xxdr_zombiexx

Eighth-graders say most of them smoke marijuana

Florida Today | Apr 20, 3:52 PM

I cannot seem to make it to class on time. By eighth grade, you'd think I would figure it out. I am lucky, because this first class is Spanish, and I was an exchange student in Costa Rica, so my "Excuse me, I am sorry for being late" is in Spanish. The teacher is pleased; the students are amazed. Well, maybe not amazed.

I settle down in a classroom split into two parts with the seats facing each other and a center aisle where the teacher is able to walk.

Teachers must lie awake nights trying to come up with original seating ideas. This idea has promise but also runs the risk of encouraging the kids to make faces at each other. Which is what they do.

We cover the Spanish words for various colors and attach them to nouns. We describe yellow bananas, yellow hats, yellow dresses and yellow shirts.

Just to show off, I make my words rhyme.

Computer class is next.

I will not measure up here nearly as well. When I was in school, we didn't even knowwhat a computer was.

I see amazing skills. These kids are very assured on computers. One kid switches between screens whenever the teacher looks his way.

He goes from a skateboard game to what he should be doing in less than the blink of an eye. I picture him doing the same thing at his place of employment 10 years from now.

The teacher must walk 40 miles a day among these 28 computers. Unfortunately, there are 34 students, so six students are eating and drinking in the back of the class waiting for a computer to open up. Some sleep. They remind me of passengers waiting for an airplane. For the whole session, they never get any teacher interaction.

The kids mostly finger type. They have never been forced to learn to touch type. It is a classic example of indulging youngsters with the pleasure they crave without forcing them to learn some basics first.

One boy in this class has blue pants with a white stripe up each side. Is prison garb fashionable? Why do these kids seem to worship the dark and criminal side of life?

The next class is advanced language arts. We go to the library for research. I wander around asking the students about their topics.

One kid is doing research on preserving Florida's wetlands so he can shoot more ducks. When I was a kid, there were so many ducks it seemed you could walk across the Indian River on their backs. Those days are gone forever and millions have been killed since then. Do we need to kill any more?

I find one student writing about marijuana. I ask him a few questions. He says 80 percent of the students in his school have used marijuana. I know my ears have deceived me. "Did you say 8 percent or 80 percent?" I ask. "80." I was afraid that was what he said, and I literally had to find a chair to sit down. What are they, 13 or 14? Even if he was exaggerating by a factor of two or three, it still leaves a lot.

He explained that everyone uses "Visine" to get the redness out of their eyes before they go home after smoking marijuana. Never let it be said that TV advertising did not educate about what a product can do for you.

This student even had advice for parents who suspect a child on drugs. "Put them in front of a light and watch their pupils. If their pupils remain dilated in front of the light, they are high." Bet not one parent in a hundred knows that simple test. How many parents have seen Visine on their child and didn't know its significance? Try looking around tonight.

Finally it is lunchtime. I get my food and five students come up to me to talk. This is a first. I welcome the dialogue. We talk about students who can be accused of sexual harassment by hugging. Now there is a topic unknown to me when I was in eighth grade

They volunteer the same 80 percent figure for marijuana use. They say many parents don't want to know what kids do with their friends as long as they don't get in trouble. This is more depressing than the 80 percent figure.

Their goals? Sports. Even the girls say sports is where the easy money is. Can't argue with that. Our heroes today don't write books or design buildings, they hit or throw balls. Kids must ask how they can get a job like that too. Who could blame them?

My lunch does not go down easily. I spend the rest of the day digesting what I learned rather than my food.

Johnston is a retired juvenile court judge. He will continue to document his adventures in returning to school through the 12th grade. E-mail him at LarryJohnstonFL@aol.com


What I learned
As a group, parents are naive about drugs. It would be impossible for so many kids to get away with the use of marijuana if more parents took an aggressive role in detecting its use. Many have a notion that kids have some "right" of privacy. Not when I grew up. If it is in your house, look for it -- everywhere.

