DARE PROGRAM VITAL RITE OF PASSAGE

In every community, every society, and every corner of the earth in
which people cohabitate with one another, we have learned that there
are certain elements which are pretty much universal. Conflict.
Social organization. Spirituality. And of course, one celebration
that seems to incorporate nearly all of these elements: the Rite of Passage.

Select groups within Canada's Aboriginal population have practiced
rituals such as the Vision Quest or the Sundance. Celebrants of the
Jewish faith commemorate a boy's 13th year with a Bar Mitzvah. In
fact, all those birthdays that occur in the latter teen years are
abundant with rites of passages: at 16, you learn to drive. At 18 you
have the ability to vote. All are significant events that mark the
process of growing up.

Of course, of the customs described above are known to us all, at
least in a casual capacity. What receive lesser attention are those
experiences that are not as ripe with rituals and formalities. And I
wonder, does the absence of such things make an event less important?
Especially when said event could prove crucial to a child's reasoning
and decision-making skills? It is with these thoughts in mind that I
recognize the DARE program as the Rite of Passage it has truly become.

DARE (or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, as most of you will know)
is a something of a supplementary health class, taught to Grade 6
students all around Canada and the United States. It focuses on the
use and abuse of illegal narcotics.

In my opinion, Grade 6 is prime time to introduce these topics.
Younger grades might not necessarily appreciate the seriousness and
severity of the subject matter. On the other hand, by the time a
student reaches the Intermediate level (Grades 7 and 8), it is often
too late to change their perspectives regarding drugs. Therefore
beginning drug education in Grade 6 strikes the right balance between
these two extremes.

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, it's been a long time since
I was in Grade 6, and the program itself is in a state of constant
evolution. However, one thing that has not changed is the program's
most defining component: it is run by officers of law. This, in my
opinion, is what separates DARE from standard-issue health classes.
Learning from someone with first hand knowledge of the consequences
and repercussions of drugs - someone who's "seen it all," if you will
- - is far more effective than reading the same information out of a
textbook. Being taught in this manner turns drug use into a reality,
not some vague concept that exists in the far-off future known as high school.

Is DARE successful 100 per cent of the time, with every student that
passes through the program? Of course not. It is, after all, simply a
course created by humans meant to counteract the ever-growing drug
problem in North America. It does not have any divine or special
powers to work magic upon students. And there will always be those
for whom the program does nothing; who will do what they will
regardless of what anyone tells them. But to dwell on such negatives
is to overlook the entire premise of the DARE program. I believe that
if just one student in every DARE class learns to become more
confident in situations involving drugs, then the program has
fulfilled its mission.

Rite of Passage indeed.