Thursday, June 30, 2011
Should schools breathalyze children before school/ school events?
I remember when my high school threatened to handle underage drunkenness that occurred at various events (football games, homecoming) by breathalyzing the students before walking in the building. At the time, we thought that was absurd and would never happen. I did some observations at Mentor High last fall and noticed an announcement that students would be allowed into homecoming without submitting a breathalyzer test. Personally, I think this is absurd, but the argument is that this will potentially lives. 1) Does this really save any lives, and 2) assuming that it did save lives, is it worth taking away the trust of the students?
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Aaron, if “underage drunkenness” was a problem in your high school, then students should not be exempted from breathalyzer tests or other sobriety tests- especially those with driver’s licenses. Think about it, many community police departments legally set up sobriety checkpoints for the purpose of catching those driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs. And yes – the purpose of this is to save lives! The purpose of having these checkpoints is to get DUI’s off the road and prevent serious injuries or fatalities.
ReplyDeleteThink about it - why do we have organizations like M.A.D.D. and S.A.D.D. (Mothers and Students Against Drunk Driving)?“Teens get drunk twice as fast as adults, but have more trouble knowing when to stop. Teens naturally overdo it and binge more often than adults.”(M.A.D.D. on-line) Mothers and students of these organizations have experienced the serious injury or loss of a loved due to underage drinking and driving accidents.
So in response to your question #2, it’s not about losing the trust of students, but about the greater good - saving lives, sparing heartbreak, emotional and physical distress of not only victims of DUI’s but their families and friends.
While a breathalyzer test might shake the trust of the users, it might enhance the trust of the rest of the non-using student body. No one wants to be hassled or hit on by a drunk, or have someone puke all over your new homecoming dress. Drunk people can become belligerent; and in large events with hundreds of people, they could also injure someone due to their impaired judgment. The issue of these people driving (often driving with a car full of friends) is a serious one too. Too often on the news we hear of teens dying in traffic accidents while an impaired friend was at the wheel.
ReplyDeleteHowever, just as there are other safety techniques that can be used in a school without making everyone go through a metal detector, there are also potentially helpful policies that can be implemented without everyone being breathalyzed. For example, once students come into our school dances, they are not allowed to leave to go out to the car and come back in. This is a bad policy if you forgot your phone or more comfortable dancing shoes in the car, but it’s a very good policy for preventing students from going in and out during the night, drinking or using drugs in the car, and then coming back inside and becoming a danger to themselves and others.
If it were a school where use was a pronounced problem, then perhaps breathalyzers should be used as a precaution, but officials could decide when it’s necessary. And if students had entered an event and become unruly and smelled of alcohol, they could always be breathalyzed when the problem is found and detained until someone could pick them up. The breathalyzer rule doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
Unfortunately our school’s SADD group faded away a few years ago. As Carmilla said, it’s a very valuable voice to have on campus. A SADD group can give peers courage, by exposing them to fellow students, who are bold enough to stand up and say that there are other ways to enjoy life besides substance use and abuse. I just wish it were as easy to find solutions to the substance problem as it is to discuss the issue; sadly, the consequences for teens can be profound and tragic. Thanks for raising the question, Aaron.