D'Alliance

Monday, July 14, 2008

DARE Camp

According to The Washington Post, the sheriff of St. Mary's county in Maryland has reinstated DARE. This summer, dozens of St. Mary's middle schoolers attended DARE camp. Sheriff Timothy Cameron says he knows about the studies that suggest DARE is ineffective, but "his personal experience was that children learn a lot from the program." So let's play along, shall we? Here's what some of the campers had to say about their drug education and what they've learned:

"'Today we're doing tug-of-war,' said 11-year-old Ayanna Weems... 'We've been learning in lessons why cigarettes and why alcohol is bad.'"
"'Tobacco has 200 known rat poisons. It's important I learned this because it'll keep me drug-free and away from alcohol and weed,' wrote Tyler Cryer, 10."
"'DARE rocks!' wrote Sydney Armitage, 9... 'If you like having fun while learning about fun things, this is the place for you.'"

Um, what exactly are these kids learning? Because:

Tug-of-war? And also, the fact that alcohol and cigarettes are legal seems like it would create a conundrum in the "alcohol and cigarettes is bad" lesson.
Tobacco's poison content has nothing to do with alcohol and marijuana
Wait, learning about drug abuse = learning about fun things? Since when?

As I continue to read the article, I see that they have turned even that game of tug-of-war into a lesson about why you should never ever ever ever do drugs. "Retired sergeant Mickey Bailey explained that the winning teams usually picked the strongest, or 'right,' people. In life, Bailey said, it is important to choose friends in a similar fashion." Man, if I were on the losing team and I heard that, my self-esteem would take a hit.

Setting aside the tug-of-war issue, I'm not so sure I believe Sheriff Cameron's statement that DARE worked in this case. But I guess the only way to really find out is to sit, wait, and hope that at least some of those students stumble across this.

Posted by Ellen Parkhurst @ 4:57 PM

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