What do you suggest they do instead? Because what's going on in schools now isn't working.
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What do you suggest they do instead? Because what's going on in schools now isn't working.
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I just wrote a massive post but it got eaten
Might try that one Ginger... it's a beauty.
I might also point out that other students don't like smokers on the school grounds. They regularly dob them in to teachers on duty. And to be completely honest, I don't have all that much compassion for students who are not interested in managing their addiction for the 6 hours that they are required to be at school. They have their priorities wrong, and in my opinion even at 15 and 16, they are old enough to understand how important their education is. What good is having them at school if they are only really there because they can smoke with their friends at lunch time? It is like the policy of keeping them at school until the end of yr 12 unless they are in full time work or tafe etc...all good in theory but it means that there are classrooms full of lazy teens who don't intend to do anything in class, but can't be bothered getting a job.I'll have to come and write again but, for the moment I want to write how wrong judging a student based on smoking is on many levels.
I have my own story on this, I'll post when ds goes to sleep.
What do you think it does to a teenagers venerable self esteem to simply deem them bad because they smoke?? I don't understand why a teacher would teach in the first place if this was there mind set.
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Ginger, I wish I'd thought to do that when I was still teaching! I am incredibly sensitive to cigarette smoke to the point I would almost become physically ill if a student who had been smoking at recess/lunch came into my class room. Unfortunately, we couldn't actually do anything unless they were seen with the actual cigarette in their hands. When I was pregnant, it was bad enough having children of smokers in my class first thing in the morning as my incredibly sensitive nose became even more so.
As teachers, we are required to enforce the ever so unpopular hats rule - hats on or under the balconies - as there is the chance that the school will be able to be sued later on if a student develops skin cancer.
I can easily see this extending to a student being able to sue their school for not stopping them smoking when they develop lung cancer later in life.
BW
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I didn't say that smoking made students bad, in fact in an earlier post in this thread I said the exact opposite to that. There are plenty of very lovely young people who smoke outside school, but manage to control themselves for the hours that they are at school and are not permitted to smoke. In the real world there are going to be extended periods of time that they will not be able to have a smoke, and I think that they need to be able to control their during those times. School is one of them. There are plenty of teachers who smoke, but they don't do it at school, students should not be permitted to either.
My statement was regarding the students who don't care enough about school in the first place to put in the effort to be there regardless of whether they would rather be off smoking. I think these are the students that this rule is being made for, and therefore do not see it as a major improvement having them there. I would be very interested to see if these students who have been encouraged back to school by a designated smoking area are achieving well in their classes. I would love to be proven wrong!
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So it's only if they smoke at school that they become bad? Nicotine is more addictive than heroin, I don't think it's a matter of 'rather' be off smoking. Sure, in some cases but, saying that if one smokes at school, one then doesn't care for education is a generalisation, not fact. I'm not even saying every school should go and do this, but if it works then I think it's good.
As for an earlier comment( not sure who) saying that schools are going against the law doing this, legal smoking age is 16.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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