| Recently we read that 22 students from a Hamilton,
Ontario high school were suspended for smoking pot. The name
of the school is not important: if we focus on one school we
reinforce the perception that it is always the other school that
has the problem. What is important is that drugs and alcohol
are now firmly entrenched in the culture of our high schools.
It's clear that schools do not have a magical force field that
prevents drugs and alcohol from coming into and out of schools
and being used on school property. |
| Drugs Abound |
| Our kids face daily challenges in our high schools,
challenges that are not academic. The drug culture in high school
is so pervasive that our kids must make decisions every day to
"toke up" and cut class or to resist and risk exclusion
or at least sneers and put-downs. When we as social workers talk
to grade 11 and 12 students about the number of decisions they
have to make every day just to get through it, they dismiss it
as no big deal. But it's apparent that it wears on them consistently
and negatively. |
| Although many organizations of adults have been
waging a war against drugs, the statistics still show that alarming
numbers of kids are trying drugs and alcohol, and at younger
and younger ages. Some of our kids have been making decisions
about drug and alcohol use since grade 7-just one year after
they received the DARE program and thought everyone in their
peer group felt the same way they did. After all, they did their
DARE essays, said 'no' to drugs and graduated from the program.
So why are the numbers increasing? |
| New Order at Parties, Dances |
| The social options of high school dances and
parties, which used to be the standard of fun, are becoming increasingly
dangerous. In Date Rape: a Question of Trust (Bigelow
and Simpson, 1996) we're shocked to learn that 51% of young Canadian
women between the ages of 16-24 will be sexually assaulted. And
80-90% of these assaults will be by someone they know. There
is a corresponding increase in the use of the drug rohypnol (roofies,
also called the rape drug) being added to a drink. So for some
young women there is no chance to even consider a defence because
they are unconscious during the assault. |
| Mood Disorders on the Increase |
| Many of our kids are becoming depressed and
anxious. These kids will act out or withdraw in order to cope
with their disorders, which keeps their teachers and peers vigilant
and apprehensive about their behaviour and safety. Many teachers
complain about the amount of time kids are out of the classroom
to 'help' each other during emotional crises. Some of these students
may be malingering, but many are truly and desperately worried
about their friends, and don't feel that adults understand enough
about kids' culture to really help effectively. |
| More Stress, Less Support |
| Truancy is a common symptom of emotional distress
in adolescents and it makes it significantly harder for the attending,
hardworking student to cope. They can't count on group members
for projects, or depend on buddies to share notes or understanding,
or even hope that the helpful kid in seat next to them will show
up each day. |
| Many of our children go diligently off to school
each day knowing they will be faced with a range of challenges
and decisions. They have to manage their academic work plus handle
a full day's attendance without bringing harm to themselves or
others. This has always been the role of students, but 10 years
ago it was automatic. Now it takes tremendous emotional energy,
negotiation and sophistication to be successful. |
| New Standards |
| Peer harassment is also a constant part of school
culture. North American culture tells adolescents that to be
popular they have to wear the right clothes, be thin, buy the
right products, have incredible personal freedom and finances,
love loud noise and frantic behaviour. Our kids pay strict attention
to these messages and use them to judge each other. Attempting
to meet these criteria makes kids vigilant and anxious. |
| They often become so dependent on other teens'
opinions that they become vulnerable to prolonged harassment
and are apt to end up being controlled by other kids. |
| They become so controlled that their thinking
becomes distorted. This distorted thinking, in turn, can happen
to teachers and administrators, who worry excessively about opinions
of parents and community members who feel schools are too punitive
or 'uptight' or that bullying and harassment are just normal
teasing. This is aggravated by the parents who cannot believe
that their child could have done what they say he's done, or
who assume the parents' job is to shield their children from
the negative consequences of their own behaviour. |
| So What are We to Do? |
| Our kids are not fighting this battle alone.
There are many dedicated parents, teachers, administrators, support
staff, and custodians who continue to create as much of a welcoming
environment as possible. But for many of them, as for the kids,
each day is a constant struggle. |
| We have to help kids articulate ways to make
their school safer and more welcoming. They seem to know more
about what they need than do the adults in charge. We have to
act on their suggestions. We have to start with a standard of
respect toward each other. We have to work on this until we get
it right. We have to clean up our language, improve our attitude,
include each other, and establish that 'only kindness matters'.
If our schools don't become safer, saner and more welcoming,
our kids will continue to invest more energy in surviving than
they will in developing the skills they need to manage successfully
as adults. |
| And if we're not prepared to act as responsible
role models then we should lower our expectations and our hopes
for our kids. |
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