cannot reason. It dictates
information and does not allow for critical discussion. The program is
delivered by police to students with no input from teachers, no assessment
of student work, no evaluation of teaching ability.

It was developed and is wholly controlled by a business enterprise worth
close to $750,000,000 U.S. based in Los Angeles. No alterations to fit the
needs of a school, district, community are permitted without authorization
from head office.

The D.A.R.E. Program costs the West Vancouver taxpayer somewhere in the
order of $300,000 a year. I suggest this sum would go a long way towards
developing a program tailor-made for our schools -- one that would reflect
our values and mores and, most importantly, one that begins with the premise
that our children are thinking people.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst