Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / Oct. 1, 2000, edition 1 / Page 2
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page 2 features October 00 Drinking...So What’s the Problem? Theresa Anasti Students at NCSSM vary in their opinions on drinking. With the thousands of essays, articles, and books writ ten about teenage drinking, it is expected that teenagers know everything there is to know about the subject. But does that matter? While most ado lescents are aware of the con sequences of drinking, they acknowledge this fact in several ways. Some choose simply not to drink. Even though this de cision seems to be the least common, it may be more popu lar than many adults may think. At NCSSM, many students be lieve that drinking is either harm ful, useless, and not worth the consequences of getting caught. “1 think that the risks involving drinking are not worth the high of being plastered,” said a senior at NCSSM. Many students here have similar sentiments, choosing to be free of all kinds of alcohol. Other students, choosing not to drink claim it’s their own per sonal decision, but they do not condemn others for doing so. “If that’s what you want to do, do it responsibly, but 1 don’t do it” said a senior at NCSSM. “As long as you are intelligent enough about your decision, do whatever,” said a junior. In contrast to those students that abstain from drinking, NCSSM has many stu dents who condone alcohol use. However, NCSSM is not alone in having a large group of stu dents who drink; the majority of high schools also have many students who use alcohol on a regular basis. But there is no evidence to tell whether the per centage of students who drink at NCSSM is higher or lower than at other schools. “I am going to take that on as a charge this year, and see if we can get some quantitative evidence on drinking at NCSSM compared to drinking at other schools. Since we are a residen tial school, students away from home may have the opportunity to drink more; whether they do drink more is up for debate,” said Dr. Joan Barber. “I would like to say that our students drink less than students from other high schools, but through anecdotes I have heard that it is more. However, 1 trust our students, and feel that they do drink less than students from other schools,” said Warren Basket. “One girl on my hall at the beginning of last year said that she had never gotten drunk be fore, and everyone was almost shocked,” said a senior. Despite the fact that al cohol has often been linked to abusive home lives, most young adults who use alcohol do not even take this into account. “I think peer pres sure, stress and boredom are the main reasons why people choose to drink,” said a junior at NCSSM. Due to the high amounts of alcohol consumed in small towns and at competitive high schools/colleges, this can in deed be true. Alcohol also low ers your inhibitions, making a person do or say things they wouldn’t normally. “I drink alcohol be cause it’s something fun to do, it’s entertaining, exciting, and slightly rebellious,” said a se nior. “Just think of how much funnier everyone is when they’ve consumed alcohol.” But the fun that students describe has its cost. Alcohol tends to numb abusers and ends having detrimental effects. Its neurological effects are quite serious and should be encoun tered with precaution. Unfortu nately many students choose to ignore the possibility of serious injury when they drink. This inability of American teenagers to regulate their alcoholic intake is usually attributed to their un familiarity with the substance. Most just enjoy going to par ties and getting really drunk, even though they know that it is harmftil. “It’s really fun to just hang out with friends with some alcohol and laugh about stupid stuff for hours on end,” said a junior. Many of the students who drink believe there is noth ing wrong with it; some pro posed we should lower the drinking age to prevent this feel ing of rebelliousness of con suming alcohol. Statistically, ninety-two percent of all Ameri can high school seniors have had alcohol, while sixty percent drink on a weekly basis. In America, 10,000 young adults ages 16-24 die from alcohol poi soning each year. “ I don’t understand, we have millions of alcohol problems in our country and our drinking age is twenty-one. Europe does not enforce their drinking age and they are virtu ally free of alcohol problems! So why don’t we just remove the drinking age?,” said a senior. ’Warren Basket, how ever, has a different opinion. “Europe has a history of allowing their children to drink alcohol; America, how ever, does not have the same ingrained culture. In turn, low ering the drinking age would not affect America directly, as giv ing children alcohol is not part of our culture,” said Mr. Basket. Since there are no num bers on the use of alcohol