Current D.A.R.E. students are not at an age that allows them to benefit from the program

It’s been said before that at a young age, an individual becomes what he or she is exposed to. This pertains to dialect, mannerisms, and other adaptive behaviors such as what makes a right and wrong decision. In the cities that make up the Shawnee Mission School District, and many others around the nation, there is a  program that strives to counsel students on just that: how to make good or bad choices. It is called Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and is a part of the learning experience at the district’s elementary schools.

In the curriculum, students aged 5-12 are expected to learn how to handle various pressure-ridden situations ranging from calling 9-1-1 during an emergency to turning down an alcoholic beverage during a party. While being skills that are undoubtedly useful in knowing, an issue lies in the age range that DARE focuses on. Due to the immaturity and lack of exposure to many social situations that may offer the application of skills learned in the program, DARE proves itself as ineffective because of where and at what age it is being taught at. Every hour spent on DARE in our elementary schools is an hour that could’ve been spent on math, reading, writing or social studies: the four criteria used in determining Standard of Excellence schools. Not every East-area elementary school received such an honor in all four of the categories.

Recent studies by the U.S. General Accounting Office, the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Department of Education have each independently stated that DARE struggles to achieve the goals laid out in its mission. The underlying truth to all of the studies though is that the program costs over a billion dollars per year for the nation to fund, and if it’s money that is going to be spent then we should be investing it in the right places. Elementary schools aren’t the answer.

The school district does not pay for this awareness program to be taught at schools, the city does. Before potentially following a growing national trend to axe the DARE program due to budgetary constraints, the city of Prairie Village should reconsider placing the DARE education into a high school classroom, somewhere a student may understand that cocaine is a harmful drug, not just a substance that looks like sugar.

High schools in our community are where a majority of the students who are drinking and smoking attend, therefore a required class that could provide an indirect brief intervention would prove itself as the most reasonable and responsible answer to an elementary-level program that has showed signs of decline in recent years. A World Health Organization study proved that such provisions like this can cut alcohol consumptions by more than 25 percent among those who are identified as drinkers. Having a knowledge about the negatives of these habits can also reduce the risk of alcohol abuse once a high school student is at college, according to feedback surveys at various American universities.

DARE’s goal to “Resist drugs and violence” is one that is positive and should be stressed at any level of education, but to allow for optimal results, a program that teaches the skills needed to avoid these negligent habits at the high school age would be more appropriate. It would provide a place for federal funding to be responsibly spent at during a time when budget concerns are at the fore of many public school districts including our own. Having and education system like this provided to East students at no cost to the school district would be a gift to all that could help fix the tainted reputation many feel the school has earned.

This outside view of a school with problems regarding teenage alcohol consumption and marijuana use starts on  the inside. Transferring the DARE program to our classrooms and not elementary schools’ would prove to be more effective for all parties involved, regardless of age.