Have ever heard about D.A.R.E.? Have you participate of this program? What do you think about it? It does help children and is necessary in your point of view? What, in your opinion, may also help children? D.A.R.E. - Drugs Abuse Resistance Education Also know in Brazil as "P.R.O.E.R.D. - PRograma Educacional de Resistência às Drogas e à violência", D.A.R.E. is a program which a cop comes to your school and gives the little ones some classes about drugs, that they only do bad for people. In this classes, it is learn about all the existing drugs and many ways to avoid them and say NO. I did this program myself four years ago, when I was 9 and in the 4th of 9 years of school. At the end of the program, you write a text telling the cops what have you learn with that and your own finish words. If your text is great enough, they give'll to you a medal. I didn't got it, but my friend did. I think it is a great program and of course it is necessary, children have to be aware about this, because in the future, if they don't, they might fall in drugs and "don't live". And there are those movies that show people those things too, there are many of them, but I can't recall the name, just one I watched a few weeks ago named What we Worry About. And you? Have anything to say to us about this? =]
I went through the D.A.R.E. program when I was in 5th grade (10 years old). I remember enjoying it, the policeman we had come into our classroom was a really kind and funny guy, he worked well with kids and was pretty beloved by everyone. It was certainly informative as well, though the curriculum did seem a little too... youth oriented at times? I know I was young at the time but it just seemed like they were trying to dumb it down sometimes. I can't say how effective it is, though. I'm sure my town isn't the worst but we do have quite a bit drug & alcohol use going around. I've never lived anywhere else, of course, so I can't really compare, but it manages to unsettle me. I understand having a drink every now and then or people that do pot recreationally, but we have a pretty shocking number of kids getting stoned everyday and shitfaced every weekend. I'm not really sure how we can improve drug education, though. If kids know the facts about what it can do to you, are discouraged from it, yet still go out and do it, the failing is pretty much on the kid's part, at least in my opinion. In the end, you can give them all the facts you want, but if they don't want to hear it, they're not going to.
We don't have something like this in Norway, because frankly, it shouldn't even be necessary. Schools shouldn't need a program to educate, it should already be implemented in normal classes. I suspect there is a legal authority (Cop) in charge of the program? If so, that shouldn't be necessary. Also, by drug, if they put emphasis on Marijuana, it's all to make themselves look good. Alcohol isn't that bad either, however, crack and stronger drugs would be different. I'd understand they would warn and inform about it, but once again, it shouldn't be necessary to have "programs."
Im not sure if it's helpful or not, but at least it's nice to know that the school or w/e does care about the safety of their students. Regardless of how much they fill in all this important information inside the hollow minds of their students, it won't always help. Still, D.A.R.E is a good progarm. Also [video=youtube;puTRo-x9oeY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puTRo-x9oeY[/video]
I did this when I was in fifth grade, and am now preparing to have it taught to my own fifth graders this year. What I remember about it most was how they really drilled into you about how bad everything truly was for you. One cigarette? DEATH. A wine cooler? YOU DEAD. But those videos they showed about people with black lungs and livers so severely scarred fail to mention just how old the person was when they died due to complications that drinking or smoking contributed to, or might not have been the sole cause of. Never mind that you can get lung cancer, emphysema, and the like from secondhand smoke, but they seem to leave that bit out, don't they? I do like that they mention drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and others that truly can be harmful and dangerous even after the first use. Bottom line (and this is my own personal opinion) is that I can't say how well this works. Maybe at a younger age, and I know I did too, we all went "I'm NEVER going to do any of those things! Yay life!". But as we get older (and thus reach ages where it is legal to buy cigarettes, possess a firearm, or have a beer) we realize we have choices, and D.A.R.E. can't stop people from making those choices. It can try to guide them into making the "right" choice, but ultimately if people decide to smoke 4 packs a day, it's their choice. I guess the program only works if the kids who learn about the effects of drugs and alcohol don't give in to temptation and peer pressure later on down the line. But that in itself is hard to do.
