Family Life and D.A.R.E. Education in Virginia Beach

St. John's students continue their citizen journalism project.

Family Life and D.A.R.E. Education in Virginia Beach – Adequate or Antiquated?

By Becki Lee, 22

ODU Senior

 

In March 2002, students at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach were puzzled when police officers and local news stations showed up on school grounds. For most, their confusion turned to shock when they discovered the reason: a sophomore student at the school had given birth to a baby in one of the school’s lesser-used bathrooms, then abandoned the child in the toilet.

How could this have happened if the girl was enrolled for all eight years of the Virginia Beach public school system’s Family Life program? The sexual education aspects of the program focus predominantly on the benefits of abstinence until marriage, the biological process of human reproduction, and sexually transmitted disease. Many feel that the program could benefit greatly from lessons concerning practical methods of contraception and the various options available in the event of an unwanted pregnancy. When confronted with these requests, an official from the Virginia Beach school board claimed that they were “doing everything we feel comfortable with and the community feels comfortable with.”

However, there is a significant amount of unrest in the Virginia Beach community regarding the lack of relevant and necessary information being presented to students. Cassandra Adams (a pseudonym, as are all the names of minors in this story) 17, a senior at Princess Anne High School, has very little faith in the system. “The Family Life program is a joke. Sexual education in high school comes from the parties and the gossip, not the classrooms. It is ridiculous to assume otherwise,” she said.

Kathyrn Eldridge, 20, said that students need to be educated about drugs and sexual health, but the current programs require an overhaul. “High school is full of pressure, especially when it comes to sex, drugs and alcohol,” she said. “I think a more in-depth program would greatly benefit the students and the decisions they make.”

The Family Life program is Virginia Beach’s version of sex and drug education. The first three years (from second to fourth grade) cover the basic structures of family, feelings that children may be having and how to cope with them. Sensitive issues are not introduced until the fifth grade, when students begin sexual education and the state-sponsored D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program.

The D.A.R.E program was established in 1983 and is currently in effect in over 60 percent of elementary schools across the United States. It is generally spread out over seventeen weeks, with a one-hour lesson taught each week by a uniformed police officer. The lessons give in-depth information about nearly every common recreational drug and a number of less common ones, the effects of alcohol and tobacco usage and steps that children can take to resist gang influence and violence. According to tax returns filed by the organization over the past fourteen years, D.A.R.E has been spending anywhere from $230,000,000 to $750,000,000 a year on the program.

Many people feel that the D.A.R.E. program, while its goals and ideals are admirable, is presented in a way that is ineffective and implemented at a time when children are too young to be able to relate to and comprehend the subject matter. Jacob Vitez, 18, a freshman at William & Mary, recalled his D.A.R.E. experience as being ineffective and bewildering. “All DARE did was make us aware of the presence of drugs and the presence of peer pressure,” he said. “There was no way to understand, particularly at that age, just how peer pressure can become internalized, and there was no really convincing argument against most typical drugs.”

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is also the same for every classroom around the country, with no adjustments being made in consideration of local needs and issues. A 1994 study done by the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina found that completion of the D.A.R.E. program had a "limited to essentially nonexistent effect on drug use." Of the twenty-four individuals that were interviewed about this topic, twenty-two had been required to participate in D.A.R.E as fifth graders. Only one said that the program had any kind of impact at all on whether he chose to use tobacco, drugs or alcohol later on in life. (He did.) The program concludes after seventeen weeks and the students are required to sign a pledge promising not to use drugs or alcohol. Ellen Peterson, a recent graduate of the Virginia Beach school system, finds this particularly offensive. “I'm very opposed to the idea of signing a pledge to never do drugs or drink underage or have sex or whatever it is they make you sign,” she said, calling it brainwashing.

The Family Life program teaches students to resist peer pressure and avoid substance abuse. Family Life focuses on a number of aspects of emotional well-being but the sexual education lessons generally draw the most attention, as students have their first gender-separated lesson in the fifth grade. According to the school curriculum, the student will be instructed on the reproductive organs of the male and female anatomy, the process of conception and the development of a child within its mother’s womb and physical changes that a person goes through when they begin puberty. The Family Life curriculum indicates that it emphasizes “the detrimental effects of premarital sex…as well as sexually transmitted diseases and the impact on one’s reputation.” That comes as a surprise to at least one parent. “That’s absolutely appalling,” said Marissa Pitt, whose daughter attends Brookwood Elementary. “I can’t believe that they’re telling fifth-graders that pre-marital sex will damage their reputation.”

Although the Family Life program is often criticized as redundant and incomplete, the program does present some students with new material that isn’t being discussed with them at home. Lauren Cannon, 16, a sophomore at Salem High School, was raised in a conservative, Christian household and had little prior knowledge about sex before Family Life. She remembered the lessons as being helpful and welcome. “I don't think I even knew anything about STDs and I certainly didn't know that condoms were the most effective prevention,” she said. “Abstinence was definitely encouraged as the best protection against pregnancy and STDs, but a lot of useful information was given about all kinds of contraceptives.”

Across the sixth, seventh and eighth grades the program stresses biological aspects of reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases. Contraception outside the realm of family planning is not discussed until the eleventh lesson in the ninth grade, where the program emphasizes it as a method for disease control. Family Life introduces the topic of abstinence before marriage in the fifth grade and reinforces it every year until students graduate from high school. According to a recent survey, 64 percent of teenagers in Hampton Roads are sexually active by the time they reach their eighteenth birthday. More than 30 percent of them are sexually active by the time they get to that eleventh Family Life lesson in ninth grade. Abstinence-only sex education is useless if it doesn’t apply to the people that you’re teaching it to.

Another issue with the Family Life program is the instructors themselves. In Virginia Beach schools, Family Life is taught by the Health and Physical Education teachers – a class which many students are allowed to opt out if they have a large academic course load in middle and high school. Brittany Meyer, a graduate of First Colonial High School, claimed that this was one of the major factors leading to her discomfort in the class. “I didn't really feel like my P.E. teachers were the best source for this information,” she said. “At the time, it was uncomfortable. We should have had teachers that really WANTED the job -- ones that felt more comfortable giving explanations.”

According to the rules set by the school board, there are a number of topics – like abortion, homosexuality and masturbation -- that teachers are not permitted to address.. Teachers are required to tell the students to ask their parents about these matters, but if students felt that they could talk to their parents about these subjects, wouldn’t they have just asked them in the first place? One student, who spoke on condition of complete anonymity, found this to be one of the most frustrating aspects of Family Life. “Teachers should be able to provide students with information on contraceptives and other topics, instead of instructing them to ask their parents,” he said. “Many students may not be comfortable asking their parents and don't have the necessary research skills to get such information from reputable sources.”

This is especially dangerous since some of the course material relating to these topics is incomplete or misleading. For example, an excerpt from the 2007 Virginia Beach City Public Schools curriculum guide states "Abortion is not presented as a method of birth control, but the risks of induced abortion are analyzed." Mary Boyle, the president of Old Dominion University’s feminist alliance, finds this particularly dangerous. “Just covering the risks of induced abortion won't give students a clear picture of what abortion is, what procedures are used or when it might be the best choice,” she said. “All it’s telling them is that abortion is wrong, and that’s simply not accurate information.”

The facts speak for themselves. A large percentage of Virginia Beach’s teenagers are having sex, and they are experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Incomplete, abstinence-only sex education isn’t helping them and neither is drug resistance education at an age where substance abuse is not a tangible threat. Students want – and deserve – reliable information about sex and drugs that is relevant to their lifestyles. The current Family Life program is simply not providing that. If it had been, perhaps the 2002 tragedy at First Colonial could have been avoided.

 

More stories from St. John's students:

The Struggle for Affordable Housing in Hampton Roads, by Amy Krieger

Neglecting the Promise of Public Transportation, by Jared White

Old Williamsburg, New Challenges, by Stephanie Calway

Not Just Studying Anymore: Life in the Navy ROTC, by Krysten Warren

The Quiet Side of Sex, by Ashley Jarvis

Not just studying any more: Life in the Navy ROTC, by Krysten Warren

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