Breathalyzer Policy In High Schools

Promposals, pretty dresses, corsages, tuxedoes; those are just some things that correlate with the word prom. Not only is it a wonderful and magical night that many high school students anxiously await their entire high school careers for, but it is also a really important milestone in one’s high school experience. Due to the escalating numbers of alcohol consumption at school dances, multiple schools (one of which included Northern Secondary School) decided to take action and proposed to implement a breathalyzer policy at school proms. Personally, I do not agree with that decision; I believe that it’s an unnecessary thing to do. Though the schools that suggested this policy had good intentions, it’s still an unreasonable thing to force upon
the student body.
The most obvious reason of why this policy should not be enforced is that it is a violation of the rights of freedoms of the students.
Under the Education Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, students have to right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and since the schools have no legitimate reason to assume that every single student will be consuming alcohol, the policy then becomes an invasion of privacy and unconstitutional. Secondly, students should not be subjected to stand in a line waiting for their turn to blow into a breathalyzer on their special night. Prom is not just another party, but a special rite of passage, like a graduation ceremony. Students spend so much time, effort and money trying to make this night perfect and they should not be forced to spend half of their time waiting in line. This would be especially unfair to those who are sober and are required to blow into a breathalyzer to prove it. Adding to my point above, not all students consume alcohol prior to prom. Only a select few do so and those students don’t represent the entire student population. The phrase, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch” does not apply to this situation; it would be simply unjust to punish the entire student body for a bad decision of a couple students. Lastly, the use of a breathalyzer is pointless. Nothing replaces the old fashioned human interaction. It should be obvious, or at least reasonably clear, which students have been drinking before
prom. Chaperones or teachers at the event can simply approach those individuals and question them/send them home. This not only makes the process more efficient but also more effective. Even if students are sober entering the event (assuming that they passed the breathalyzer test), they may not be so during it. With enough motivation, students are capable of sneaking in alcohol into the event (eg: hiding it under dresses, taping it to a limb, disguising it as something else) and consuming it right then and there. Regardless of anything, adult supervision will be required at the event anyway, so why not save the students the hassle that comes with the breathalyzer and limit it to only that.
In conclusion, breathalyzer tests should not be used as an arbitrary device for admission to high school proms.
Not only is it a violation of student rights, but it is also a waste of time and a feeble and tedious way of checking whether the students are under the influence of alcohol. In this day and age, alcohol isn’t the only substance impairing students, so rather than treating all the students as offenders and forcing them to blow into breathalyzers, schools should use other methods to further educate the students on how to have a great time without alcohol/substance. In the case of Northern SS, I believe that although the principal had pure intentions of helping the students, he did not approach this situation in an effective manner. Not only did he waste a lot of time and effort to dealing with this situation, but he may have caused the relationship between him and his students to become hostile. Nonetheless, if all schools were to implement such breathalyzer policy to prevent alcohol consumption at school events, why stop there? They might as well also enforce a policy that requires students to participate in a blood test or a pat down before entering any school-related event then. With that being said, prom should be remembered as a night of unforgettable memories, not as a night where you used a
breathalyzer.