DARE Program: Drug Abuse Resistance Education

Drug Education Writing Assignment

Currently being used in about eighty percent of schools in America is the DARE program. DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education and has taught over thirty-six million children. One of the recent debates in education is whether or not this program is actually effective in preventing the use of drugs and alcohol. On the official DARE website it gives success statistics based on if parents and teachers were satisfied with the program and if a child talked about the program at home, which in the minds of researches wasn’t enough to call it “successful”. One of the studies in the article, “Does DARE Work?” found that DARE had caused a twenty-nine percent increase in drug usage and a thirty-four percent
The Second Education Standard especially relates to drug education with the goal being to have students analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors. In this we would want them to know the negative and positive affects that each of these groups has on their decision to do drugs. We have to be careful in doing this to make sure that we are correctly using the social norm marketing technique, because this is a large area where DARE had failed. DARE makes it sound like all of the children’s friends will be drinking and doing drugs which is why it might be hard to say no. This makes a child even more likely to do so as well because then they believe they are “fitting in”. The Third Education Standard is to teach children where they can access information. They need to know where they can get information, products, and services when it is needed. For example, making a list of adults they feel comfortable going to if they ever needed advice or making lists of the closest police stations and hospitals. Standard four states that students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks. This could look like learning different ways to say no like make up excuses, or learning how to explain to a peer the
The Coordinated School Health Model is a strategy for improving students' health and learning in our nation’s schools. It is made of eight components that contribute to increasing student wellness and learning. Of these eight factors, health education, family and community involvement, healthy school environment, and physical education stand out as really interacting with a drug education program. Health education is an obvious one because student will need to know not only good health habits, but also the dangers of bad health habits, like drugs. They need to know what can happen to them and how drug use will affect them in the long run. In my opinion, family and community involvement should be the number one drug education target. If schools partner up with parents and the community to teach about drug education and give students the resources they need, this will have the biggest impact on them. If in every environment they are in they are hearing about the dangers of alcohol and drugs, they will remember and the statistics will change dramatically. As an education major I believe parent involvement is one of the most important factors of learning any subject. Also, a healthy school environment will affect the success of a new drug education program. Health should always be promoted, in all areas of the building. In the cafeteria and in the classroom, this