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Ryan Mason shows off his firts place award in the state DARE essay contest with his DARE officer Oscar Smith.
Student D.A.R.E.s to excel
Published Thursday, August 13, 2009
CLAYTON — While most 10-year-olds aren’t likely considering the importance of their homework assignments, one particular assignment last year carried great weight for one student at Martin Junior High School in Sicily Island.
And while Ryan Mason knew he wanted to a good job on his D.A.R.E. report, he had no idea just how well he did until last month.
The D.A.R.E. program is a class in which fifth and eight-graders learn the importance of resisting alcohol, drugs, tobacco and the perils that come with their use.
And last year, as a fifth-grader, Mason’s final assignment for his D.A.R.E. class was to sum up what he learned in a single essay.
“I wanted to do a good job,” Mason said. “But I really just wanted to make sure I passed the class.”
And after Mason turned in his assignment his D.A.R.E. instructor Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Smith thought Mason’s essay was so good it should be submitted for competition.
After Ryan’s essay won first place in a district D.A.R.E. competition, it was submitted for consideration at the state level.
And on July 10 Mason and his family were in Opelousas, La., where Mason’s essay took first place in the Louisiana State D.A.R.E. Essay of the Year contest.
“Winning was awesome,” Mason said. “It was great.”
Mason liked the recognition he’s essay garnered, but he’s more concerned with its message.
“(Smith) wanted us to know how bad drugs, alcohol and tobacco are for us,” Mason said. “And that’s what I wanted to tell people. Doing drugs is terrible, it can really ruin your life.”
Mason, the son of Russ and Sheila, won a plaque, $200 and a fish-fryer.
While Mason said he doesn’t have any plans for the cash yet, he gave the fryer to his teacher.
And even more proud than Mason are his parents.
“He’s a great writer,” Mason’s mother said. “And we always knew he was smart. But when he won, we were shocked. We’re so proud.”
Comments
Posted by consider_reason (anonymous) on August 14, 2009 at 3:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Since its beginning in 1983, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program has grown rapidly from a local endeavor in a single school district into a multi-million dollar industry. It has been used in about 80% of all US school districts and more than 56 other countries.
The basic DARE program consists of a series of lectures delivered to schoolchildren by police officers over a 17-week period. In the US alone, over 50,000 police officers have been trained to teach the course and over 36,000,000 students have “graduated” from DARE.
DARE is very popular with students, school administrators, police, and the general public. This, in spite of the fact that research over the decades has repeatedly demonstrated that DARE is not only ineffective, but also sometimes counterproductive. That is, students who graduate from DARE are sometimes more likely than others to drink or do drugs.
There are probably many reasons for the remarkable ineffectiveness of the DARE program. For example, it is based on out-dated theories of learning and human behavior, it fails to distinguish between legal substances and illegal drugs, it views all use (even by adults) as abuse, and it presents a view of substance use inconsistent with that most students see in their own environment.
Unfortunately, many people have a vested interest in seeing DARE continue and expand in spite of its ineffectiveness and even harm to students. About 750 million dollars are spent on the program each year and thousands upon thousands of police officers are assigned to teaching the program. Thus, although DARE is a disaster for students, it is a great success for those profiting from promoting and teaching it.
DARE leaders defend the program largely on the basis of anecdotal evidence such as “students tell me it works.” They also dismiss impartial university research conducted carefully over long periods of time with many students by objective scholars. Instead, they present “satisfaction surveys, ” testimonials of celebrities and similar irrelevant so-called evidence.
Simply put, it's funding for officers, vehicles, etc. that aren't exclusive to use in DARE.
Posted by consider_reason (anonymous) on August 14, 2009 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
http://alcoholfacts.org/DARE.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...
http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/Libr...
Research it for yourselves - it's a bunch of feel good nonsense based on out dated techniques, but it still pulls in the funding.
YOUR politicians and law enforcement leaders leading you by the nose, once again.
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