Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Alcohol Testing
http://forum.gayleturner.net/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3845		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Krystal_Tarnaski [ Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Alcohol Testing
In my Social Deviance class my professor told us that North Carolina is looking into bringing random Alcohol testing into public high schools. It is already in affect in other states, but it may be a possibility in the future in NC. She said that basically students would be chosen at "random" to go take a alcohol test. The test can supposedly detect alcohol that was consumed up to 80 hours prior to the test. We discussed how for certain religions (Catholicism) there could be a trace of the alcohol from communion. Also we discussed how certain medicines can come up as positive in this type of urine test.

I personally do not think that this is fair at all. I thought I would share this because I know there are future high school teachers in the class and may find this interesting.
Author:  Johnna_Jackson [ Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:27 pm ]
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Wow, this seems to me almost like an invasion of privacy. I don't see how students can be randomly tested unless they have done something to cause adults to suspect alcohol consumption. I know I would be extrememly offended if I were randomly chosen to be tested; and for that matter, I wouldn't want any of my siblings (or if I had any, children) to be tested unless they had done something to initiate or deserve that negative attention. Yes, maybe the idea has good intentions, but it's almost offensive to the individual. I am very interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this.
Author:  Diana Zong [ Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:34 pm ]
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I think that this is a really unnecessary move for public schools. :? Like Krystal said, there are too many complications that could arise from this and in a world that can be unsafe and uncomfortable I feel like schools should be a place where students can go and not worry about their life that goes on outside the walls. I realize that the schools may think that by catching the students who drink they are making school safe but really this is just going to create a deeper gap between students with troubled backgrounds and those who have stable homes. The troubled students are going to get targeted and singled out instead of being helped. The "randomness" of these drug tests will probably be about as random as an Arab man getting checked on a plane.
Author:  Rachel Sigmon [ Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:44 pm ]
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yeah -- I agree with what everyone has said so far --- I believe this is unnecessary for the schools to do -- yes, maybe they would be catching a few underage drinkers but, can they actually prove it from this test -- like they have said some religions drink wine on Sundays and some medicines may cause this test to go wacky -- I mean that what make no sense to punish a child for going to church -- plus it's not like the children are getting caught because they are drinking on school grounds, it would be because they had drank a little the previous night or something -- I really just don't understand this at all -- I would be really upset if my child was randomly alcohol testing while at school -- I agree with Johnna " seems to me almost like an invasion of privacy"
Author:  Dustin Hull [ Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:21 pm ]
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Actually the school systems have laws that protect them when it comes to searches conducted within the school setting. When students are in school the school itself actually takes on a parental role. This means that they basically maintain alot of the rights that parents have with their own children. This doesn't necessarily protect individual teachers but any search done by the school itself i believe is protected by this. My high school already has random drug testing so i assume that the random alcohol testing would not be that much of a problem to envoke. Again i could totally be wrong about the above statement but i do believe i heard about this in my Economic, Legal, and Political Systems class in high school.
Author:  Lauren_Cagle [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:11 pm ]
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I think this is really silly. I agree with what most of you have said. Catholicism and other religions serve wine at communion and you are right, that could interfere. If there is some suspicion of a student being drunk in school, then by all means test them and send them home or punish them, but the random alcohol and drug tests are a waste of money. Think of the other places that money could be spent in our schools.
Author:  katie_stephens [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
The idea of alcohol testing seems kinda dumb to me. I think if schools are going to do random tests on anything it should be drugs. I mean it would be unusual to meet several high schoolers in one school that drank alcohol every single day. But it wouldn't be a problem to find students who partake in drugs every day. Drugs are the problem.
Author:  Allison Sawicki [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:45 pm ]
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ditto, ditto, ditto. I think schools will invest way more time and money and have to put up with a lot more headache than they will reap the benefits from this kind of "random" testing. I took a political science class my freshman year where we talked about profiling for random testing, and I feel that unfortunately, in this circumstance, this 'random' testing could easily be abused. It would be all to convenient to target the slacker, stoner kid, and never test the straight-A closet alcoholic. :roll:

Overall, I think these resources could be better invested in more helpful outlets.
