Pubdate: Tue, 13 May 2008 Source: Tracy Press (CA) Copyright: 2005 Tracy Press Contact: http://www.tracypress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3862 Author: Chailah Reynolds Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) WE SHOULD D.A.R.E. TO REACH MORE STUDENTS A Lammersville fifth-grader shares a plea to keep Drug Abuse Resistance Education alive and well in Tracy schools. My concern is that we need to be teaching D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in elementary, middle and high school. I have two older siblings, and they talk to my parents about the things that teenagers do. There are always parties on the weekends, where there is alcohol and drugs, including marijuana and pill-popping. My oldest sister, who is 19 and had D.A.R.E. education when she was in fifth grade, doesn't do drugs or drink at all, said that kids are starting to do a drug called meth. She told me that you can get addicted to it by using it only one time and that your teeth fall out, and you can go for three days without any sleep or food. My sister also told me that there are parties where the parents allow the alcohol and smoke marijuana with the kids. If the parents aren't teaching their kids not to do it, then there must be a program like D.A.R.E. to warn kids of the dangers and sadness that comes to a life of drug addiction. Kids nowadays are getting more influences than ever from things besides their parents. In elementary school, D.A.R.E. needs to be taught, because kids need to learn why it's not OK to do drugs and what can happen. Moms and dads are letting their children watch MTV and listen to rap and songs that promote drug use. Those kinds of things can change the mindset of their child's thinking. In middle school, kids are really starting to cuss and want to try to act like teenagers. They also see some kids smoking and see their parents drink, and they think it's OK. This isn't just the kids' fault, though. The parents must not be parenting right, if they let them watch MTV. So middle school kids should learn again why it's not OK and what can happen. Lastly, high school kids are getting so much more influences. With MySpace, cell phones and the Internet, kids have secret lives that their parents have no control over. Now I think they should learn it before they become an adult and go to college. If we could expand the D.A.R.E. program to the high schools, maybe we could prevent kids from going to college and becoming more addicted to drugs and alcohol before they leave their parents' homes. I know that my parents support the D.A.R.E. program. There are about 35 fifth-graders at Lammersville. There must be hundreds of fifth-graders in the other Tracy schools. I suggest that every parent of every fifth-grader write a letter to Brent Ives, the mayor of Tracy, and encourage all of the City Council to continue to give money to the D.A.R.E. program. Can you imagine the mayor receiving 500 letters at one time from concerned parents who want their kids' education to include the warnings and dangers of what happens to kids' lives once they become addicted to drugs? The City Council needs to know that the community of Tracy is a better city because of the D.A.R.E. program, and Tracy would be an even better place to live if we had D.A.R.E. in every school in our town. - ---------------------------- Chailah Reynolds is a fifth-grader at Lammersville Elementary School. This letter was read at the Lammersville School District D.A.R.E. graduation on April 22. Editor's note: D.A.R.E. is offered to fifth-graders in Tracy Unified, Jefferson, Lammersville, New Jerusalem and Banta school districts and also to fifth-graders at Tracy's St. Bernard's Catholic School and Bella Vista Christian Academy. The program is paid for by the city of Tracy, Tracy Kiwanis Club and Sutter Tracy Community Hospital. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath