D.A.R.E.
About Dare
Drug Abuse Resistance Education, began in 1983 as a joint effort between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. D.A.R.E. programs have been a tremendous success and exist in all 50 states and a number of foreign countries. The United States Department of Defense has implemented the program in their schools throughout the world.
D.A.R.E. Defines Our Nation At Risk
The number of students abusing drugs and alcohol in the U.S. is at the highest level of any industrialized nation in the world. The rapid increase of students experimenting with drugs has begun to taper off, but the starting age gets younger and younger. For example, a poll by Weekly Reader Magazine shows a quarter of all fourth graders feel pressured to try alcohol or marijuana.
The lethal aim of drug dealers is to catch children at an early age and to influence them into developing drug habits. Once the children are addicted, dealers have deadly control over their lives. Adolescents may be susceptible to taking drugs or alcohol because their effect symbolizes a false value of independence, rebellion and adulthood. Thoughts of risking health and well-being seem to be of a minor importance.
D.A.R.E. aims at reducing these risks by providing children with the knowledge, positive attitudes and skills needed to make healthy decisions, especially those related to alcohol and drug use.
D.A.R.E. Involvement
The D.A.R.E. program for schools includes 80 hours of police
officer and teacher training and a semester-long, 17 week
curriculum, complete with classroom teaching aids. The program
also includes 6th grade pre-program testing. As part of the
D.A.R.E. curriculum, your child will be writing as essay entitled
"What D.A.R.E. Means to Me". The essay will be 1
to 1 1/2 pages long and will be a personal statement about
how D.A.R.E. classes have impacted the student (rather than
a summary of D.A.R.E. lessons). The essays will be reviewed
and winners will be chosen to read their essay at the D.A.R.E.
graduation ceremony. Your discussions with your child about
his/her D.A.R.E. classes should help them create a great essay.
There are separate presentations for kindergarten through
5th grade students, and special workshops for parents and
teachers.
Parental Involvement and Support
The key to the program's success is parental involvement. Evening workshops, led by the officer teaching at the school, are offered to parents. This provides parents with information about drugs and abuse, the D.A.R.E. program itself and ways to reinforce the program's messages at home.
We Must Take Responsibility and Prevent the Problem
Drug education is seen as the key for reducing the demand for drugs. The D.A.R.E. program is introduced to youth before they are exposed to drugs. The primary focus of the program is directed toward 5th and 6th graders. Introductory presentations also are given to kindergarten through 4th grade students. This program will expand into junior high and high schools as resources permit.
D.A.R.E. encourages students to have a more positive outlook toward law enforcement, school and home.
With the help of D.A.R.E., children become more self-confident and cooperate with family members and their peers. This positive attitude will spread to all segments of society and eventually help to decrease friction between ethnic groups.
Program evaluations have shown that D.A.R.E. works. The program teaches students how to say "NO" to drugs. D.A.R.E. also contributes to improved study habits and grades, decreased vandalism and gang activity and a greater respect for police officers.
For more information about the local D.A.R.E. program, please visit their website at: bcdare.com. |