Author:  Amanda_Ricketts [ Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:24 pm ]
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i agree with what everyone has been saying. i feel like what students do on thier weekends is none of our busniess. As long as students are not coming to school intoxicated or alcohol is serverly effecting thier grades it should be a decsion that they make for themselves outside of the school system. Having alcohol tests is an invasion of privacy and will take up valuable education time to have them performed
Author:  Adam_Moore [ Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:12 pm ]
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I also disagree with random alcohols tests. If schools want to decrease their drop out rate then this is not the way. Kids are gonna drink, there is no way around it. School is a place where for the most part kids behave resonably and stay out of trouble. If children have to worry about random tests that can happen while in school, why go? Students on the verge of dropping out would probably rather avoid trouble with the law, than to take the risk of getting caught while attending school.
Author:  Scott_Feldmann [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:05 pm ]
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I'm not very educated in law so I could be completely wrong but why should a school need to test kids for something they did outside of school. Maybe I don't understand the purpose but unless a student was under the influence while AT school, I don't think its any of the school's concern. Even then I still feel like its an invasion of privacy. Unless a student is showing signs of being under the influence I really can't think of how a school could benefit from this other than provoking fear into students.
Author:  Jim Cleary [ Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:21 pm ]
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I think this is a terrible idea. First and foremost, it attacks the result of an action and does nothing to really work to prevent it. Problem solving can be much easier when preventive measures are taken to stop the problem before it even begins. I really don’t know exactly what programs or actions the school system can take. DARE for instance was a terrible prevention program, statistically speaking, because it really wasn’t effective in averting kids from drugs and alcohol. Also, I don’t even really think it’s the school systems responsibility to make sure the students aren’t drinking on a regular basis. I don’t even think this is a problem for schools, at least not at my school. I never knew anyone who would get drunk and come to school, that of course doesn’t mean its not happening; however, it just doesn’t seem to be a problem the school system has to face yet. I am on the fence about searching the students cars or lockers with police dogs for drugs, some good comes of it and some bad. I would not have a huge problem with schools searching lockers and cars for the alcohol bottles, but that’s because the lockers and parking lot are still school property. However, the student’s body, even at school, will always be the students and should not be up for searches and tests without reasonable cause. Then we get onto the whole topic of what is reasonable cause and that’s another story…
Author:  Emily_Hartnett [ Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
I agree with pretty much everyone else, alcohol testing is none of our business and stupid. Drug testing on the other hand is different, drugs are illegal to be posessed by anyone anytime so that is a different story.
Author:  Adam B [ Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
I find this extremely interesting. Alcohal screening takes away the independence of the student. Often times it is up to the parent to decide when their child mature enough to comsume alcohol. If a student is consuming wine or beer with their parents over dinner should it be demonized by a school system that does not ask questions? We all have the right to make choices, for some students these may lead to poor outcomes, but it is not the schools job control the actions of every student. I would argue that it is the schools job to correct imbalances in behavior. Once a student has made an obvious poor choice, one that may have endangered the student or others, then the school with the parents can come to a conclusion about how to help the student.
Author:  Susanne_Olson [ Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:37 pm ]
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wow! That's a definate invasion of privacy, I think it's important that you brought up the fact that some people may get in trouble because of communion wine or even meds. Instead of mandating something like this I think it would be beneficial to have alcohol blood level tests made that people can give themselves. I think a lot of people would be curious to use them, and would give people realistic answers to how much their bodies can drink.
Author:  Matt Cobb [ Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:11 am ]
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I agree with you guys, it's a total waste of money and a huge invasion of privacy. Besides, I don't know what people would be looking for in an alcohol test. Yeah, high school students drink on occasion, that's no big secret. I think the only practical reason this would be good would be if students were actually coming to school drunk. But other than that, let the students have just a little bit of a personal life.
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