ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130052
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
PRESIDENT Clinton, railing against Congress for shortchanging his drug-free-school program, says: ``We should not slash funding for a program that gives parents the security that their children are receiving the same anti-drug message in school that they receive at home.''
But, sad to say, an anti-drug message is not what many children are getting at home. A recent survey suggests that lots of kids apparently are getting shrugs of parental shoulders:
Drugs are out there. Nothing we can do to keep the kids away from them. Hope for the best. So be it.
Apply that same parental attitude of resignation and powerlessness to guns, violence, cheating, stealing, alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases - and the outlook for America's children is worse than we might have imagined.
If the public was not concerned about recent statistics showing that the use of marijuana, LSD and cocaine has more than doubled since 1992 among 12- to 17-year-olds, it surely should be concerned about this survey on parents' views of the drug issue.
It showed that parents - by large percentages - fully expect their children to do drugs. Pathetically, parents said they have too little influence in their children's lives to stop them. But don't blame them; blame ``society at large.''
To be sure, the drug culture, with celebrities who glorify drug use, is a villain. Peer pressure, too. And there are limits, no question about it, on parents' ability to influence their childrens' actions and decisions. A certain amount of experimentation and rebellion among youth is to be expected.
But the same survey, by Columbia University's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, produced what intelligent and caring parents should take as plea for help from youngsters in combatting unhealthy but powerful cultural forces. Teens ranked drug use as the biggest problem facing youth. While 22 percent conceded they're likely to use drugs, they thought this would make it more likely they'll end up in trouble.
Parents who throw up their hands and claim helplessness are abdicating their responsibility at least to try to set their kids right - not just to protect them from potentially harmful influences, but to buttress them as self-confident individuals who take responsibility for their choices.
On top of which, parents should be organizing a rebellion against this ``society at large." We need more positive messages and role models.
Of course, the most potent messages and role models are provided by parents, whether they know it or not.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB