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It was me and I stand corrected...it is illegal to sell tobacco products to a person under 18...because they hope that adults are resposible enough not to supply under 18's with the cigarettes.:
Just curious if you would be ok to have your children smoking at your house when they are 16?
I am not so I don't expect the school to alow it either.
The legal smoking age may be 16 but they are also allowing 15yr olds to smoke. There are plenty of Yr9's at the middle year campus who smoke on the oval, DS got caught last year and got suspended, some of these kids will turn 15 this year. Where do you draw the line, is it by age, I know each campus have their own rules but imagine the uproar if parents of students from the middle year campus being suspended for smoking yet senior year campus with a child the same age is allowed to smoke.
Regards,
Dianne
There's more going on here than just the legal smoking age.
It's not legal for ANYONE to smoke within the grounds of a school. Any teachers who smoke aren't allowed to smoke on campus, why should the students be able to?
And having students respect and trust you isn't a matter of letting them do what they want when they want. It's not about always being the bad guy - it's about showing your students that you care and that you will hold them accountable.
I suspect that everyone is just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
BW
When I smoked and was a teacher I had nowhere to smoke at school and just had to tough it out for the school day until I went home before I had a smoke. Its ILLEGAL to smoke in school grounds so I can't see how the school can break the law by letting children smoke on the campus.
I have worked in schools for quite some time now, and while I realise that it is a generalisation and there will always be exceptions, the kids who get caught smoking and get suspended for it are the same kids who are suspended for numerous other things too. The smoking doesn't make them bad, they just seem to be the same students whose difficult behaviour and lack of self control makes them poor students who in turn make schooling difficult for other students.:
If we want to keep those completely addicted students at school then supply nicotine patches to get them through the day. In my opinion we should not be giving them areas to smoke during school hours. It may be legal to smoke at 16, but that means someone else has broken the law by getting them cigarettes. It is one of those stupid loopholes in the law that should be fixed.
Should we break the trust of the students who come and tell us about smoking in the toilets by then ignoring it? Or maybe just have all the students in the school that we know about students breaking school rules, but we don't really think those rules are worth enforcing so we will let it slide? That won't do much for the respect or trust of teachers either.:
You also say the students are the ones who will suffer healthwise, that is exactly why we should not be providing them with a venue to harm themselves... they are still minors and are under our protection!
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!