I don't know maybe there's more to it then what we know. Maybe it's better to have them supervised then leaving the grounds for some reasons unknown to us?
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I don't know maybe there's more to it then what we know. Maybe it's better to have them supervised then leaving the grounds for some reasons unknown to us?
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
I think its better if they get detention and Quit Smoking assistance
.... and i'm sure there is students sneaking off at lunchtime to have sex too, is the senior campus going to give these guys a room to stop them going off campus? I mean, if they are over 16, they are legally allowed to have sex....
Last edited by Jellybean29; February 22nd, 2011 at 06:18 PM.
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The only thing I can think is that those pupils who leave the school grounds to smoke tend not to return. At my high school children were not allowed to smoke, but a blind eye was turned to smoking at the back gate because the alternative was walking further away from the school and possibly missing classes. I would expect any school that had an arrangement like this to have it off school grounds, and coupled with smoking cessation information for pupils though.
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I'm sorry but I would have to say: no way!
I think it's completely unacceptable. I don't buy into the whole "they would leave school grounds" thing. I'm sorry, but they are at school and should remain on school grounds. This was happening at my DS1's old school and I didn't agree with it at all. I think it's a poor society when teachers aren't allowed to discipline students under their care for fear of repercussions from parents/carers/society in general.
Besides all that, um isn't smoking supposed to be "bad for your health"????? Should we also promote safe drinking for those students who like to imbibe at lunch?
...... I'll get off my high-horse now!
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Nice.
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That is rediculous what sort of message are they sending to the younger kids.
Staff and patients can not smoke in a hospital ground so why should teenagers be allowed to smoke at school!
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We were allowed to smoke at our college (year 11 n 12 in Canberra is called college and is a seperate school to 7-10) in a designated area...
I love it cause I was a smoker, it was "technically" and legally out of school grounds but it was still very much a part of the school...
Looking back now, it's not the smartest idea...
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Okay, so, going against the grain here...
I've been a smoker since I was 15. My parents didn't find out until I was 17 - it's not difficult for a reasonably attractive young girl to sit outside the corner shop with a pocketful of spare change and find a sympathetic older bloke to go in and buy a packet of ciggies for you...
But anyway. I can see why most of you think this is a terrible idea, and while I DO agree with most of the sentiments shared so far, I also have to disagree from the perspective of a former smoking student.
In 'senior school', in QLD anyway, students are aged between 16 and 18 (or, are 15 when they start year 11 and have turned 17 when they finish year 12, some students are older and have already turned 18). In the grey area that is legal smoking age (if not tobacco purchasing age), most of us can agree that it IS legal for some of these older students to smoke if they so choose (where and how they obtain the tobacco is another matter, and completely unrelated imo. Ways and means, people... teens are stubborn!).
At the public high school I attended, it was a suspendable offense to be caught smoking on school grounds or in school uniform. But by the time I was in year 12 (aged 16/17), I was a 20-a-day smoker and making it to lunchtime without a cigarette was hard enough - let alone the school policy stating that I couldn't be seen ANYWHERE with a cigarette if wearing a uniform. Pfft. A big group of us (and not just senior school kids either, we had baby grade 8 kids, aged just 12, bringing their own cigarettes stolen from home) would sit on the oval near the fence every lunch break, smoking, other small groups would walk out the gate and up the street to hide behind parked cars or around the corner where no staff on playground duty would catch them... some seniors with their P's and a lunch pass would simply drive off with a car full of smoking kids and not come back until class resumed an hour later.
It got to the point where I was wearing patches under my school shirt and STILL sneaking off school grounds at lunch to have cigarettes, or risking getting caught in the toilets. One day I got so desperate for a cigarette, but couldn't leave school grounds as the exit was being patrolled and I had no lunch pass, that I simply cracked out a cigarette next to the library in full view of staff and students. Needless to say I got suspended - it was worth it, I was going NUTS from cravings.
On days that I could have my cigarette breaks, I actually got my work done in class. On days that I was prevented from having my cigarettes, my work suffered, I was irritable, disruptive and spent a lot of time trying deliberately to get myself suspended just so I could have a couple of days at home to do my schoolwork and unimpeded by school policy surrounding my personal habits.
So yeah. I guess I have to say I support the school permitting students who are smokers to get their fix so they can get on with the job and concentrate properly on their schoolwork. If they are providing access to Quit programs and educating students on the dangers of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, then they are doing all they can and the choice to smoke or not is ultimately the student's - and while I can see where most of you are coming from, I can also speak from the perspective of a hopeless nicotine addict who simply CANNOT 'just quit' or 'just smoke at home, not at school' and actually get anything done.
The legality of smoking on school grounds is a sketchy one as well, considering (as far as I know) that schools also have a duty of care to students not to allow them to leave school grounds during school hours without appropriate measures like lunch passes being implemented. I imagine there is probably a similar system in place so that not all students can just take off to go smoke.
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I can see where you are coming from Glamourcide - however I don't believe that schools should be seen to encourage addictions by providing permission to smoke. I think it's worrying on a number of levels - 1. Do parents have to give permission for their child (and until they leave year 12 I think they should be deemed a child regardless of if they are 18 or not) to be permitted to smoke at school? Are parents even aware that this is being allowed? 2. Is this going to encourage a pile of other kids to take up smoking for the novality - they are kids and they are, well, dumb at times (god knows I was). 3.Is it going to encourage kids who would have been just too scared to do it previously. 4. What message do we send when our tuckshops aren't allowed to sell 'unhealthy' foods yet we give kids permission to fill their lungs with all kinds of chemicals - seems pretty hypocritical.
For me - if this idea was adopted by schools, it should have to go hand in hand with compulsory quit programs - I mean, it's a proven fact that this stuff kills people - could you imagine the uproar if kids were being exposed to another harmful substance that could kill them while at school?
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Yes you are quite right, there probably are students leaving school for other legal activities. It's not compulsory to attend school after 15 or 16 anyway. No, they wouldn't give them a room for other legal activities, it would depend on what the activities are.
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