New Jersey School District over steps their bounds

There is a point that all of us should not go beyond and I believe that this school district has journeyed into that plain.  Parents know their children better than others and if they relinquish that to those who do not have the same desire and drive for their children as they do, they are essentially hiding from their responsibilities.  While their intentions may be good the approach needs a whole lot of help.

Taking from an article written by Mary Beth Sammons for ParentDish titled New Jersey School District to Drug-Test Middle Schoolers in which they say in an effort to stamp out drugs and alcohol abuse by kids before they get to high school, a New Jersey school district voted Jan. 12 to roll out a random drug-testing program for middle-school students, The Express-Times reports.  The testing is necessary, Belvidere School District Board of Education President Brian Smith tells the newspaper, "because sixth and eighth graders use drugs. ... We want to change student behavior."  The only problem is that no human will ever be able to change another’s behavior.  To change one’s behavior that person has got to be willing to do so for themselves.  I can agree that one may be able to influence a change but that will never be able to make a change.  Strangers were not there when the child had his/her first nightmare and is not as knowledgeable about the genetics of that child as the parent is.  Parents need to be encouraged to perform the job that they choose when they brought these children into the world and not given a free pass to only celebrate the good times while avoiding the bad.  Children are a God-sent to be cherished and cared for, not some commodity that you can brush off when the toughest job in the world gets a little tougher.

The article goes further to even present my point when it states “School officials claimed earlier this week that kids who test positive will not be punished, nor will the police be notified. Rather, they would get counseling or be referred to a drug rehab center.”  The problem with this is where the responsibility will come from.  If you wish to teach a child responsibility and that they are responsible for their actions, there has got to be a balance between reward and punishment.  If a child knows that all that will happen is counseling or referral to a drug rehab, what will they fear?  Like so many kids now who think that the best people are or have been incarcerated, there is no desire to not fall into that category.  How will this recommendation or referral be enforced?  Will it be up to the parents to make sure that they attend this center?  Nothing changes and the only real accomplishment we have is a generation of people despising government and looking at going to school as nothing more than another obstacle for them to find a way around.  Parents who say that this is a good thing that this district has done need to first examine how accessible the abused items are in the home.  Look to yourself for solutions before you rely on others to fix your problem.

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