SURVEY AIMS AT PROBLEMS IN EARLY YEARS

A survey of ninth-grade students in Missouri given during the
1999-2000 school year revealed some alarming trends.

Thirty percent of the ninth-graders responding to the survey had been
in a car driven by someone who had been drinking. Two-thirds had
consumed more than a few sips of alcohol at a time. Nearly a third
had tried marijuana. And 20 percent had been offered, sold or given
an illegal drug on school property.

Seventeen percent contemplated suicide in the past year. And 60
percent had at least taken a couple drags from a cigarette.

Most adults, if asked to guess, would probably put those numbers a
lot lower. Granted, some communities probably have lower numbers than
others, but the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education, which administers the survey, didn't release the 1999-2000
survey by school district.

Ninth-graders around the state, including in the Cape Girardeau
School District, recently took the surveys again. The questionnaires
are distributed every two years. The state's survey coordinator said
ninth grade tends to be the best time to get an accurate read on what
students are doing in their personal lives.

It would be good news if this year's survey showed the number of
those who try smoking, alcohol and other drugs is lower, but there is
much more we can do as parents and as a community.

Jim Watkins, coordinator of the Safe and Drug Free Schools program
for Cape Girardeau, said students in grades eight and 10 are going to
be asked to participate in an additional survey developed and
administered by Southeast Missouri State University. It is much like
the DESE survey in content, but the information will, of course, be
specific to the local school district. And with that information in
hand, district leaders will be in a position to develop programs to
target various sectors of the student population that need help.

It's encouraging that Watkins already has a strategy. In the next few
months, a 22-person advisory committee will discuss the results.
They've already discussed the potential benefits of having older
students counsel younger students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol
and the importance of avoiding them.

But as much as that might work, the survey already illustrates that
ninth grade is too late to talk to children about smoking and drugs.
Responsible parents will act immediately to educate their children,
survey or no survey.