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Higher Logic

Some interesting points, mainly about how the education system is bunk, a total waste of time in terms of how it is currently being administered; the part about cannabis though...perhaps he should heed his own advice, stop being so naive about drugs

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theDeBaucher(Y)

coming from the public school system i belive it completely.
and as one good friend once said. "denial is one of the most powerful forces in nature".

a parents denial about their kids is one hell of a strong force.

teufelfisch

Not the best written of articles, but I condone it nonetheless. Most students are conditioned by their peers to perform at minimum expected capacity. Why bother working for an A when one can have fun, pass with a D, and be expected of less in the future?

Don't think the argument stops at kids, though. Most working-class adults will do the same. When one is paid by the hour, Effort is put on the back-burner to make room for Time. Why make $500 every two weeks for hard work, when one can make the same for less work?

Our educational system needs to be re-evaluated. Kids are no longer influenced by teachers as much as they are influenced by their peers. When peers begin to care about the quality of the work they perform, something magical happens. Everyone improves. As a peer tutor, I've seen it happen. Peer collaboration is the future of education.

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Heinz

Well, I agree with this man.

8th grade is abosolutely no place for drugs. At this point in their lives, most kids are going through puperty, a very important step in shaping the mind. And if these 8th graders get it in their heads that its ok to mess around carelessly with drugs, well the end result is not good. There is a reason why you have to be an adult to smoke tobacco, or drink, or vote. Studies have judged that before 18 or 19, the mind is still too underdevelopped to make these important decisions in life. Most people think marijuana is a completely harmless drug, therefore people of all ages can smoke it and wont get affected. Wrong. As we all know, marijuana affects the dopamine receptors. It blocks certain neuroreceptor connections in the brain. Why do you think some ideas are so great when you are high? Its because logic is somewhat impaired. When you have an idea (while high) it seems like such a great idea because some of the repercussions(sp?) of that idea are not being read by your brain. They are being blocked. This gives lots of false ideas.

School is no place for drugs. These days, people do not put enough importance on education. For most people, when you are high in class (or burnt-out from lots of smoking), the learning capacity is lowered. Why do you feel burnt-out?, because THC is still lingering in the brain, messing up the normal functionning. Education IS important. I dont care how rebellious you are about learning math or biology, when you grow older, you will most likely regret smoking all that dope and not studying.

People think math is worthless, because when in life will you use these notions of intergrals, and whatever (I dont know any english terms used in math, I'm french). The brain is like a muscle, if you dont work the brain, it will become soft and slow. You will not be able to think hard and think fast if you never thunk hard and thunk fast in the past. (hehe, rhyme)

All in all, I think pre-high school (and even most high school) students are too darn stupid to be making serious decisions, like smoking pot. A 13 year old just doesnt have the mental capacity and knowledge to be making these choices.


Thats my opinion, please feel free to argue.

PsYcHoLoGiCaL

Personally I think the kids who smoke marijuana tend to exaggerate the percentages, it might seem like 80% of the students smoke, but that’s probably because all of their friends do it and when most of the people you hang out are doing it then it will seem like everyone else does it too. I witnessed this first hand when I was in high school, I remember everyone always said that at least 70 or 80 percent of the students smoked weed, but I know for a fact that the percentage wasn't even close to being that high. I agree that a lot of students do it there is no doubt about that, but I know that at my school at least, the percentage that most of the smokers gave was very inflated.

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super-man

i would like to talk on behalf of the kids in texas we smoke a lot more than yall do.

reggie_the_dog

But I taught grade 10 in Chicago last year. I did a raise you hand servey and asked if how many of them had smoked cannabis before. 12 out of the 15 students there that day said they had tried it and another 7 said they still smoked. To give the other 3 a bit of praise I cited how the lungs of the other three were probably better off than those of their smoking peers. Interestingly the three non cannabis smokers also did not smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, even more interesting was the fact that 2 of these kids lived with both of their parents (only 3 kids in the class could say that).