by NCSSM students it is very hard to say whether NCSSM has a higher portion of students that drink than other schools. But NCSSM is different in that it houses students and is there fore responsible for their behav ior. So for every time somebody’s mom would have disciplined her children NCSSM has to step in. That means that a policy on alcohol is needed whereas at other schools it is much less of an issue. At NCSSM the views of the students are often drasti cally different, and their opin ions on drinking follow this trend. From being adamantly against it, to supporting it whole-heartedly, NCSSM stu dents take drastically different stances. However, no matter how hard it is discouraged, there will always be people try ing to break the rules. Which makes a person wonder if the law really makes a difference in teenage drinking. To Smoke or not to Smoke? Emily Warren Two years ago, tobacco products, specifically ciga rettes, were formally banned from the NCSSM campus. In the fall of 1999, the school imple mented a new tobacco policy under which student posses sion of tobacco on or off cam pus while under the school’s jurisdiction would result in dis ciplinary action. But have the school’s efforts to make NCSSM a smoke free campus produced any results? The new policy, the To bacco Cessation Program (TCP), is designed specifically for students at NCSSM. Ac cording to the student hand book: “ Smoking, possession or use of tobacco products on school property” will result in a Level II. One of the goals of this new plan is to work with stu dents rather than just punish them. Smokers can be desig nated as “social tobacco users” or “addicted tobacco users.” Addicted smokers are required to attend the Duke Addictions Program to help them quit smok ing. Social smokers, will be given punishments depending on the severity of their case. These punishments can range from work detail, to attending the same program as addicted smok ers. Even with the new policy, some students continue to smoke. People who are ad dicted to nicotine cannot easily give up their habit. So what do students who crave a cigarette do? They do the only thing they can: leave campus. “I’m going to walk if I have to. It makes my life harder, but it’s not a big enough deter rent for me to stop,” said one student about the policy. According to many stu dents, there are fewer smokers on campus this year than there were last year. However, that doesn’t mean that people quit smoking when they came to NCSSM. “Most of the people who smoked last year graduated. 1 know there are some juniors who smoke, but 1 haven’t met them yet,” said one senior. Students who don’t smoke generally don’t seem to be concerned by the policy. “I don’t like the smell of smoke.. .1 know who the smok ers are because I can smell them, but I wouldn’t go as far as to turn someone in for smoking,” said one non-smoker. Everyone admits that NCSSM puts a great deal of stress on s t u - dents. A lot of smokers express concern about the time commit ment that is in volved with their habit. “I would get so much more work done if I could just smoke a cigarette on campus, rather than having to walk away,” said one smoker. At the same time, some smokers say they are under too much stress to quit at this point in their lives. They feel that they would be able to quit if their load of sehoolwork was not as heavy. A student pointed out the impact that cigarettes have on his ability to concentrate: “If Joe Carnet, representative of smokers everywhere I don’t have a cigarette, I just can’t focus enough to get all of my homework done.” The Tobacco Cessation Program that was instituted last year attempts to remedy this situation, where students struggle to deal with their ad diction, through counseling. There is no stigma attached to enrolling in the program, and is freee to students that wish to quit smoking. In an ideal world, no body would need to smoke. The aim of the policy estab lished by Dr. Joan Barber is to educate prospective students about the policy, in hopes that they will prioritize and put their education before their addic tion. The policy does not af fect people who don t smoke, but there will be some talented students who don’t come to NCSSM because of the smok ing policy. One issue that has up set some students is that un der North Carolina law eighteen-year olds are allowed to purchase and smoke ciga rettes. However, when they are under the school’s jurisdiction they are not allowed to smoke. Smoking is an issue that will not be easily resolved, es pecially in a tight knit commu nity of NCSSM. Ifyou have feel that this isssue should be ad dressed, we encourage you to write a letter to the editor. The staff wants to make sure that the views of the school are heard.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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