BLOOMINGTON, IN – A growing number of area parents are criticizing what they claim is a dated approach to educating kids on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
The Monroe County Community School Corporation has been inundated with calls and e-mails from parents upset with the D.A.R.E. program.
“It’s been unrelenting,” said MCCSC Communications Officer Shelby Tunstill. “They go on and on about how the program is unrealistic and does more harm than good.”
The parents are typically more progressive and believe that kids will naturally experiment with drugs and alcohol, but that D.A.R.E. is so rigid in its focus on abstinence that kids will rebel and see heavier substance use as an escape from social oppression.
“I tell my kids it’s perfectly fine to do anything in moderation,” said concerned parent Shay Morgan. “I can say from experience, the second The Man starts telling me what to in absolute terms, I’m doing the exact opposite.”
School officials and other parents are still firmly in favor of drug and alcohol abstinence, but this new relaxed approach is being received well by the students.
“It’s so cool,” said sixth grader Tommy Stones. “Zander’s parents totally let us drink when I stay all night and it makes all the kids with stuck up parents jealous!”
For now, there are no plans to change the curriculum, but there is some fear the chorus of cool parents and the consensus of the students may win out.
Limestone Ledger 
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