Well, there is a cop who is in charge of this program, at least in giving classes to the children, though I don't know anything more than that. But I think there is a department in the police which is in charge of children and teenagers and this is the department operations like D.A.R.E. program are planned. Yeah, everyone know that drugs are bad, especially marijuana, crack and others stronger drugs. And I think in the way you see, Alcohol isn't something really bad, like it is something like refrigerant. We see a lot of children drinking refrigerant and a lot of adults drinking alcohol, yes this is normal and I can understand you point of viewing; all my friends like refrigerant (besides myself and Evil Twin) and my parents drink alcohol. Children see this and may think something like "while I am a child, I will drink refrigerant but when I am older I'm surely will drink alcohol too". Yes, this is a choice. But we all know that cigarette and alcohol are bad for us, and that other drugs are REALLY bad to us. The program is there only to make children aware that using them will make them bad, but again is your choice. In my opinion, people starts to use drugs because someone asked them to it, and not knowing what that drug may cause ("bad" is a argument too vague) they choose to experiment it. That's because there are those classes, this stuff could be learn in normal classes as you said, but there to give a class of anything there must have a professional in that subject. This is the object of D.A.R.E., make children aware of the evils of the drugs to never try them, and to this, need to know how to say NO (like The Genius Sex Poet's videos says). And for this be even possible, there must have a professional who will give the classes, again somehow necessary. This is a vision of my opinion though. @The Genius Sex Poet, your video makes me remember when the policeman gave me the classes, she showed us all those ways to avoid drugs. And Power Rangers fit so well with Policemen. xD
Alcohol is not bad, in certain doses. An occasional glass of wine is good for you. Also, if you compare marijuana to cigarettes/excessive alcohol, it is less dangerous, which is why they can prescribe it medicinally. (People seem to think that because Marijuana is outlawed it is a dangerous substance, which in reality, it isn't) However, if you tell kids not to do anything, they will often, naturally, want to do it. I think that when it comes to Alcohol (this can't really go for any of the others), you should never teach anyone to be abstinent. You should teach them to take things in small doses, for the flavor. And as far as refrigerant goes... Whoever drinks a refrigerant, reflects stupidity. And that has nothing to do with educating them, refrigerant is not for drinking. I don't drink alcohol excessively, nor have I smoked marijuana, so if anyone tries to argue against me "because I do it myself," don't even bother. Also, educating kids on drugs is not the same as telling them to avoid them, because Alcohol and Marijuana can both have positive effects, which has to be taken into consideration.
I was actually going to mention this. Like any other foods, moderation is key. And certain red wines have been proven to be beneficial for heart health, and cancer prevention. My mother let me try wine coolers when I was 18, only in my own home and she made them so weak I couldn't even taste the wine. Rum and coke? Half a shot of rum drowned out by the Coke. She was showing me how to enjoy the flavor of the drink, not to get myself "buzzed". Now I've been a legal boozer for two years, but I rarely drink. If and when I do, it's maybe a nice drink like a margarita or a mixed frozen drink once a month. Other times it's a wine cooler I make myself with a shot of wine mixed with a can of Sprite. That's it. People ask me what my limit is and I tell them "I don't know, and I really don't care to find out."
Ahh,the memorys. I remember D.A.R.E coming to my school in like Fourth Grade,He joked around and shiz but he was cool,He told us all that bad stuff a bout Alcohol and stuff.I actually have/Had a T-Shirt about Dare,i forgot what it says,though.If I find it I'll take a pic and post it.
I had something called "Slick Tracy" back in middle school. It was about drug and alcohol intake. The program was really stupid, and half of the kids in that class already did drugs.
You made me remember that I have this T-Shirt too! =] In the back there is my school's logo and in the front there is those two imgs: *This is how the T-Shirt is here in Brazil, the program is the same.
I personally never went through D.A.R.E because they canceled the program around here. I seem to recall that there were studies that D.A.R.E had no significant impact, and in some cases actually increased drug use. A common hypothesis was that it didn't really effect the number of kids who were going to end up doing the stuff, it just shuffled it around. Some kids would get scared and end up not doing drugs, while others would be more tempted by it after being informed of what they were.
I remember someone I knew had a shirt of D.A.R.E. but I never knew what it was because I was in kindergarten at the time (12 years ago). That was the first I heard about it at the time too. No police officer came to my school though just some people showing some falcon saying if you see a gun turn around tell an adult.
